Period Films with an English Setting on TCM

• Turner Classic Movies’ series “TCM Spotlight: Period Films” continues on Tuesday, Oct. 15, with the airing of nine narrative features with an English setting, in addition to the new documentary Merchant Ivory, about the duo behind a trio of Oscar-nominated period dramas, including the TCM presentation A Room with a View.

TCM’s “Period Films” series continues with 8 romantic dramas, 1 Oscar-winning comedy, and a new documentary

The Turner Classic Movies series “TCM Spotlight: Period Films” continues on Tuesday, Oct. 15, with the presentation of nine period movies with an English setting – eight romantic dramas, one Academy Award-winning comedy – in addition to the TCM premiere of a new documentary feature about the Ismail Merchant-James Ivory duo. (See “TCM Spotlight: Period Films” schedule further below. Most titles will remain available for a while on the Watch TCM app.)

Below is a brief glimpse at each of TCM’s “Period Films” (listed in chronological order).

Romeo and Juliet (1936)

Starring 36-year-old Norma Shearer and 43-year-old Leslie Howard as the star-crossed teenage lovers of Verona*, George Cukor’s Romeo and Juliet is evidence that age is indeed a state of mind. Quite possibly the most moving big-screen version of Shakespeare’s 1597 tragedy, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer’s gorgeous big-budget release showcases Shearer – deservedly shortlisted for the Best Actress Oscar – at her most incandescent.

* Okay, not an English setting but an English play all the same.

Wuthering Heights (1939)

Laurence Olivier overacts at times as Heathcliff, but Merle Oberon is a heartrending Cathy in Samuel Goldwyn’s William Wyler-directed (condensed) adaptation of Emily Brontë’s 1847 novel Wuthering Heights. The supporting cast is mostly top-notch, especially Oscar nominee Geraldine Fitzgerald as Isabella and Flora Robson as the housekeeper Ellen Dean. Aided by Alfred Newman’s magnificent score, the final ghostly sequence – not found in Brontë’s novel – is surprisingly moving.

Pride and Prejudice (1940)

Directed by Robert Z. Leonard, MGM’s 1940 version of Jane Austen’s 1813 novel Pride and Prejudice isn’t exactly faithful to the tightly corseted spirit of the original. But no matter. This is an entrancing transfer (credited to Aldous Huxley and Jane Murfin) featuring a capable Laurence Olivier as Mr. Darcy, a marvelous Greer Garson – about 35 years old at the time – as Elizabeth Bennet, and a hilarious (!) Edna May Oliver as Lady Catherine de Bourgh. Pure magic.

The Barretts of Wimpole Street (1957)

Not as well known or as well regarded as his own 1934 version,* Sidney Franklin’s English-made 1957 remake of The Barretts of Wimpole Street is compelling drama (based on Rudolf Besier’s 1930 play ) chiefly thanks to (United States) star Jennifer Jones’ sensitive performance as Elizabeth Barrett.

Also worth pointing out, John Gielgud’s portrayal of Edward Moulton-Barrett, even if not nearly as effective as Charles Laughton’s, leaves nothing to the imagination in regard to his feelings for his couch-ridden daughter.

Warning: TCM’s The Barretts of Wimpole Street 1957 print is appallingly mediocre.

* Norma Shearer, Charles Laughton, and Fredric March starred.

Tom Jones (1963)

Brazenly sexual at a time when Hollywood movies were still forced to err on the puritanical side, Tony Richardson’s British-made Tom Jones was both a critical and a commercial hit in the United States, ultimately winning four Oscars: Best Picture, Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay (John Osborne), and Best Original Score (John Addison). If only it were as funny as it is sassy.

Now, in all fairness, Best Supporting Actress nominee Joyce Redman is one of 1960s cinema’s thespian highlights in her mouth-watering sex scene with Best Actor nominee Albert Finney.

Far from the Madding Crowd (1967)

Generally a first-rate performer, the Julie Christie (Darling, 1965) of the 1960s was too much of a Swinging London type* to be dramatically effective in a period piece like John Schlesinger’s handsome but slow-paced and artificial adaptation of Thomas Hardy’s 1874 novel Far from the Madding Crowd.

* The Julie Christie of the 1970s was a miraculously different matter, as she came up with fully believable characterizations in two period pieces released early in the decade: Robert Altman’s McCabe and Mrs. Miller (1971) and Joseph Losey’s The Go-Between (1971).

Tess (1979)

Robert Redford’s Ordinary People was 1980’s Best Picture Oscar winner. A Best Picture nominee, Martin Scorsese’s Raging Bull is considered one of the great classics of the decade.

Well, here’s our vote for Roman Polanski’s Anglo-French production Tess (released in the U.S. in 1980), a picture-perfect* adaptation of Thomas Hardy’s 1891 novel Tess of the D’Urbervilles. Tess would have been all-around perfection if it weren’t for leads Nastassja Kinski and Leigh Lawson, who share little chemistry.

Tess is dedicated to Sharon Tate, Polanski’s wife at the time of her murder in 1969.

* Oscar wins: Best Cinematography for Geoffrey Unsworth and Ghislain Cloquet, Best Art Direction for Pierre Guffroy and Jack Stephens, and Best Costume Design for Anthony Powell.

A Room with a View (1986)

Like Tess, the Oscar-nominated* James Ivory classic A Room with a View would have been perfect had it featured more compatible leads. As is, Helena Bonham Carter (who would become a far more memorable actress in later years) and Julian Sands keep the romantic fireworks to the bare minimum. The supporting cast, however, is great, including Oscar nominees Maggie Smith and Denholm Elliott, Rosemary Leach, Rupert Graves, Simon Callow, and Daniel Day-Lewis at his least mannered.

Eventual Oscar winner Ruth Prawer Jhabvala adapted E.M. Forster’s 1908 novel.

* James Ivory’s other two Best Picture nominees were Howards End (1992) and The Remains of the Day (1993).

Sense and Sensibility (1995)

Like MGM’s 1940 Pride and Prejudice, Ang Lee’s great-looking but only moderately amusing Sense and Sensibility isn’t quite Jane Austen. In an obvious concession to the cineplex-going masses, the movie – Oscar-winning screenplay by star Emma Thompson – features displays of effervescent passion and bits of broad humor that one would be hard-pressed to find in Austen’s staid 1811 novel.

But then again, one can’t blame (too much) Lee, Thompson, or producers Lindsay Doran and James Schamus. After all, Sense and Sensibility took in nearly $135 million worldwide.

Merchant Ivory (2024)

According to the TCM website, Merchant Ivory traces the history of the Merchant Ivory partnership, consisting of Ismail Merchant (mostly as a producer) and James Ivory (mostly as a director). Merchant and Ivory were also off-screen companions.

The documentary features recent interviews with the couple’s former collaborators, including actors Hugh Grant and Vanessa Redgrave, screenwriter Kit Hesketh-Harvey, and costume designer John Bright.

Immediately below is the “TCM Spotlight: Period Films” schedule.

‘Period Films’: TCM schedule (EDT) – Oct. 15

6:00 AM Romeo and Juliet (1936)
Director: George Cukor.
Cast: Norma Shearer, Leslie Howard, John Barrymore, Basil Rathbone, Edna May Oliver, Ralph Forbes, Reginald Denny, Conway Tearle, C. Aubrey Smith, Robert Warwick, Violet Kemble Cooper.
127m

8:30 AM Tom Jones (1963)
Director: Tony Richardson.
Cast: Albert Finney, Susannah York, Joan Greenwood, Edith Evans, Diane Cilento, Joyce Redman, Hugh Griffith, David Tomlinson, Angela Baddeley, Freda Jackson, Rachel Kempson, Jack MacGowran, Lynn Redgrave (bit).
131m

11:00 AM Far from the Madding Crowd (1967)
Director: John Schlesinger.
Cast: Julie Christie, Terence Stamp, Peter Finch, Alan Bates, Prunella Ransome, Fiona Walker, Alison Leggatt.
169m

2:00 PM The Barretts of Wimpole Street (1957)
Director: Sidney Franklin.
Cast: Jennifer Jones, John Gielgud, Bill Travers, Virginia McKenna, Susan Stephen, Vernon Gray, Maxine Audley, Leslie Phillips, Keith Baxter.
105m

4:00 PM Wuthering Heights (1939)
Director: William Wyler.
Cast: Merle Oberon, Laurence Olivier, David Niven, Geraldine Fitzgerald, Flora Robson, Donald Crisp, Hugh Williams, Leo G. Carroll, Miles Mander, Cecil Kellaway.
103m

6:00 PM Pride and Prejudice (1940)
Director: Robert Z. Leonard.
Cast: Greer Garson, Laurence Olivier, Mary Boland, Edmund Gwenn, Maureen O’Sullivan, Edna May Oliver, Melville Cooper, Frieda Inescort, Marsha Hunt, Ann Rutherford, Heather Angel, Edward Ashley, Karen Morley, E.E. Clive, Marjorie Wood, May Beatty, Bruce Lester, Vernon Downing, Elspeth Dudgeon.
117m

8:00 PM Sense and Sensibility (1995)
Director: Ang Lee.
Cast: Emma Thompson, Hugh Grant, Kate Winslet, Alan Rickman.
135m

10:30 PM Merchant Ivory (2024)
Director: Stephen Soucy.
Cast: James Ivory, Helena Bonham Carter, Emma Thompson, Hugh Grant, Vanessa Redgrave, Sam Waterston, James Wilby, Rupert Graves, Simon Callow, Madeleine Potter, Samuel West, James Fox, Natascha McElhone, Greta Scacchi, Tony Pierce-Roberts, Jenny Beavan, John Bright, Kit Hesketh-Harvey.
112m

12:30 AM A Room with a View (1985)
Director: James Ivory.
Cast: Helena Bonham Carter, Julian Sands, Maggie Smith, Denholm Elliott, Daniel-Day Lewis, Rupert Graves, Simon Callow, Judi Dench, Rosemary Leach, Patrick Godfrey, Fabia Drake.
117m

2:45 AM Tess (1979)
Director: Roman Polanski.
Cast: John Collin, Tony Church, Nastassja Kinski, John Collin, Rosemary Martin, Carolyn Pickles, Richard Pearson, David Markham, Arielle Dombasle.
172m

“Period Films with an English Setting” notes

“TCM Spotlight: Period Films” schedule via the TCM website.

Sense and Sensibility worldwide gross (possibly incomplete) via boxofficemojo.com.

Julian Sands and Helena Bonham Carter A Room with a View image: Merchant Ivory Productions | Goldcrest Films | FilmFour International | The Criterion Collection.

See also: TCM’s “Creepy Cinema” series spotlights handsome and homicidal young men.

“Period Films with an English Setting on TCM” last modified in October 2024.