# Any costume dramas set between 1816 and 1860? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 5, 2013, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-costume-dramas-set-between-1816-and-1860/654946 "2013-04-05T19:59:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Dangerosa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Dangerosa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dangerosa)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2013, 1:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-costume-dramas-set-between-1816-and-1860/654946/21 "2013-04-06T13:51:29Z")
> [@Miss\_Mapp](#): > > All the versions of Jane Eyre I have, film or miniseries, are set in the 1830s. Wuthering Heights as well. The Bronte’s weren’t writing Science Fiction. ---
**Author:** ![Renifer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/71c47a/32.png) [@Renifer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Renifer)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2013, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-costume-dramas-set-between-1816-and-1860/654946/22 "2013-04-06T15:43:50Z")
The Raven or any movie about Edgar Allan Poe. Or any movie adaptations of his stories, any major one except “The Pit and the Pendulum” is generally thought to be contemporary to his lifetime. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2013, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-costume-dramas-set-between-1816-and-1860/654946/23 "2013-04-06T18:28:34Z")
> [@Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](#): > > Both _Tom Sawyer_ and _Huckleberry Finn_ count. Technically, they’re not what are considered [costume dramas](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Costume_drama)". [The Costumer’s Guide](http://costumersguide.com/) has a good list. It looks like this [site](http://enchantedserenityperiodfilms.blogspot.com/) might help too. ---
**Author:** ![lokij](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/5e9695/32.png) [@lokij](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lokij)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2013, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-costume-dramas-set-between-1816-and-1860/654946/24 "2013-04-06T19:44:05Z")
[Amistad](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amistad_(film)) springs to mind. The miniseries [Shaka Zulu](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shaka_Zulu_(TV_series)), any of the movies or series based on Moby Dick, [Jeremiah Johnson](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeremiah_Johnson_(film)), ['The Last Confession of Alexander Pearce](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Last_Confession_of_Alexander_Pearce)… tons of movies. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2013, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-costume-dramas-set-between-1816-and-1860/654946/25 "2013-04-06T20:23:18Z")
> [@gallows\_fodder](#): > > Elizabeth Gaskell’s **North and South** (novel and BBC miniseries) was published in 1855 and the action is set in that time, too. > > **Eugene Onegin** (Pushkin’s novel in verse, later opera and film) was published between 1825 and 1833 and set in the 1820s. **Queen of Spades,** also by Pushkin, was a short story made into several movies, set in the 1830’s. And yes, they wore costumes. ---
**Author:** ![David\_H\_Singanas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ac8455/32.png) [@David\_H\_Singanas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/David_H_Singanas)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2013, 10:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-costume-dramas-set-between-1816-and-1860/654946/26 "2013-04-16T10:40:49Z")
Judy Davis, achieving stardom with My Brilliant Career, went on to make a film about the life of George Eliot. I think it was more of a comedy than a drama. It was released in the art house circuit. ---
**Author:** ![SanVito](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sanvito/32/2805_2.png) [@SanVito](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SanVito)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2013, 10:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-costume-dramas-set-between-1816-and-1860/654946/27 "2013-04-16T10:55:01Z")
> [@Miss\_Mapp](#): > > The miniseries of Middlemarch is also set during the 1830s and features a pre-Reform local election and the coming of the railways to a midlands English county among its numerous other plot elements. This was a fantastic series. It was a BBC series, if I recall. Rufus Sewell’s breakthrough piece. ---
**Author:** ![salinqmind](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3ec8ea/32.png) [@salinqmind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/salinqmind)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2013, 1:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-costume-dramas-set-between-1816-and-1860/654946/28 "2013-04-16T13:18:50Z")
I don’t know if it’s considered a drama, per se, it’s mostly comedy, but I love the 1940 film of Pride and Prejudice with Greer Garson so much, I just have to mention it. The book was written in 1813 but the movie was set 30 or more years later, because the fashions of the later time were much more fussy and flamboyant (and looked better on screen) than those fashions in the original time period. Poldark (from the 70’s) began in the late 1700’s, in Cornwall, but it went on for so long that by the end of the TV series it may have progressed to 1816! The books went on for years and years and years. ---
**Author:** ![commasense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/commasense/32/3017_2.png) [@commasense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/commasense)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2013, 2:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-costume-dramas-set-between-1816-and-1860/654946/29 "2013-04-17T02:56:55Z")
Not just _Pride and Prejudice_, but Jane Austen’s five other novels were all written and published between 1811 and 1818, and can be considered contemporary to that period. So depending on how persnickety the OP wants to be about the lower end of his range, he could count all six or just the last three, \*Emma, Northanger Abbey, \* and _Persuasion_, which were published in or after 1816. \*P & P, Sense and Sensibility, \*and _Emma_ are her best, IMHO. ---
**Author:** ![commasense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/commasense/32/3017_2.png) [@commasense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/commasense)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2013, 3:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-costume-dramas-set-between-1816-and-1860/654946/30 "2013-04-17T03:05:36Z")
n.m. ---
**Author:** ![Toucanna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3bc359/32.png) [@Toucanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Toucanna)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2013, 1:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-costume-dramas-set-between-1816-and-1860/654946/31 "2013-06-15T01:41:00Z")
[QUOTE=hogarth] Another much-adapted story from that era is The Count of Monte Cristo (which doesn’t involve real historical figures, of course). [/QUOTE] Sorry to reanimate this, but… In the first chapter of TCoMC, Edmond Dantes tells M. Morrel that he (Dantes) spoke with “the Emperor”, i.e., Napoleon, on the island of Elba: “Your pardon, M. Morrel,” said Dantes, approaching, “the vessel now rides at anchor, and I am at your service. You hailed me, I think?”… “I wished to inquire why you stopped at the Island of Elba?” “I do not know, sir; it was to fulfil the last instructions of Captain Leclere, who, when dying, gave me a packet for Marshal Bertrand.” “Then did you see him, Edmond?” “Who?” “The marshal.” “Yes.” Morrel looked around him, and then, drawing Dantes on one side, he said suddenly–“And how is the emperor?” “Very well, as far as I could judge from the sight of him.” “You saw the emperor, then?” “He entered the marshal’s apartment while I was there.” “And you spoke to him?” “Why, it was he who spoke to me, sir,” said Dantes, with a smile. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2013, 3:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-costume-dramas-set-between-1816-and-1860/654946/32 "2013-06-15T03:45:55Z")
_Django Unchained_ It counts because of that blue suit. ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Tildrum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e95f7d/32.png) [@Tom\_Tildrum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Tildrum)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2013, 5:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-costume-dramas-set-between-1816-and-1860/654946/33 "2013-06-15T05:20:38Z")
_Seven Brides For Seven Brothers_ was set in 1850, although I guess it’s a romance rather than a drama. ---
**Author:** ![tomcar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7993a0/32.png) [@tomcar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomcar)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2013, 1:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-costume-dramas-set-between-1816-and-1860/654946/34 "2013-06-15T13:06:23Z")
Gangs of New York is set in 63 but flashes back to that era and deals with those issues in general. ---
**Author:** ![BrotherCadfael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@BrotherCadfael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrotherCadfael)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2013, 2:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-costume-dramas-set-between-1816-and-1860/654946/35 "2013-06-15T14:18:28Z")
The Scarlett Pimpernel, in its various incarnations, seems to qualify. ---
**Author:** ![Prof.Pepperwinkle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/prof.pepperwinkle/32/13627_2.png) [@Prof.Pepperwinkle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Prof.Pepperwinkle)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2013, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-costume-dramas-set-between-1816-and-1860/654946/36 "2013-06-15T14:48:10Z")
You may be interested in this thread: [The best movie set in every year… but not made in that year.](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=691069). Moonchild & Co. have been working on it industriously. ---
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2013, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-costume-dramas-set-between-1816-and-1860/654946/37 "2013-06-15T22:16:27Z")
I’m fond of “Our American Cousin” – the play that Abraham Lincoln saw only part of. It’s a delightful little comedy of manners. I don’t know if it counts as a “costume drama,” but, of course, it would be a costumed performance. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2013, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-costume-dramas-set-between-1816-and-1860/654946/38 "2013-06-15T23:16:10Z")
> [@Prof.Pepperwinkle](#): > > You may be interested in this thread: [The best movie set in every year… but not made in that year.](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=691069). Moonchild & Co. have been working on it industriously. And just to provide the movies from the period in question: > [@](#): > > 1816 Gothic > 1817 Princess Caraboo > 1827 Children of Paradise > 1828 The Enigma of Kaspar Hauser > 1829 The Count of Monte Cristo > 1831 Under Capricorn > 1832 Les Miserables > 1836 The Alamo > 1837 The Young Victoria > 1838 Nicholas Nickleby > 1841 Amistad > 1843 The Tell-Tale Heart > 1844 Brigham Young > 1845 The Raven > 1847 Jeremiah Johnson > 1848 Cousin Bette / 1848 Sutter’s Gold (1936) / The Robin Hood of El Dorado > 1849 The Adventures of Bullwhip Griffin > 1850 The Legend of Zorro > 1851 Edge of Madness > 1853 Dimples / The Bushido Blade > 1854 The Charge of the Light Brigade > 1855 The Great Train Robbery > 1856 The Chess Players (Shatranj Ke Khilari) > 1857 Mangal Pandey: The Rising > 1858 The Song of Bernadette > 1859 Creation / Seven Angry Men / Django Unchained > 1860 The Pony Express There are many more from that general time period that are not included because they can’t be pinned down to a specific year. ---
**Author:** ![Reno\_Nevada](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Reno\_Nevada](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reno_Nevada)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2013, 11:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-costume-dramas-set-between-1816-and-1860/654946/39 "2013-06-15T23:43:03Z")
There is the movie [Flashman](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0061676/), which I have never seen, but I have read the novel that inspired it. The novel is great and most of the action occurs around 1841. I don’t know that it would really qualify as a costume drama, though. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-costume-dramas-set-between-1816-and-1860/654946.md?page=1)