Underrated period dramas
by Basilesque | created - 13 Aug 2012 | updated - 17 Aug 2013 | PublicUnderrated or obscure period dramas that deserve wider appreciation.
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1. Twelfth Night (1996)
PG | 134 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
Shakespeare's comedy of gender confusion, in which a girl disguises herself as a man to be near the count she adores, only to be pursued by the woman he loves.
Director: Trevor Nunn | Stars: Helena Bonham Carter, Richard E. Grant, Imogen Stubbs, Steven Mackintosh
Votes: 6,404 | Gross: $0.59M
2. Cold Comfort Farm (1995 TV Movie)
PG | 105 min | Comedy, Romance
A recently orphaned young woman goes to live with eccentric relatives in Sussex, where she sets about improving their gloomy lives.
Director: John Schlesinger | Stars: Eileen Atkins, Kate Beckinsale, Sheila Burrell, Stephen Fry
Votes: 7,529 | Gross: $5.60M
3. Falling for a Dancer (1998)
Unrated | 200 min | Drama, Romance
After a casual fling with an actor, a 1930s Irish woman becomes pregnant and avoids the stigma of raising a bastard child by marrying a boring older man.
Stars: Elisabeth Dermot Walsh, Liam Cunningham, Eleanor Methven, Maurice O'Donoghue
Votes: 724
4. Onegin (1999)
R | 106 min | Drama, Romance
Russia, 1820s: Onegin inherits his uncle's country estate and moves there from St. Petersburg. He befriends his neighbor, Lensky, and meets Tatyana through him. She falls in love with Onegin but he just wants friendship.
Director: Martha Fiennes | Stars: Ralph Fiennes, Liv Tyler, Toby Stephens, Lena Headey
Votes: 8,305 | Gross: $0.21M
5. Our Mutual Friend (1998)
88 min | Drama
Intertwining tales of love, greed, and secret identities in Charles Dickens's 1860s London.
Stars: Paul McGann, Keeley Hawes, Dominic Mafham, David Bradley
Votes: 2,691
6. Our Mutual Friend (1976)
50 min | Drama
Based on the Dickens novel, tells the story of a young man whose inherited fortune hangs on his marriage to a woman he's never met. But many have their eyes on his fortune and scheme to ... See full summary »
Stars: John McEnery, Lesley Dunlop, Jane Seymour, Leo McKern
Votes: 112
7. A Little Princess (1986–1987)
TV-G | 163 min | Drama, Family
Sara Crewe enters a London boarding school a wealthy lady when she bids her father farewell as he enters the British Army, but her lifestyle quickly vanishes when her father suddenly dies, and Sara must endure a life of servitude.
Stars: Maureen Lipman, Amelia Shankley, Miriam Margolyes, Annette Badland
Votes: 774
8. Princess Caraboo (1994)
PG | 97 min | Comedy, Drama, History
A mysterious young woman speaking a strange language shows up in an English village, where she is taken in by aristocrats who assume she is a foreign princess
Director: Michael Austin | Stars: Phoebe Cates, Jim Broadbent, Wendy Hughes, Kevin Kline
Votes: 2,976 | Gross: $3.02M
9. Anna Karenina (2000– )
360 min | Drama
Anna Karenina is the young wife of an older husband. She has an affair with the handsome Count Vronsky. By following her desires, Anna complicates her life.
Stars: Douglas Henshall, Helen McCrory, Stephen Dillane, Mark Strong
Votes: 603
10. Cold Comfort Farm (1968– )
150 min | Comedy
Young Flora moves to Cold Comfort Farm after her parents' death, meets eccentric relatives, breaks the farm's curse, helps matriarch Ada Doom overcome childhood trauma, finds love, and enables positive changes for her family.
Stars: Alastair Sim, Fay Compton, Sarah Badel, Rosalie Crutchley
Votes: 156
11. Far from the Madding Crowd (1998 TV Movie)
54 min | Drama, Romance
A vain, pretty girl has recently taken over her uncle's farm. Her independent, naïve personality leaves her torn between the three men who wish to marry her.
Director: Nicholas Renton | Stars: Paloma Baeza, Jonathan Firth, Nigel Terry, Gwynn Beech
Votes: 962
12. Mansfield Park (1999)
PG-13 | 112 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
Fanny, born into a poor family, is sent away to live with wealthy uncle Sir Thomas, his wife and their four children, where she'll be brought up for a proper introduction to society.
Director: Patricia Rozema | Stars: Frances O'Connor, Jonny Lee Miller, Alessandro Nivola, Hannah Taylor Gordon
Votes: 25,840 | Gross: $4.76M
13. Oliver Twist (1999)
386 min | Crime, Drama
An orphan named Oliver Twist (Sam Smith) meets a pickpocket on the streets of London. From there, he joins a household of boys who are trained to steal for their master.
Stars: Sam Smith, David Ross, Julie Walters, Annette Crosbie
Votes: 840
14. Pollyanna (2003 TV Movie)
Not Rated | 99 min | Drama, Family
Wealthy, impossible to please lady Polly, whom only gardener Tom's irresistibly charming, indomitably cheerful son Tim, the chauffeur-handyman, can handle, grudgingly lets her late sister's... See full summary »
Director: Sarah Harding | Stars: Amanda Burton, Kenneth Cranham, Georgina Terry, Aden Gillett
Votes: 1,257
15.
Masterpiece (1971– )
Episode:
The Railway Children
(2000)
108 min | Drama, History, Mystery
Dramatization of E. Nesbit's classic novel about three children whose lives change dramatically after they move to a Yorkshire cottage near a railway line.
Director: Catherine Morshead | Stars: Jack Blumenau, Clare Thomas, Jemima Rooper, Jenny Agutter
Votes: 1,003
16. Pride and Prejudice (1980)
TV-PG | 265 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
While the arrival of wealthy gentlemen sends her marriage-minded mother into a frenzy, willful and opinionated Elizabeth Bennet matches wits with haughty Mr. Darcy.
Stars: Elizabeth Garvie, David Rintoul, Moray Watson, Priscilla Morgan
Votes: 2,490
17. Seven Little Australians (1973)
294 min | Drama, Family
Based on Ethel Turner's classic children's novel, this award-winning miniseries is about a family of seven children set in 1890s Australia.
Stars: Barbara Llewellyn, Mark Clarke, Anna Hruby, Jennifer Cluff
Votes: 109
18. South Solitary (2010)
Not Rated | 121 min | Drama, Romance
Set in 1928, Meredith is a 35 year-old unmarried woman who arrives at a remote lighthouse island with her uncle, the new head keeper.
Director: Shirley Barrett | Stars: Miranda Otto, Marton Csokas, Essie Davis, Rohan Nichol
Votes: 487
19. Swept from the Sea (1997)
PG-13 | 115 min | Drama, Mystery, Romance
The story of Russian emigrant Yanko Goorall and servant Amy Foster in the end of nineteenth century. When Yanko enters a farm, sick and hungry after a shipwreck, everyone is afraid of him, except for Amy.
Director: Beeban Kidron | Stars: Rachel Weisz, Vincent Perez, Ian McKellen, Kathy Bates
Votes: 3,608 | Gross: $0.28M
20. The New World (2005)
PG-13 | 135 min | Biography, Drama, History
The story of the English exploration of Virginia, and of the changing world and loves of Pocahontas.
Director: Terrence Malick | Stars: Colin Farrell, Q'orianka Kilcher, Christopher Plummer, Christian Bale
Votes: 89,841 | Gross: $12.71M
21. Wuthering Heights (1998 TV Movie)
Not Rated | 113 min | Drama, Romance
Mistreated foundling Heathcliff and his stepsister Catherine fall in love, but when she marries a wealthy man, he becomes obsessed with getting revenge, even well into the next generation.
Director: David Skynner | Stars: Robert Cavanah, Peter Davison, Orla Brady, Tom Georgeson
Votes: 1,051
22. War Bride (2001)
Not Rated | 111 min | Drama, Romance
In London during World War II, Lily marries a Canadian soldier who immediately goes off to war. She and her newborn daughter are invited to come and live with his family in Canada, where ... See full summary »
Director: Lyndon Chubbuck | Stars: Anna Friel, Brenda Fricker, Aden Young, Loren Dean
Votes: 1,547
23. Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day (2008)
PG-13 | 92 min | Comedy, Romance
Guinevere Pettigrew, a middle-aged London governess, finds herself unfairly dismissed from her job. An attempt to gain new employment catapults her into the glamorous world and dizzying social whirl of an American actress and singer, Delysia Lafosse.
Director: Bharat Nalluri | Stars: Frances McDormand, Amy Adams, Ciarán Hinds, David Alexander
Votes: 29,733 | Gross: $12.29M
24. Love in a Cold Climate (2001)
150 min | Drama
In 1930s Britain, three young aristocratic women find love as the world around them slowly descends into war.
Stars: Alan Bates, Anna Popplewell, Jemima Rooper, Rosamund Pike
Votes: 930
25. Jane Eyre (1983)
TV-PG | 28 min | Drama, Romance
A young governess falls in love with her mysterious employer, but a terrible secret puts their happiness at risk.
Stars: Zelah Clarke, Timothy Dalton, Carol Gillies, James Marcus
Votes: 3,688
26. Enchanted April (1991)
PG | 95 min | Drama
Four English women, after World War I, who are unhappy with their lives, and their time away on vacation in a beautiful Italian villa.
Director: Mike Newell | Stars: Alfred Molina, Joan Plowright, Miranda Richardson, Polly Walker
Votes: 7,130 | Gross: $13.20M
27. Clarissa (1991)
156 min | Drama, History
A virtuous young woman is oppressed by her ambitious family and a rake who's becomes obsessed with her.
Stars: Sean Bean, Saskia Wickham, Jonny Phillips, Lynsey Baxter
Votes: 628
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