My Collection: History/Period
by lonestarman | created - 26 Oct 2013 | updated - 20 Jan 2014 | PublicThis is a collection of historical or period dramas, TV shows and documentaries depicting moments in history. It will be updated as I add to my collection.
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1. A Man for All Seasons (1966)
G | 120 min | Biography, Drama, History
The story of Sir Thomas More, who stood up to King Henry VIII when the King rejected the Roman Catholic Church to obtain a divorce and remarry.
Director: Fred Zinnemann | Stars: Paul Scofield, Wendy Hiller, Robert Shaw, Leo McKern
Votes: 37,134 | Gross: $28.35M
2. 300 (2006)
R | 117 min | Action, Drama
In the ancient battle of Thermopylae, King Leonidas and 300 Spartans fight against Xerxes and his massive Persian army. They face insurmountable odds when they are betrayed by a Spartan reject.
Director: Zack Snyder | Stars: Gerard Butler, Lena Headey, David Wenham, Dominic West
Votes: 863,434 | Gross: $210.61M
3. A Night to Remember (1958)
Not Rated | 123 min | Drama, History
On her maiden voyage in April 1912, the supposedly unsinkable RMS Titanic strikes an iceberg in the Atlantic Ocean.
Director: Roy Ward Baker | Stars: Kenneth More, Ronald Allen, Robert Ayres, Honor Blackman
Votes: 17,137
4. A Royal Affair (2012)
R | 137 min | Biography, Drama, History
A young queen, who is married to an insane king, falls secretly in love with her physician - and together they start a revolution that changes a nation forever.
Director: Nikolaj Arcel | Stars: Alicia Vikander, Mads Mikkelsen, Mikkel Boe Følsgaard, Trine Dyrholm
Votes: 50,699 | Gross: $1.55M
5. American Graffiti (1973)
PG | 110 min | Comedy, Drama
A group of teenagers in California's central valley spend one final night after their 1962 high school graduation cruising the strip with their buddies before they pursue their varying goals.
Director: George Lucas | Stars: Richard Dreyfuss, Ron Howard, Paul Le Mat, Charles Martin Smith
Votes: 98,037 | Gross: $115.00M
6. Amistad (1997)
R | 155 min | Biography, Drama, History
In 1839, the revolt of Mende captives aboard a Spanish owned ship causes a major controversy in the United States when the ship is captured off the coast of Long Island. The courts must decide whether the Mende are slaves or legally free.
Director: Steven Spielberg | Stars: Djimon Hounsou, Matthew McConaughey, Anthony Hopkins, Morgan Freeman
Votes: 82,703 | Gross: $44.18M
7. Anna Karenina (1985 TV Movie)
PG | 135 min | Drama, Romance
Tragic Anna leaves her cold husband for dashing Count Vronsky in 19th-century Russia.
Director: Simon Langton | Stars: Jacqueline Bisset, Christopher Reeve, Paul Scofield, Ian Ogilvy
Votes: 370
8. Anne of the Thousand Days (1969)
PG | 145 min | Biography, Drama, History
King Henry VIII of England discards one wife, Catharine of Aragon, who has failed to produce a male heir, in favor of the young and beautiful Anne Boleyn.
Director: Charles Jarrott | Stars: Richard Burton, Geneviève Bujold, Irene Papas, Anthony Quayle
Votes: 8,105 | Gross: $2.07M
9. Bleak House (2005)
TV-PG | 30 min | Crime, Drama
A suspenseful tale about the injustices of the 19th Century English legal system.
Stars: Anna Maxwell Martin, Carey Mulligan, Denis Lawson, Gillian Anderson
Votes: 10,607
10. Bobby (I) (2006)
R | 117 min | Biography, Drama, History
The story of the assassination of U.S. Senator Robert F. Kennedy, who was shot in the early morning hours of June 5, 1968 in the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles, California, and twenty-two people in the hotel, whose lives were never the same.
Director: Emilio Estevez | Stars: Anthony Hopkins, Demi Moore, Sharon Stone, Harry Belafonte
Votes: 42,803 | Gross: $11.24M
11. Camelot: The Legend (1998 Video)
Not Rated | 70 min | Animation, Musical
The legend of Guinevere and Lancelot, retold as a loopy, animated musical.
Director: William R. Kowalchuk Jr. | Stars: Long John Baldry, Kathleen Barr, Garry Chalk, Jason Gray-Stanford
Votes: 28
12. Catherine the Great (1995 TV Movie)
100 min | Biography, Drama, History
Trapped in a loveless arranged marriage to the immature future Czar, a young German Princess proves a skillful political infighter and rises to become Catherine the Great.
Directors: Marvin J. Chomsky, John Goldsmith | Stars: Catherine Zeta-Jones, Paul McGann, Ian Richardson, Brian Blessed
Votes: 1,347
13. Cleopatra (1963)
G | 192 min | Biography, Drama, History
Queen Cleopatra VII of Egypt experiences both triumph and tragedy as she attempts to resist the imperial ambitions of Rome.
Directors: Joseph L. Mankiewicz, Rouben Mamoulian | Stars: Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Burton, Rex Harrison, Pamela Brown
Votes: 37,378 | Gross: $57.78M
14. Cousin Bette (1971)
250 min | Comedy, Drama
A poor and homely spinster, who feels she's been walked on all her life, teams up with a scheming courtesan to wreak elaborate revenge on her rich and handsome relatives.
Stars: Margaret Tyzack, Thorley Walters, Helen Mirren, Ursula Howells
Votes: 205
15. Danger UXB (1979)
60 min | Action, Drama, History
The series chronicles the exploits of the fictional Royal Engineer Tunnelling Company 97, which has been made a bomb disposal unit to deal with the thousands of unexploded bombs ("UXBs") in London during the Battle of Britain.
Stars: Anthony Andrews, Maurice Roëves, George Innes, Gordon Kane
Votes: 1,075
16. Downton Abbey (2010–2015)
TV-PG | 60 min | Drama, Romance
A chronicle of the lives of the British aristocratic Crawley family and their servants in the early twentieth century.
Stars: Hugh Bonneville, Phyllis Logan, Elizabeth McGovern, Brendan Coyle
Votes: 224,611
17. Doctor Zhivago (1965)
PG-13 | 197 min | Drama, Romance, War
The life of a Russian physician and poet who, although married to another, falls in love with a political activist's wife and experiences hardship during World War I and then the October Revolution.
Director: David Lean | Stars: Omar Sharif, Julie Christie, Geraldine Chaplin, Rod Steiger
Votes: 82,008 | Gross: $111.72M
18. Elizabeth: The Golden Age (2007)
PG-13 | 114 min | Biography, Drama, History
A mature Queen Elizabeth endures multiple crises late in her reign including court intrigues, an assassination plot, the Spanish Armada, and romantic disappointments.
Director: Shekhar Kapur | Stars: Cate Blanchett, Clive Owen, Geoffrey Rush, Jordi Mollà
Votes: 75,015 | Gross: $16.29M
19. Exodus (1960)
Approved | 208 min | Action, Drama, War
The State of Israel is created in 1948, resulting in war with its Arab neighbors.
Director: Otto Preminger | Stars: Paul Newman, Eva Marie Saint, Ralph Richardson, Peter Lawford
Votes: 11,368 | Gross: $18.97M
20. Fall of Eagles (1974)
50 min | Drama, History, War
The collapse of three great European dynasties: the Romanovs, the Habsburgs, and the Hohenzollerns.
Stars: Michael Hordern, Charles Kay, Barry Foster, Gayle Hunnicutt
Votes: 667
21. Geronimo (1962)
Approved | 101 min | Action, Biography, Drama
In 1880s Arizona, General Crook and his troops are trying to subdue the last tribe of Apache led by Geronimo.
Director: Arnold Laven | Stars: Chuck Connors, Kamala Devi, Pat Conway, Armando Silvestre
Votes: 1,301
22. Henry V (1989)
PG-13 | 137 min | Biography, Drama, History
In the midst of the Hundred Years War, the young King Henry V of England embarks on the conquest of France in 1415.
Director: Kenneth Branagh | Stars: Kenneth Branagh, Derek Jacobi, Simon Shepherd, James Larkin
Votes: 31,635 | Gross: $10.16M
23. The House of Windsor (1994)
30 min | Comedy
Max Kelvin, PR man, is hired by Prince Charles to change the image of the Monarchy. His first task is to tackle the web of intrigue spun by the staff of Buckingham Palace under the lead of Lord Bermondsey.
Stars: Leslie Phillips, Warren Clarke, Neil Stacy, Serena Gordon
24. I, Claudius (1976)
Not Rated | 50 min | Biography, Drama, History
The personal and governmental affairs of the Julio-Claudian dynasty at the beginning of the Roman Empire, as recalled by one of its rulers.
Stars: Derek Jacobi, John Hurt, Siân Phillips, Brian Blessed
Votes: 19,345
25. Invictus (2009)
PG-13 | 134 min | Biography, Drama, History
Nelson Mandela, in his first term as President of South Africa, initiates a unique venture to unite the Apartheid-torn land: enlist the national rugby team on a mission to win the 1995 Rugby World Cup.
Director: Clint Eastwood | Stars: Morgan Freeman, Matt Damon, Tony Kgoroge, Patrick Mofokeng
Votes: 167,790 | Gross: $37.49M
26. Jane Eyre (2006)
TV-PG | 58 min | Drama, Romance
A young governess falls in love with her brooding and complex master. However, his dark past may destroy their relationship forever.
Stars: Ruth Wilson, Toby Stephens, Lorraine Ashbourne, Aidan McArdle
Votes: 22,352
27. Jude (1996)
R | 123 min | Drama, Romance
In late 1800s England, Jude plans to go to the city and attend university but marries early and becomes a stonemason. When his wife leaves, he moves to the city, where he befriends his liberal cousin Sue.
Director: Michael Winterbottom | Stars: Christopher Eccleston, Kate Winslet, Liam Cunningham, Rachel Griffiths
Votes: 11,114 | Gross: $0.41M
28. The Last of the Mohicans (1992)
R | 112 min | Action, Adventure, Drama
Three trappers protect the daughters of a British Colonel in the midst of the French and Indian War.
Director: Michael Mann | Stars: Daniel Day-Lewis, Madeleine Stowe, Russell Means, Eric Schweig
Votes: 187,434 | Gross: $75.51M
29. Lincoln (2012)
PG-13 | 150 min | Biography, Drama, History
As the Civil War rages on, U.S President Abraham Lincoln struggles with continuing carnage on the battlefield as he fights with many inside his own cabinet on his decision to emancipate the slaves.
Director: Steven Spielberg | Stars: Daniel Day-Lewis, Sally Field, David Strathairn, Joseph Gordon-Levitt
Votes: 272,453 | Gross: $182.21M
30. Little Dorrit (2008)
TV-PG | 34 min | Drama, Mystery, Romance
The Dorrits are a family whose life revolves around the Marshalsea, a debtor's prison. Amy Dorrit's kind nature brings the family into contact with a wide swath of English society, from the poorest to the richest, and back again.
Stars: Matthew Macfadyen, Claire Foy, Tom Courtenay, Judy Parfitt
Votes: 10,466
31. The Molly Maguires (1970)
M | 124 min | Drama, History
In 1876 Pennsylvania, a group of Irish immigrant coal miners begin to retaliate against the cruelty of their work environment.
Director: Martin Ritt | Stars: Sean Connery, Richard Harris, Samantha Eggar, Frank Finlay
Votes: 4,333 | Gross: $0.22M
32. Princes in the Tower (2005 TV Movie)
Not Rated | 120 min | Drama
Sixteen years after the presumed deaths of the two boy princes held captive in the Tower, Perkin Warbeck makes his claim to the throne as the rightful King Richard. Did the younger brother ... See full summary »
Director: Justin Hardy | Stars: Mark Umbers, John Castle, Roger Hammond, Sally Edwards
Votes: 139
33. Richard III (1995)
R | 110 min | Drama, Sci-Fi, War
The classic Shakespearean play about the murderously scheming 15th-century king is reimagined in an alternative setting of 1930s England as clouds of fascism gather.
Director: Richard Loncraine | Stars: Ian McKellen, Annette Bening, Christopher Bowen, Edward Jewesbury
Votes: 15,559 | Gross: $2.60M
34. Shogun (1980)
TV-MA | 109 min | Adventure, Drama, History
An English navigator becomes both a player and pawn in the complex political games in feudal Japan.
Stars: Richard Chamberlain, Toshirô Mifune, Yôko Shimada, Furankî Sakai
Votes: 15,412
35. The Six Wives of Henry VIII (1970)
540 min | Drama, History, Romance
A six-episode dramatization of Henry VIII's relationships with each of his six wives. Each episode is devoted to one wife, and is a complete play in itself.
Stars: Keith Michell, Anthony Quayle, Patrick Troughton, Bernard Hepton
Votes: 1,454
36. The Duchess of Duke Street (1976–1977)
TV-PG | 50 min | Drama
Louisa Trotter works her way up from being a skivvy to being the queen of cooks, cook to the King, and owner of the Bentinck Hotel. Her life and happenings among the guests and staff of the hotel make up the 31 episodes.
Stars: Gemma Jones, Victoria Plucknett, John Welsh, John Cater
Votes: 1,539
37. The First Churchills (1969)
564 min | Biography, Drama, History
The lives of John Churchill, the first Duke of Marlborough, and his wife Sarah.
Stars: John Neville, Susan Hampshire, John Standing, Robert Robinson
Votes: 271
38. The Lion in Winter (1968)
PG | 134 min | Biography, Drama, History
1183 A.D.: King Henry II's three sons all want to inherit the throne, but he won't commit to a choice. When he allows his imprisoned wife Eleanor of Aquitaine out for a Christmas visit, they all variously plot to force him into a decision.
Director: Anthony Harvey | Stars: Peter O'Toole, Katharine Hepburn, Anthony Hopkins, John Castle
Votes: 34,185 | Gross: $22.28M
39. The Mayor of Casterbridge (1978)
TV-14 | 350 min | Drama
In a drunken and disheartened state, Michael Henchard sells his wife at a fair. When he becomes sober again, he realizes what he has done, and though unable to find his wife and child, ... See full summary »
Stars: Alan Bates, Janet Maw, Jack Galloway, Anna Massey
Votes: 344
40. The Virgin Queen (2005–2006)
59 min | Biography, Drama, History
From teenage princess to accomplished queen, torn between duty and personal longing, the reign of Elizabeth I is exposed in this lavish drama filmed against a backdrop of some of Great Britain's most beautiful houses and landscapes.
Stars: Anne-Marie Duff, Sienna Guillory, Ian Hart, Tom Hardy
Votes: 3,275
41. Thirteen Days (2000)
PG-13 | 145 min | Drama, History, Thriller
In October 1962, the Kennedy administration struggles to contain the Cuban Missile Crisis.
Director: Roger Donaldson | Stars: Kevin Costner, Bruce Greenwood, Shawn Driscoll, Drake Cook
Votes: 62,646 | Gross: $34.59M
42. To the Ends of the Earth (2005)
267 min | Drama
In 1812, young British aristocrat Edmund Talbot travels by ship to Australia, and learns more about himself and about life than he had ever bargained for.
Stars: Benedict Cumberbatch, Jared Harris, Jamie Sives, Richard McCabe
Votes: 2,591
43. Upstairs, Downstairs (1971–1975)
TV-14 | 60 min | Drama
The lives and fortunes of the Bellamy family and their below-stairs servant staff at 165 Eaton Place play out against the social, political and historical backdrop of Edwardian London from 1903 to 1930.
Stars: Gordon Jackson, David Langton, Jean Marsh, Angela Baddeley
Votes: 3,561
44. Julius Caesar (1970)
G | 117 min | Drama, History, War
The growing ambition of Julius Caesar is a source of major concern to his close friend Brutus. Cassius persuades him to participate in his plot to assassinate Caesar, but they have both sorely underestimated Mark Antony.
Director: Stuart Burge | Stars: Charlton Heston, Jason Robards, John Gielgud, Richard Johnson
Votes: 1,996
45. The Fall of the Roman Empire (1964)
Approved | 188 min | Drama, History, War
The death of Marcus Aurelius leads to a succession crisis, in which the deceased emperor's son, Commodus, demonstrates that he is unwilling to let anything undermine his claim to the Roman Empire.
Director: Anthony Mann | Stars: Sophia Loren, Stephen Boyd, Alec Guinness, James Mason
Votes: 10,137 | Gross: $4.75M
46. Amistad (1997)
R | 155 min | Biography, Drama, History
In 1839, the revolt of Mende captives aboard a Spanish owned ship causes a major controversy in the United States when the ship is captured off the coast of Long Island. The courts must decide whether the Mende are slaves or legally free.
Director: Steven Spielberg | Stars: Djimon Hounsou, Matthew McConaughey, Anthony Hopkins, Morgan Freeman
Votes: 82,703 | Gross: $44.18M
47. The Forsyte Saga (2002–2003)
TV-PG | 276 min | Drama, History, Romance
Chronicles the lives of three generations of the upper-middle-class British family, the Forsytes, from the 1870s to 1920.
Stars: Damian Lewis, Rupert Graves, Gina McKee, Amanda Root
Votes: 6,538
48. Executive Action (1973)
PG | 91 min | Crime, Drama, History
Rogue intelligence agents, right-wing politicians, greedy capitalists, and free-lance assassins plot and carry out the JFK assassination.
Director: David Miller | Stars: Burt Lancaster, Robert Ryan, Will Geer, Gilbert Green
Votes: 3,239
Another JFK drama piece
49. World Without End (2012)
TV-MA | 47 min | Drama, Romance, Thriller
The English town of Kingsbridge works to survive as the King leads the nation into the Hundred Years' War with France while Europe deals with the outbreak of the Black Death.
Stars: Ben Chaplin, Charlotte Riley, Nora Waldstätten, Oliver Jackson-Cohen
Votes: 9,130
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