Any period film aficionados here?

[hermione]

My sister and I are really into period films these days - mostly movies based on classic British 18th-19th century literature with lots of nice costumes, pretty ladies and charming gentlemen, horses and carriages, green country estates, etc. Our favorites are Jane Austen - Emma, Pride and Prejudice, Sense and Sensibility, Mansfield Park, North & South (based on a novel by Elizabeth Gaskell), and Nicholas Nickleby.

Anyone out there also enjoy these types of films? Any favorites and recommendations?

[Looby]

I love period films, I think the BBC excels at these, my favourite of all time is their Pride and Prejudice (the Colin Firth one) Mr Collins is perfect in that. Recently they showed a short series called Cranford, which I haven't seen yet but has got excellent reviews, I'm going to have to cave and order the DVD, it has Judi Dench, Imelda Staunton and Michael Gambon. They also recently did Sense and Sensibility with the
same director as P&P (Andrew Davies) I quite liked it but I'm afraid the Alan Rickman, Emma Thompson version is still my favourite. Also I'm not sure which version of Emma you have seen but if it was the Gwyneth Paltrow one I recommend looking for the Kate Beckinsale version (also an Andrew Davies dramatisation) I think it's much better. I think my weekend will be given over to period dramas now!

[purplefdu]

I've always loved period dramas but I hate ones based around the books, as they never seem to turn out quite the way they were in my head. Yeah I read old drab books too, lol. One of my favorites was a PBS special on Anne Boyle. Can't recall the name but the costuming on PBS pieces is always amazing. I call it research though as I'd like to make my own Renaissance Faire costume, and like to get different ideas as to colors.

[amandajane]

Originally Posted by hermione

My sister and I are really into period films these days - mostly movies based on classic British 18th-19th century literature with lots of nice costumes, pretty ladies and charming gentlemen, horses and carriages, green country estates, etc. Our favorites are Jane Austen - Emma, Pride and Prejudice, Sense and Sensibility, Mansfield Park, North & South (based on a novel by Elizabeth Gaskell), and Nicholas Nickleby.

Anyone out there also enjoy these types of films? Any favorites and recommendations?

I can't think of any films other than BBC1 playhouse movies. They show here on a Sunday and sometimes Monday evening.

Do you get The Tudors over there? I'm waiting for it to come back after a Christmas break.

[charleybrown]

I Loooove period films... especially from that era! A couple months ago, I started a website to gather all the information I could about all the British films and miniseries that I've enjoyed over the years. My favourites are virtually the same as your list - the only one I can think of that you didn't mention is Wives and Daughters...I'm totally enthralled with that one! I've included other films in my website that aren't British like Anne of Green Gables and movies from other eras and countries. I'm always looking for someone to compare notes with since none of my friends seem to appreciate this genre...ahhh, such a pity!
One recommendation I would give if you live in the States, is to check out the new movie Miss Austen Regrets, this Sunday on PBS. You can check out my site (Enchanted Serenity of Period Films) and let me know what you think. I'm always looking for other movies that I haven't discovered yet!

[hermione]

Wow, it's great to find people who share our interest in period films!

Originally Posted by Looby

I love period films, I think the BBC excels at these, my favourite of all time is their Pride and Prejudice (the Colin Firth one) Mr Collins is perfect in that. Recently they showed a short series called Cranford, which I haven't seen yet but has got excellent reviews, I'm going to have to cave and order the DVD, it has Judi Dench, Imelda Staunton and Michael Gambon. They also recently did Sense and Sensibility with the same director as P&P (Andrew Davies) I quite liked it but I'm afraid the Alan Rickman, Emma Thompson version is still my favourite. Also I'm not sure which version of Emma you have seen but if it was the Gwyneth Paltrow one I recommend looking for the Kate Beckinsale version (also an Andrew Davies dramatisation) I think it's much better. I think my weekend will be given over to period dramas now!

We love both the BBC Pride & Prejudice with Colin Firth and the new one starring Keira Knightley. Mr. Collins is great in both films, I think. I haven't heard of Cranford, but will definitely check it out. We love the Sense & Sensibility with Alan Rickman and Emma Thompson; in fact that was one of the films that got us into period films. We have the Gwyneth Paltrow Emma, and have seen the one with Kate Beckinsale, but it was a long time ago. We'll have to see it again to refresh our memories.

Originally Posted by purplefdu

I Can't recall the name but the costuming on PBS pieces is always amazing. I call it research though as I'd like to make my own Renaissance Faire costume, and like to get different ideas as to colors.

We love the costuming too; in fact we have a dog clothing and costume business so we're always looking at costumes in movies for ideas.

Originally Posted by charleybrown

I Loooove period films... especially from that era! A couple months ago, I started a website to gather all the information I could about all the British films and miniseries that I've enjoyed over the years. My favourites are virtually the same as your list - the only one I can think of that you didn't mention is Wives and Daughters...I'm totally enthralled with that one! I've included other films in my website that aren't British like Anne of Green Gables and movies from other eras and countries. I'm always looking for someone to compare notes with since none of my friends seem to appreciate this genre...ahhh, such a pity!
One recommendation I would give if you live in the States, is to check out the new movie Miss Austen Regrets, this Sunday on PBS. You can check out my site (Enchanted Serenity of Period Films) and let me know what you think. I'm always looking for other movies that I haven't discovered yet!

You're website looks great, I'll have to explore it more when I have a bit more time. Wives and Daughters is one of the ones I'm interested in seeing, after recently getting and loving North & South. We'll have to wait a while before we can indulge in buying it. I'll check out Miss Austen Regrets too; we don't have cable so we'll have to wait for the DVD. We watched Anne of Green Gablesyears ago as kids and would love to have those films on DVD some day.

As for recommendations, we recently got the film The Hanging Gale starring Michael Kitchen and the McGann brothers (Paul McGann from the Horatio Hornblower movies, which we also love). It's not a lighthearted, pretty period piece; on the contrary it's quite dark, but excellent. It's about an Irish families struggles during the potato blight. Highly recommended.

[charleybrown]

I think it's neat that you say Sense and Sensibility got you started on period movies cuz that was the one that did it for me too! I watched it with my sister so that made it even better! After seeing it, I read Pride and Prejudice and then watched P&P and loved it (the one with Colin Firth and Jennifer Ehle of course!)

I don't have cable either but I'm thinking of ordering the new 2008 miniseries of Sense and Sensibility from PBS which apparently comes with Miss Austen Regrets.

I'll have to look into The Hanging Gale and I haven't seen Horatio Hornblower either...right now I have a list that's getting longer of DVD's I wish to own and Amazing Grace (with Ioan Gruffudd) is one of the top ones I'd like to see.

As for Looby preferring Kate Beckinsale's Emma over the one with Gwyneth Paltrow means that I'll have to check it out again. When I saw it years ago, I thought that Kate was not that likeable as Emma but I thought Gwyneth portrayed an adorable Emma but I'll watch it again I'm sure.

I'll have to check out your costumes!

[hermione]

charleybrown, we felt the same as you about the Emma with Kate Beckinsale, but it could have been because we were still new to period films then, that's why I'd like to see it again.

We've been considering ordering the PBS Jane Austen films too, though some of the reviews on Amazon seem disappointing. We'll probably eventually get them too, though.

We got the Horatio Hornblower movies for Christmas and it instantly became one of our most favorites (I say "most favorites" because we have many favorites). I'd like to see Amazing Grace too someday. The film that got us interested in Horatio Hornblower was Master and Commander: Far Side of the World starring Russell Crowe and Paul Bettany, who is one of our favorite actors. We fell in love with the Royal Navy costumes and ships, and so the Hornblower movies were a must after seeing that. And there are 800 minutes worth of Hornblower movies (we love long movies)!

Oh, have you seen "A History of Tom Jones, A Foundling" based on the novel by Henry Fielding? That's another of our favorites.

If you'd like to check out our dog clothing, our website is http://frangadesigns.com

[indieretailer]

Wow! I was just thinking of period movies when I was driving down the freeway!

In addition to the period movies, I enjoyed the reality series shown on PBS --- Regency Party House, and The Manor House.

charleybrown--I love your website!

[hermione]

Originally Posted by amandajane

Do you get The Tudors over there? I'm waiting for it to come back after a Christmas break.

I think we do get The Tudors here in the States, but as I don't get cable, I've never seen it. I've read a few reviews of the series on Amazon and am a little curious. Perhaps next time someone sends me an Amazon Gift certificate (argh! my computer keyboard's capital c [shift + c] just broke!) ...

Oh has anyone here seen the George Eliot Movies? Daniel Deronda, Middlemarch, Silas Marner? I've been coveting the George Eliot collection for a while. Almost 1000 minutes of period movies for $35...