# Historical movies that haven't been done yet, that you'd like to see **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 30, 2010, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-movies-that-havent-been-done-yet-that-youd-like-to-see/537899 "2010-04-30T20:43:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 7
**Author:** ![TheFaerie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c57346/32.png) [@TheFaerie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheFaerie)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2010, 12:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-movies-that-havent-been-done-yet-that-youd-like-to-see/537899/121 "2010-05-06T00:34:41Z")
> [@Sampiro](#): > > That conspiracy in a sentence rather than the much much MUCH longer post that I’d originally thought of riding: I would totally watch that movie/mini-series/documentary. There are a lot of ideas in this thread I would watch. How about a realistic version of “Arsenic and Old Lace?” I am fascinated by stories of female serial killers. ---
**Author:** ![alphaboi867](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alphaboi867/32/3898_2.png) [@alphaboi867](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alphaboi867)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2010, 1:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-movies-that-havent-been-done-yet-that-youd-like-to-see/537899/122 "2010-05-06T01:37:45Z")
As an airship geek I’d love to see some kind of film/TV movie/miniseries based on the [Imperial Airship Scheme](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imperial_Airship_Scheme); the R100 actually made it all the way to Canada & back (just barely) and and more modest R102 was already being planned when the R101 crashed (killing the Air Minister) on a rushed flight to India. Or a film about the Graf Zeppelin’s round-the-world flight. Or even another Hindenburg (yes I know about the 1975 film) film, but with a twist. It’d have the usually blending of real, fictional, & fictional characters based on real people. A Kripo detective is onboard due to a bomb threat. He needs to figure out which passenger is the a terrorist before they reach Lakehurst. The twist is that he either catchs the terrorist in time, or the bomb threat turns out to be a hoax. Only in the closing moments of the film to we realize it’s only 193_6_; and the Hindenburg is on one of it’s succesful flights the year before it crashed (my great aunt flew that year). ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2010, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-movies-that-havent-been-done-yet-that-youd-like-to-see/537899/123 "2010-05-06T01:47:09Z")
> [@alphaboi867](#): > > As an airship geek I’d love to see some kind of film/TV movie/miniseries based on the [Imperial Airship Scheme](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imperial_Airship_Scheme); the R100 actually made it all the way to Canada & back (just barely) and and more modest R102 was already being planned when the R101 crashed (killing the Air Minister) on a rushed flight to India. > > Or a film about the Graf Zeppelin’s round-the-world flight. Or even another Hindenburg (yes I know about the 1975 film) film, but with a twist. It’d have the usually blending of real, fictional, & fictional characters based on real people. A Kripo detective is onboard due to a bomb threat. He needs to figure out which passenger is the a terrorist before they reach Lakehurst. > > The twist is that he either catchs the terrorist in time, or the bomb threat turns out to be a hoax. Only in the closing moments of the film to we realize it’s only 193_6_; and the Hindenburg is on one of it’s succesful flights the year before it crashed (my great aunt flew that year). Or maybe something on [airships in World War I](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Airship#World_War_I) (didn’t work out so well; still, airships did carry out the first strategic aerial bombing campaigns in history). ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2010, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-movies-that-havent-been-done-yet-that-youd-like-to-see/537899/124 "2010-05-06T16:48:54Z")
A great- bloody- WW2 movie could be made about the [442nd Infantry](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/442nd_Infantry_Regiment_%28United_States%29), which like _Glory_ in the Civil War would deal with units most people don’t know existed. The 442nd was composed of Japanese-Americans, most of whom had been imprisoned in the internment camps back in the U.S. and had family still there. There was question as to how loyal they would be, and they were only used in the European theater. How loyal were they? From wiki (but completely accurate): > [@](#): > > The 442nd RCT became the most decorated unit in U.S. military history for its size and length of service, with its component 100th Infantry Battalion earning the nickname “The Purple Heart Battalion”. The 442nd RCT received 7 Presidential Unit Citations (5 earned in one month), and its members received 18,143 awards. They also set a record for the number of Medal of Honor recipients- 21- and this during the height of U.S. hatred of the Japanese. Several of its veterans went on to very distinguished careers in business, politics, and other areas. A few are still alive. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2010, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-movies-that-havent-been-done-yet-that-youd-like-to-see/537899/125 "2010-05-06T21:41:48Z")
[George Orwell](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_orwell) is one of my personal heroes, and I think a biopic on him is long overdue. That would also cover the Spanish Civil War ground. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2010, 1:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-movies-that-havent-been-done-yet-that-youd-like-to-see/537899/126 "2010-05-07T01:31:20Z")
> [@Sampiro](#): > > A great- bloody- WW2 movie could be made about the [442nd Infantry](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/442nd_Infantry_Regiment_%28United_States%29), [_Go for Broke_,](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Go_for_Broke!_(1951_film)) 1951. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2010, 1:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-movies-that-havent-been-done-yet-that-youd-like-to-see/537899/127 "2010-05-07T01:32:33Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > Or maybe something on [airships in World War I](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Airship#World_War_I) Howard Hughes’ _Hell’s Angels_. Stupid story, great cinematography. ---
**Author:** ![Aeris](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a183cd/32.png) [@Aeris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aeris)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2010, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-movies-that-havent-been-done-yet-that-youd-like-to-see/537899/128 "2010-05-07T19:19:39Z")
> [@aruvqan](#): > > [In development](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1161848/) per IMDB. > As of 2007, a feature film based on Grace O’Malley’s story is in development. It will be penned by Anne Chambers, author of the biography Granuaile: Ireland’s Pirate Queen, and Sarah Lawson, who will also produce the film under her company, Lawson Productions. Its predicted release is 2009, and is backed by the Irish Film Board. I KNOW! I’M SO EXCITED! Actually to tell you the truth I already knew that when I posted. I’m such a nerd, that about a year ago I wrote to Anne Chambers and suggested that she write a screenplay. I got some response from one of her assistants saying that it was in the works. My only concern is that it won’t get widely distributed in the US. Any news about that? woah woah woah…I just re-read your post. It says 2009. It’s 2010. Let’s get rolling Miss Chambers! ---
**Author:** ![Sigmagirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c89c15/32.png) [@Sigmagirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sigmagirl)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2010, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-movies-that-havent-been-done-yet-that-youd-like-to-see/537899/129 "2010-05-07T19:23:04Z")
> [@TheFaerie](#): > > IHow about a realistic version of “Arsenic and Old Lace?” I am fascinated by stories of female serial killers. You like arsenic? [_I’ll_](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anna_Marie_Hahn) give you arsenic. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2010, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-movies-that-havent-been-done-yet-that-youd-like-to-see/537899/130 "2010-05-07T20:40:58Z")
If we’re doing serial killers, how about [H.H. Holmes?](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H._H._Holmes) He had a hotel in Chicago purpose-built to be a death-trap. Comes under the heading of “you can’t make this shit up” (because if you did the audience would never buy it). The story is told in [_The Devil in the White City,_](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Devil_in_the_White_City) by Erik Larson. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2010, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-movies-that-havent-been-done-yet-that-youd-like-to-see/537899/131 "2010-05-07T20:45:29Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > If we’re doing serial killers, how about [H.H. Holmes?](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H._H._Holmes) He had a hotel in Chicago purpose-built to be a death-trap. Comes under the heading of “you can’t make this shit up” (because if you did the audience would never buy it). The story is told in [_The Devil in the White City,_](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Devil_in_the_White_City) by Erik Larson. There’s been talk of a Leonardo DiCaprio project on Holmes, but it’s apparently in permanent drydock. I’m surprised he (Holmes) isn’t much better known than he is considering how prolific a serial killer he was and the almost over-the-top manner of his crime (a plan of some of the secret rooms and trap doors in his [mansion](http://www.hauntedattraction.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/holmescastlelowres.jpg)- there was also a crematorium- the guy made Sweeney Todd look like Floyd the Barber [though I always suspected Floyd of nefarious activities with Clara as his Mrs. Lovett- “bless you sir they was the worst pickles in Mayberry before you came…”). ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2010, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-movies-that-havent-been-done-yet-that-youd-like-to-see/537899/132 "2010-05-07T21:08:59Z")
The story of the 16th-Century Scottish cannibal [Sawney Bean](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sawney_Bean) would make quite a movie . . . but it’s more legend than history. ---
**Author:** ![installLSC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/54ee81/32.png) [@installLSC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/installLSC)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2010, 4:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-movies-that-havent-been-done-yet-that-youd-like-to-see/537899/133 "2010-05-25T04:37:17Z")
How about the [Jari Project](http://www.sjsu.edu/faculty/watkins/jari.htm)? Reclusive American zillionare decides, as his last big score, to build a massive lumber project in the middle of the Amazon forest. He ends up sinking most of his fortune building an entire town from scratch. The project fights everything from malaria epidemics to mass crop failures to nationalists who claim it’s being run on slave labor. Why can’t Hollywood focus on amazing real life stories like this than just rebooting another failed comic book franchise? ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_A.Robrin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sam_a.robrin/32/14497_2.png) [@Sam\_A.Robrin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_A.Robrin)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2010, 12:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-movies-that-havent-been-done-yet-that-youd-like-to-see/537899/134 "2010-05-25T12:36:41Z")
> [@Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](#): > > Perhaps this may be too unPC to ever get made, but I’ve long thought that an interesting documentary might be made about the “bad guys” of the civil rights movement . . . > A fictional movie flirted with the idea, many years ago . . . Try the contemporary _The Intruder_, starring William Shatner. Producer Roger Corman, famous for “B” exploitation pictures, decided to try making a meaningful, dramatic movie for a change–and for the only time, lost money. But it was definitely a case of “The movie was a great success–unfortunately, people weren’t going to see it.” It tells a story of then-current racism without the gauzy filter of hindsight, and powerfully makes its points, all on a super-low budget. Here ya go–this one goes under one of the several retitlings the pic was given to try to recoup the losses and get it into theaters: ---
**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:** [May 25, 2010, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-movies-that-havent-been-done-yet-that-youd-like-to-see/537899/135 "2010-05-25T17:40:40Z")
I recently read about Dean Reed, the “Red Elvis”. He was an American rock singer who did a tour in South America, met Che Guevera, converted to Marxism, moved to East Germany, became a famous rock star in the Communist Bloc, and finally came back to the United States and died in mysterious circumstances. “A great story for a movie,” I think. Then I find that Tom Hanks has optioned it. Curse you Hanks, first you stole my idea for a movie about a cop with a big ugly dog and now this!!! ---
**Author:** ![FriarTed](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/friarted/32/1052_2.png) [@FriarTed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FriarTed)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2010, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-movies-that-havent-been-done-yet-that-youd-like-to-see/537899/136 "2010-05-25T19:05:12Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > Curse you Hanks, first you stole my idea for a movie about a cop with a big ugly dog and now this!!! Could be worse- you could have met him once & said “Tom, here’s a movie idea- it’s Rain Man meets Zelig.” I suggested Joseph Smith earlier. Here’s another one- could this even be done & do the subject justice?.. Gilles deRais. ---
**Author:** ![Steve\_MB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steve_mb/32/5339_2.png) [@Steve\_MB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_MB)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2010, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-movies-that-havent-been-done-yet-that-youd-like-to-see/537899/137 "2010-05-25T19:27:04Z")
> [@Sampiro](#): > > Okay- bear this in mind: if he forfeited on the bond, it would not cost him 1 penny, and of the people it would hurt- most were NYC Yankees he couldn’t stand. Hmmm… does history give us any idea of why they put up the money? Edit: The Vanderbilt thing is a possible explanation, but what’s behind that “one exception” comment (that most of the people who put up the bond could shrug it off if Davis skedaddled)? ---
**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:** [May 25, 2010, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-movies-that-havent-been-done-yet-that-youd-like-to-see/537899/138 "2010-05-25T19:33:29Z")
> [@](#): > > Could be worse- you could have met him once & said “Tom, here’s a movie idea- it’s Rain Man meets Zelig.” “Okay, Tom, picture this. You and your buddy are looking for an apartment in Manhattan. And you find this perfect place for a great rental. But it’s an apartment building for women only. So here’s what you guys do…” ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2010, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-movies-that-havent-been-done-yet-that-youd-like-to-see/537899/139 "2010-05-25T20:33:24Z")
> [@FriarTed](#): > > Could be worse- you could have met him once & said “Tom, here’s a movie idea- it’s Rain Man meets Zelig.” > > I suggested Joseph Smith earlier. Here’s another one- could this even be done & do the subject justice?.. > > Gilles deRais. [Gilles de Rais!](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gilles_de_rais) Doing **his** story justice would require a graceful combination of heroic battles scenes alongside Joan of Arc with graphic pedophilic torture porn! ---
**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:** [May 25, 2010, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-movies-that-havent-been-done-yet-that-youd-like-to-see/537899/140 "2010-05-25T20:42:40Z")
Tom Hanks? I dunno. I’m seeing Gilles de Rais as more of an Adam Sandler project. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-movies-that-havent-been-done-yet-that-youd-like-to-see/537899.md?page=6) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-movies-that-havent-been-done-yet-that-youd-like-to-see/537899.md?page=8)