Gilded Age & Progressive Era America (1870-1913)
Films & series set in the late 19th century and early 20th century (North America).
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Related lists:
American Civil War
New Nation, Expansion & Reform America
Great War
Edwardian Britain
Victorian Britain
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108 titles
- StarsMegan FollowsColleen DewhurstRichard FarnsworthAn orphan girl, sent to an elderly brother and sister by mistake, charms her new home and community with her fiery spirit and imagination.
- CreatorBrian BirdMichael Landon Jr.StarsErin KrakowPascale HuttonJack WagnerElizabeth Thatcher, a young schoolteacher from a wealthy Eastern family, migrates from the big city to teach school in a small coal mining town in the west.
- CreatorJack AmielMichael BeglerStarsClive OwenAndré HollandJeremy BobbA look at the professional and personal lives of the staff at New York's Knickerbocker Hospital during the early part of the twentieth century.
- StarsAdrien BrodyKristen ConnollyEvan JonesFollow the man behind the magic as he finds fame, engages in espionage, battles spiritualists and encounters the greatest names of the era, from U.S. presidents to Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and Grigori Rasputin.
- StarsAbbie CornishMarton CsokasIan HartTwo childhood friends, Bill Haskell and Byron Epstein, embark on a journey to Klondike, Yukon, in hopes of discovering a fortune in a remote town.
- DirectorGraeme CampbellStarsJacqueline BissetHelene JoyTatiana MaslanyIn the late 1880's, a widowed mother of three struggles to keep her family intact and to put food on the table. The oldest daughter sends a letter to her estranged, very wealthy grandmother urging her assistance, much to her mother's disapproval. When the grandmother arrives, old wounds are opened but eventually healed. From a story by Louisa May Alcott. Stars Jacqueline Bisset, Ted Atherton, Tatiana Maslany, Helene Joy, Paula Boudreau, and Michael Barbuto.
- CreatorMaureen JenningsCal CoonsAlexandra ZarownyStarsYannick BissonHelene JoyThomas CraigIn the 1890s, William Murdoch uses radical forensic techniques for the time, including fingerprinting and trace evidence, to solve some of the city's most gruesome murders.
- StarsRobert DuvallThomas Haden ChurchGreta ScacchiA veteran cowboy and his nephew save five Chinese girls from prostitution while trekking from Oregon to Wyoming.
- DirectorNadia TassStarsAnnaSophia RobbJordan BridgesRebecca MaderSet in 1904, "American Girls" revolves around Samantha as she moves in with her grandmother and learns how to become a proper Victorian young lady.
- DirectorBobby RothStarsCari ShayneBrigitta DauPaul Anthony StewartA 19th-century woman, companion to a blue-blooded New England girl, falls for an aristocrat.
- DirectorJames KeachStarsRobert DuvallAidan QuinnFrances FisherA story of desperate search for oil.
- CreatorPatricia GreenStarsKellie MartinStewart Finlay-McLennanTyne DalyChristy tells the story of an idealistic nineteen year old who leaves the comforts of her city home to teach school in the impoverished Appalachian community of Cutter Gap, Tennessee in 1912.
- DirectorRichard DonnerStarsMel GibsonJodie FosterJames GarnerBret Maverick, needing money for a poker tournament, faces various comic mishaps and challenges, including a charming woman thief.
- DirectorEdward ZwickStarsBrad PittAnthony HopkinsAidan QuinnIn the early 1900s, three brothers and their father living in the remote wilderness of Montana are affected by betrayal, history, love, nature, and war.
- DirectorMartin ScorseseStarsDaniel Day-LewisMichelle PfeifferWinona RyderA tale of nineteenth-century New York high society in which a young lawyer falls in love with a woman separated from her husband, while he is engaged to the woman's cousin.
- DirectorJohn MaddenStarsLiam NeesonPatricia ArquetteGil RoodA new pastor arrives in a stark Vermont village and is intrigued by crippled, misshapen Ethan Frome living on an isolated, hardscrabble farm with his sickly wife Zeena.
- DirectorKenny OrtegaStarsChristian BaleBill PullmanRobert DuvallA musical based on the New York City newsboy strike of 1899. When young newspaper sellers are exploited beyond reason by their bosses they set out to enact change and are met by the ruthlessness of big business.
- DirectorGillian ArmstrongStarsDiane KeatonMel GibsonMatthew ModineDiane Keaton stars as a prison warden's wife who falls in love with a death row convict (Mel Gibson.) Believing he's innocent, she helps him and his convicted brother escape.
- DirectorJeannot SzwarcStarsChristopher ReeveJane SeymourChristopher PlummerA Chicago playwright uses self-hypnosis to travel back in time and meet the actress whose vintage portrait hangs in a grand hotel.
- DirectorLouis MalleStarsBrooke ShieldsKeith CarradineSusan SarandonA preteen girl lives as a prostitute in New Orleans in 1917.
- DirectorMelvin FrankStarsGeorge SegalGoldie HawnConrad JanisA female hustler is chasing after rich men, but becomes repeatedly mixed up with a suave con man and card shark through a series of misadventures before falling in love with him.
- DirectorPeter BogdanovichStarsCybill ShepherdBarry BrownCloris LeachmanIn this comedy of manners, Frederick Winterbourne tries to figure out the bright and bubbly Daisy Miller, only to be helped and hindered by false judgments from their fellow friends.
- DirectorGene KellyStarsBarbra StreisandWalter MatthauMichael CrawfordMatchmaker Dolly Levi travels to Yonkers to find a partner for "half-a-millionaire" Horace Vandergelder, convincing his niece, his niece's intended, and his two clerks to travel to New York City along the way.
- DirectorCharles WaltersStarsDebbie ReynoldsHarve PresnellEd BegleyA poor, uneducated mountain girl leaves her cabin in search of respect, a wealthy husband, and a better life in this fictionalized biopic of Margaret "Molly" Brown, who survived the 1912 sinking of the RMS Titanic.
- DirectorMorton DaCostaStarsRobert PrestonShirley JonesBuddy HackettTraveling con artist Harold Hill targets the naïve residents of a small town in 1910s Iowa by posing as a boys' band leader to raise money before he can skip town.Set in 1912.
- DirectorGeorge CukorStarsSophia LorenAnthony QuinnMargaret O'BrienStory of theatrical troupe that travels through the Old West.
- DirectorAnthony MannCharles WaltersStarsGlenn FordMaria SchellAnne BaxterThe Oklahoma Land Run of April 1889 sets the stage for an epic saga of a frontier adventurer, his wife and family and their friends.
- DirectorHenry LevinStarsClifton WebbDorothy McGuireCharles CoburnIn early 1900s' Pennsylvania, Mr. Pennypacker has two company offices and two families with a combined total of 17 children. With an office in Harrisburg and an office in Philadelphia, he has successfully kept two separate homes. However, when an emergency requires his oldest son to find him, Mr. Pennypacker's dual life is revealed.
- DirectorMichael CurtizStarsHumphrey BogartPeter UstinovAldo RayThree Devil's Island escapees hide out in the house of a kindly merchant and repay his kindness by helping him and his family out of several crises.
- DirectorFred ZinnemannStarsGordon MacRaeGloria GrahameGene NelsonIn Oklahoma, several farmers, cowboys and a traveling salesman compete for the romantic favors of various local ladies.
- DirectorOtto PremingerJean NegulescoStarsRobert MitchumMarilyn MonroeRory CalhounThe titular river unites a farmer recently released from prison, his young son, and an ambitious saloon singer. In order to survive, each must be purged of anger, and each must learn to understand and care for the others.
- DirectorWilliam WylerStarsLaurence OlivierJennifer JonesMiriam HopkinsA young girl from a provincial town learns the bitter reality of a big city and great love.
- DirectorRobert StevensonStarsRobert MitchumAva GardnerMelvyn DouglasBarbara Beaurevel lives with her aunt and cousin in New Orleans in the late 1800s. In love with Mark Lucas, a research doctor at Tulane University, her plans to marry him are thwarted. Barbara's family is of the high society stratum, but her late grandmother was not, and the connection with her is something Barbara's aunt is most anxious to conceal. After Barbara inherits a fortune from her grandmother's side of the family, she uses it to try to win back Mark.
- DirectorRoy RowlandStarsJane PowellRicardo MontalbanLouis CalhernThe Robinson girls vacation at a Catskills resort where older sister Patti pursues Demi Armendez despite parental disapproval. Patti's singing and dancing lead to a happy ending with Armendez.
- DirectorRobert Z. LeonardStarsJudy GarlandVan JohnsonS.Z. SakallIn turn-of-the century America, Andrew and Veronica are co-workers in a music shop who dislike one another during business hours but unwittingly carry on an anonymous romance through the mail.
- DirectorCharles WaltersStarsJudy GarlandFred AstairePeter LawfordA nightclub performer hires a naive chorus girl to become his new dance partner to make his former partner jealous and to prove he can make any partner a star.
- DirectorGeorge SeatonEdmund GouldingJohn M. StahlStarsBetty GrableDick HaymesAnne RevereIn the late 1800s, Miss Pilgrim, a young typist, becomes the first female employee at a Boston shipping office. Although the men object to her at first, she soon charms them all, especially the handsome young head of the company. Their romance gets sidetracked when she becomes involved in the women's suffrage movement.
- DirectorGeorge SidneyStarsJudy GarlandRay BolgerJohn HodiakOn a train trip West to become a mail-order bride, Susan Bradley (Judy Garland) meets a cheery crew of young women travelling out to open a "Harvey House" restaurant at a remote whistle-stop.
- DirectorIrving CummingsStarsBetty GrableJohn PayneJune HaverTwo sisters from Hungary become famous entertainers in the early 1900s. Fictionalized biography with lots of songs.
- DirectorVincente MinnelliStarsJudy GarlandMargaret O'BrienMary AstorYoung love and childish fears highlight a year in the life of a turn-of-the-century family.Set just before 1904.
- DirectorWalter LangStarsBetty GrableGeorge MontgomeryCesar RomeroSet at the turn of the century, smooth talking con man Eddie Johnson weasels his way into a job at friend and rival Joe Rocco's Coney Island night spot. Eddie meets the club's star attraction (and Joe's love interest), Kate Farley, a brash singer with a penchant for flashy clothes. Eddie and Kate argue as he tries to soften her image. Eventually, Kate becomes the toast of Coney Island and the two fall in love. Joe then tries to sabotage their marriage plans.
- DirectorH. Bruce HumberstoneStarsAlice FayeJohn PayneJack OakieIn turn-of-the-century San Francisco, an ambitious vaudevillian takes his quartet from a honky tonk to the big time, while spurning the love of his troupe's star singer for a selfish heiress.
- DirectorRaoul WalshStarsErrol FlynnAlexis SmithJack CarsonAs bare-knuckled boxing enters the modern era, brash extrovert, Jim Corbett, uses new rules and dazzlingly innovative footwork to rise to the top of the top of the boxing world.
- DirectorIrving CummingsBuster KeatonMalcolm St. ClairStarsAlice FayeDon AmecheJ. Edward BrombergStarting in 1913 movie director Connors discovers singer Molly Adair. As she becomes a star she marries an actor, so Connors fires them. She asks for him as director of her next film. Many silent stars shown making the transition to sound.
- DirectorHenry KingStarsTyrone PowerAlice FayeDon AmecheThe O'Leary brothers--honest Jack and roguish Dion--become powerful figures, and eventually rivals, in Chicago on the eve of its Great Fire.
- DirectorRobert Z. LeonardStarsWilliam PowellMyrna LoyLuise RainerThe ups and downs of Florenz Ziegfeld Jr., famed producer of extravagant stage revues, are portrayed.
- DirectorHoward HawksWilliam WylerRichard RossonStarsEdward ArnoldJoel McCreaFrances FarmerAn ambitious lumberjack abandons his saloon girl lover so that he can marry into wealth, but years later becomes infatuated with the woman's daughter.
- DirectorWesley RugglesStarsRichard DixIrene DunneEstelle TaylorA newspaper editor settles in an Oklahoma boom town with his reluctant wife at the end of the nineteenth century.
- StarsRobert DuvallTommy Lee JonesDanny GloverTwo former Texas Rangers renew their spirit of adventure as they and several other residents of a small Texas town join a cattle drive to the Montana Territory.
- DirectorWalter HillStarsJason PatricGene HackmanRobert DuvallThe story of the Apache chief and his armed resistance to the U.S. Government's subjugation of his people.
- DirectorGeorge P. CosmatosKevin JarreStarsKurt RussellVal KilmerSam ElliottA successful lawman's plans to retire anonymously in Tombstone, Arizona are disrupted by the kind of outlaws he was famous for eliminating.
- StarsJames GarnerSissy SpacekSam ShepardCaptain Woodrow Call, now retired from the Rangers, is a bounty hunter. He is hired by an eastern railroad baron to track down Joey Garza, a new breed of killer.
- StarsPeter OuterbridgeFlora MontgomeryMatthew MacFadzeanIn 1890s Canada, a police inspector applies the latest scientific methods of deduction, much to the chagrin of his superiors.
- DirectorGiuseppe TornatoreStarsTim RothPruitt Taylor VinceMélanie ThierryA baby boy discovered on an ocean liner in 1900 grows into a musical prodigy, never setting foot on land.
- DirectorPaul Thomas AndersonStarsDaniel Day-LewisPaul DanoCiarán HindsA story of family, religion, hatred, oil and madness, focusing on a turn-of-the-century prospector in the early days of the business.
- DirectorJohn TurturroStarsLeo BassiHenri BéharMaurizio BenazzoA turn-of-the-20th-century theatre repertory company rejects the latest project of their beloved playwright Tuccio, kicking off a saga of intrigue surrounding the influential critic Bevalaqua and star Celimene.
- DirectorGlenn JordanStarsGlenn CloseChristopher WalkenLexi RandallA single New England woman responds to an advertisement by a Midwestern widower in which he asks for a bride to help him raise his two children.
- DirectorNanci RossovStarsTembi LockeJay TavareChuma GaultThree Lakota Sioux men enroll in a historically black college, and their reluctance to assimilate causes friction between their black peers. Some come to embrace their similar history, while others remain bitter.
- DirectorLinda YellenStarsJacqueline BissetPeter WellerJulian SandsA young woman returns to her annual summer retreat and is reunited with a lover from the past. Their passion reignited, they make up for lost time. However, a younger visitor, intent on breaking up the couple, tries to woo the gentleman away. This causes a stir in the relationship, and adultery, jealousy, drama, and passion ensue.
- DirectorChristopher CainStarsEmilio EstevezKiefer SutherlandLou Diamond PhillipsA group of young gunmen, led by Billy the Kid, become deputies to avenge the murder of the rancher who became their benefactor. But when Billy takes their authority too far, they become the hunted.
- DirectorAnatole LitvakStarsErrol FlynnBette DavisAnita LouiseThree daughters of a small town pharmacist undergo trials and tribulations in their problematic marriages between 1904 and 1908.
- DirectorIrving RapperStarsBette DavisJohn DallNigel BruceA schoolteacher becomes the mentor of a talented young miner and seeks to get him into a university.
- DirectorErich von StroheimStarsGibson GowlandZasu PittsJean HersholtThe sudden fortune won from a lottery fans such destructive greed that it ruins the lives of the three people involved.
- DirectorCecil B. DeMilleStarsGary CooperMadeleine CarrollPaulette GoddardIn 1885, a Texas Ranger travels to Canada to arrest a trapper who's wanted for murder and who's stirring up the Natives in a rebellion against the Canadian government.
- DirectorGeorge SidneyStarsKathryn GraysonAva GardnerHoward KeelThe daughter of a riverboat captain falls in love with a charming gambler, but their fairy tale romance is threatened after his luck turns sour.
- DirectorKatja von GarnierStarsHilary SwankMargo MartindaleAnjelica HustonA little known, yet integral piece of American history: based on the lives of Alice Paul and Lucy Burns, two young radical women who were instrumental in getting women the right to vote in America.
- DirectorElia KazanStarsDorothy McGuireJoan BlondellJames DunnEncouraged by her idealistic if luckless father, a bright and imaginative young woman comes of age in a Brooklyn tenement during the early 1900s.
- DirectorRaoul WalshStarsJames CagneyOlivia de HavillandRita HayworthQuick-tempered yet likable Biff Grimes falls for the beautiful Virginia Brush, but he is not the only young man in the neighborhood who is smitten with her.
- DirectorA. Edward SutherlandStarsMae WestEdmund LoweCharles ButterworthAt the turn of the century, a con woman finds herself in trouble with the law while dealing with multiple suitors.
- DirectorHarry BeaumontStarsMarion DaviesLawrence GrayWalter CatlettA New York chorus girl's friends encourage her to pursue a handsome socialite.
- DirectorMichael CiminoStarsKris KristoffersonChristopher WalkenJohn HurtDuring the Johnson County War in 1890 Wyoming, a sheriff born into wealth does his best to protect immigrant farmers from rich cattle interests.
- DirectorCharles ChaplinStarsCharles ChaplinMack SwainTom MurrayA prospector goes to the Klondike during the 1890s gold rush in hopes of making his fortune, and is smitten with a girl he sees in a dance hall.
- StarsChristina RicciClea DuVallCole HauserFictionalized account of actual events and people surrounding Lizzie Andrew Borden after her controversial acquittal of the double murder of her father and stepmother in 1892.
- DirectorTerence DaviesStarsGillian AndersonDan AykroydEleanor BronA woman risks losing her chance of happiness with the only man she has ever loved.
- DirectorAlan ParkerStarsAnthony HopkinsBridget FondaMatthew BroderickA story about the ins and outs of one unusual health facility in the early twentieth century, run by the eccentric Dr. John Harvey Kellogg.
- DirectorRandal KleiserStarsEthan HawkeKlaus Maria BrandauerJedJack London's classic adventure story about the friendship developed between a Yukon gold hunter and the mixed dog-wolf he rescues from the hands of a man who mistreats him.
- StarsElizabeth McGovernLorelei KingCharles JenningsThese are the true stories of American heiresses who travelled to England to marry titled English men in the late 1800s.
- DirectorSam WoodStarsAnn SheridanRobert CummingsRonald ReaganThe dark side and hypocrisy of provincial American life is seen through the eyes of five children as they grow to adulthood at the turn of the century.
- DirectorHisako MatsuiStarsEmily MortimerKazuko YoshiyukiShidô NakamuraA film about the life and relationships of the early 20th century American educator, editor, and journalist Leonie Gilmour, the mother of the acclaimed artist and architect Isamu Noguchi.
- DirectorJoy ChapmanOwen SmithStarsDean JonesLexi JohnsonWilliam YeltonIn 1899, Mandie's life changes when her Cherokee friends help her escape to a mansion that holds the hidden secrets of her past and the key to her future.
- DirectorJoy ChapmanOwen SmithStarsDean JonesLexi JohnsonWilliam YeltonIn 1899, Mandie's life changes when her Cherokee friends help her escape to a mansion that holds the hidden secrets of her past and the key to her future.
- DirectorPete CircuittStarsNeil Patrick HarrisBea MillerJennifer Love HewittAn eight-year-old girl living in New York City in 1897 learns about belief and Christmas when her classmates question if Santa is even real.
- DirectorAndrew DominikStarsBrad PittCasey AffleckSam ShepardRobert Ford, who has idolized Jesse James since childhood, tries hard to join the resurgent gang of the Missouri outlaw, but gradually becomes resentful of the bandit leader.
- DirectorAlfonso ArauStarsMadeleine StoweBruce GreenwoodJonathan Rhys MeyersThe spoiled rotten and utterly unlikable rich kid George Amberson becomes horrified when his recently widowed mother rekindles her relationship with the wealthy Eugene Morgan, who she left decades earlier in order to marry George's father. As George struggles to sabotage his mother's new romance, he must deal with his own romantic feelings for Morgan's daughter and the consequences of his meddling as his once great family falls into ruin due to his machinations...
- DirectorMartin RittStarsSean ConneryRichard HarrisSamantha EggarIn 1876 Pennsylvania, a group of Irish immigrant coal miners begin to retaliate against the cruelty of their work environment.
- DirectorAkiva GoldsmanStarsColin FarrellJessica Brown FindlayRussell CroweA burglar falls for an heiress as she dies in his arms. When he learns that he has the gift of reincarnation, he sets out to save her.
- DirectorAndrew V. McLaglenStarsCharlton HestonJames CoburnBarbara HersheyIn 1909 Arizona, retired lawman Sam Burgade's life is turned upside-down when his old enemy Zach Provo and six other convicts escape a chain-gang in the Yuma Territorial Prison and come gunning for him.
- DirectorBlake EdwardsStarsTony CurtisNatalie WoodJack LemmonIn the early 20th century, two rivals, the heroic Leslie and the despicable Professor Fate, engage in an epic automobile race from New York to Paris.
- StarsBob HoskinsFrances de la TourFraser CainsArnie and Maud Cole are a very odd couple. She wanted a father for her unborn child, he needed the money middle-class Maud could provide. Together they negotiate the rough and tumble world of the silent movie business, with dreams of having their own production company. In the process, they become partners indeed.
- StarsRex AllenMason Alan DinehartRobert SwanThe adventures of a small town doctor working in the Arizona territory during the early 1900s.
- DirectorHenry HathawayStarsJohn WayneStewart GrangerErnie KovacsDuring the Alaska gold rush, prospector George sends partner Sam to Seattle to bring his fiancée but when it turns out that she married another man, Sam returns with a pretty substitute, the hostess of the Henhouse dance hall.
- DirectorAntoine FuquaStarsDenzel WashingtonChris PrattEthan HawkeSeven gunmen from a variety of backgrounds are brought together by a vengeful young widow to protect her town from the private army of a destructive industrialist.
- DirectorClint EastwoodStarsClint EastwoodGene HackmanMorgan FreemanRetired Old West gunslinger William Munny reluctantly takes on one last job, with the help of his old partner Ned Logan and a young man, The "Schofield Kid."
- StarsDaniel BrühlDakota FanningLuke EvansNewspaper illustrator John Moore meets with criminal psychologist (alienist) Dr. Laszlo Kreizler to investigate a serial killer in New York during the late 19th century.
- DirectorRon HowardStarsTommy Lee JonesCate BlanchettEvan Rachel WoodIn 1885 New Mexico, a frontier medicine woman forms an uneasy alliance with her estranged father when her daughter is kidnapped by an Apache brujo.
- DirectorOrson WellesFred FleckRobert WiseStarsTim HoltJoseph CottenDolores CostelloThe spoiled young heir to the decaying Amberson fortune comes between his widowed mother and the man she has always loved.
- DirectorAgnieszka HollandStarsJennifer Jason LeighAlbert FinneyMaggie SmithIn this adaptation of the Henry James novel set in 19th-century New York City, a wealthy spinster with an overbearing father is pursued by a handsome fortune hunter who may be only after her money.
- DirectorKristian LevringStarsMads MikkelsenEva GreenJeffrey Dean MorganIn 1870s America, the fury of a notorious gang leader is unleashed when a peaceful American settler avenges the death of his family. Then as his cowardly fellow townspeople betray him, he is forced to hunt down the outlaws alone.
- DirectorSam PeckinpahStarsWilliam HoldenErnest BorgnineRobert RyanAn aging group of outlaws look for one last big score as the "traditional" American West is disappearing around them.
- DirectorHoward HawksStarsJohn WayneDean MartinRicky NelsonA small-town sheriff in the American West enlists the help of a disabled man, a drunk, and a young gunfighter in his efforts to hold in jail the brother of the local bad guy.