🏷 Discover The Best 19th Century Movies & TV Shows To Watch Today

195 titles with this tag

Step back into a transformative era defined by the Industrial Revolution, Victorian elegance, and dramatic societal shifts. The 19th century serves as a rich backdrop for cinema, offering breathtaking costumes, gripping historical dramas, and timeless literary adaptations. Explore our curated selection of top-rated movies and TV shows that brilliantly bring this fascinating century to life on screen.

Cast

Yang Kaiqi

Lei Wu

Titus Jin

Lord of Mysteries (2025) TV Show

8.7 147 votes

Genre: Action, Animation, Mystery

Country: China

Seasons: 1

Episodes: 13

Audience: TV-14

Story: In a Victorian world of steam, dreadnoughts, and occult horrors, Zhou Mingrui awakens as Klein Moretti. He walks a razor’s edge between light and darkness, entangled with warring Churches. This is the legend of unlimited potential…and unspeakable danger.

Style: dark, psychological

Plot: mythology, magic, puppeteer, tarot cards, transformation, immortality, reincarnation, supernatural, ...

Time: 19th century, 20th century

Place: britain

Cast

Amybeth McNulty

Geraldine James

R.H. Thomson

Lucas Jade Zumann

Anne with an E (2017) TV Show

8.7 5.0K votes

Genre: Drama, Family

Country: Canada

Seasons: 3

Episodes: 27

Audience: TV-G

Story: A coming-of-age story about an outsider who, against all odds and numerous challenges, fights for love and acceptance and for her place in the world. The series centers on a young orphaned girl in the late 1890s, who, after an abusive childhood spent in orphanages and the homes of strangers, is mistakenly sent to live with an elderly woman and her aging brother. Over time, 13-year-old Anne will transform their lives and eventually the small town in which they live with her unique spirit, fierce intellect and brilliant imagination.

Plot: based on novel or book, friendship, unrequited love, coming of age, orphan, period drama, found family, period piece, ...

Time: 19th century

Place: canada

Cast

Hailee Steinfeld

Toby Huss

Adrian Enscoe

Anna Baryshnikov

Dickinson (2019) TV Show

8.5 983 votes

Genre: Comedy, Drama

Country: United States of America

Seasons: 3

Episodes: 30

Audience: TV-14

Story: Emily Dickinson. Poet. Daughter. Total rebel. In this coming-of-age story, Emily’s determined to become the world's greatest poet.

Plot: poetry, lesbian relationship, writer, fictional biography, introspective, furious, emily dickinson, foreboding, ...

Time: 19th century

Cast

Oscar Isaac

Kenneth Branagh

Uma Thurman

Pierce Brosnan

The King of Kings (2025)

8.3 201 votes

Genre: Adventure, Animation, Family

Country: South Korea, United States of America

Duration: 102 min.

Audience: PG

Story: Charles Dickens tells his young son Walter the greatest story ever told, and what begins as a bedtime tale becomes a life-changing journey. Through vivid imagination, the boy walks alongside Jesus, witnessing His miracles, facing His trials, and understanding His ultimate sacrifice.

Plot: based on novel or book, cat, jesus christ, father son relationship, christian film, imagination, historical epic, biblical, ...

Time: 19th century, 1st century

Cast

Natsuki Hanae

Kaito Ishikawa

Inori Minase

Shino Shimoji

The Case Study of Vanitas (2021) TV Show

8.3 253 votes

Genre: Action, Animation, Mystery

Country: Japan

Seasons: 1

Episodes: 24

Audience: TV-14

Story: In 19th-century Paris, young vampire Noé finds the Book of Vanitas in human hands. Calling himself Vanitas, this doctor wields its power and tempts Noé with a plan to “cure” all vampires. Allying with him may be dangerous, but does he have a choice?

Plot: vampire, supernatural, steampunk, based on manga, historical, anime

Time: 19th century

Cast

Sam Elliott

Tim McGraw

Faith Hill

Isabel May

1883 (2021) TV Show

8.3 966 votes

Genre: Drama, Western

Country: United States of America

Seasons: 1

Episodes: 10

Audience: TV-MA

Story: Follow the Dutton family as they embark on a journey west through the Great Plains toward the last bastion of untamed America. A stark retelling of Western expansion, and an intense study of one family fleeing poverty to seek a better future in America’s promised land — Montana.

Plot: frontier, miniseries, family drama, historical, convoy, wild west, indian attack, civil war veteran, ...

Time: 19th century

Place: texas

Cast

Jason Schwartzman

J.K. Simmons

Rashida Jones

Joan Cusack

Klaus (2019)

8.2 4.7K votes

Genre: Animation, Comedy, Family

Country: Spain

Duration: 97 min.

Audience: PG

Story: A selfish postman and a reclusive toymaker form an unlikely friendship, delivering joy to a cold, dark town that desperately needs it.

Plot: friendship, small town, island, holiday, santa claus, cartoon, letter, postman, ...

Time: 19th century

Cast

Piper Perabo

8.2 17.7K votes

Genre: Drama, Mystery, Science Fiction

Country: United Kingdom, United States of America

Duration: 130 min.

Audience: PG-13

Story: A mysterious story of two magicians whose intense rivalry leads them on a life-long battle for supremacy -- full of obsession, deceit and jealousy with dangerous and deadly consequences.

Style: shocking, bittersweet

Plot: dying and death, suicide, class society, magic, competition, obsession, hostility, class, ...

Time: 19th century

Place: london, england

Django Unchained (2012)

8.2 28.2K votes

Genre: Drama, Western

Country: United States of America

Duration: 165 min.

Audience: R

Story: With the help of a German bounty hunter, a freed slave sets out to rescue his wife from a brutal Mississippi plantation owner.

Plot: rescue, friendship, bounty hunter, ku klux klan, slavery, plantation, revenge, racism, ...

Time: 19th century

Place: texas

Cast

Thomas Brodie-Sangster

David Thewlis

Maia Mitchell

Luke Bracey

The Artful Dodger (2023) TV Show

8.1 235 votes

Genre: Action, Crime, Drama

Country: Australia

Seasons: 2

Episodes: 16

Audience: TV-14

Story: It's a tale of reinvention, betrayal, redemption, and love with a twist. Jack Dawkins is The Artful Dodger, whose pickpocketing fingers have become the skilled hands of a surgeon. He is torn between an impossible love and the criminal underworld he secretly craves. This will require Artfulness.

Plot: surgeon, sydney, australia, sequel, heist, criminal underworld, crime

Time: 19th century, 1850s

Place: australia

Cast

Michael Ande

Jacques Dacqmine

Georges Riquier

Jean Mauvais

Die Schatzinsel (1966) TV Show

8.1 30 votes

Genre: Action, Drama, Western

Country: France, East Germany

Seasons: 1

Episodes: 4

Story: A live-action six-part West German/French adaptation of Robert Louis Stevenson's classic adventure novel. Although not directly faithful, it is a highly liberal and stylised re-imagining that blends the pirate adventure with the popular genre of the time: the Euro-Western.In place of the novel's 18th-century setting is a distinct 19th-century 'Wild West' with cowboy style wardrobe and firearms. The central premise remains: a young man, Jim Hawkins, comes into possession of a treasure map and embarks on a voyage to a remote island.

Plot: based on novel or book, treasure, miniseries, wild west

Time: 19th century

Cast

Toshiru014d Mifune

Tatsuya Nakadai

Yu014dko Tsukasa

Isuzu Yamada

Yojimbo (1961)

8.1 1.7K votes

Genre: Drama, Thriller

Country: Japan

Duration: 110 min.

Audience: NR

Story: A nameless ronin, or samurai with no master, enters a small village in feudal Japan where two rival businessmen are struggling for control of the local gambling trade. Taking the name Sanjuro Kuwabatake, the ronin convinces both silk merchant Tazaemon and sake merchant Tokuemon to hire him as a personal bodyguard, then artfully sets in motion a full-scale gang war between the two ambitious and unscrupulous men.

Plot: samurai, swordplay, gambling, sword, bodyguard, black and white, fighting, period drama, ...

Time: 19th century

Place: japan

Cast

Daniel Day-Lewis

Paul Dano

Kevin J. O'Connor

Ciaru00e1n Hinds

There Will Be Blood (2007)

8.1 7.5K votes

Genre: Drama

Country: United States of America

Duration: 158 min.

Audience: R

Story: Ruthless silver miner, turned oil prospector, Daniel Plainview, moves to oil-rich California. Using his son to project a trustworthy, family-man image, Plainview cons local landowners into selling him their valuable properties for a pittance. However, local preacher Eli Sunday suspects Plainview's motives and intentions, starting a slow-burning feud that threatens both their lives.

Style: shocking

Plot: petrol, sibling relationship, based on novel or book, capitalism, pastor, deaf-mute, greed, american dream, ...

Time: 19th century, 1900s, 20th century, ...

Place: california

Cast

Anthony Hopkins

John Hurt

Anne Bancroft

John Gielgud

The Elephant Man (1980)

8.0 4.0K votes

Genre: Drama, History

Country: United States of America, United Kingdom

Duration: 124 min.

Audience: PG

Story: A Victorian surgeon rescues a heavily disfigured man being mistreated by his "owner" as a side-show freak. Behind his monstrous façade, there is revealed a person of great intelligence and sensitivity. Based on the true story of Joseph Merrick (called John Merrick in the film), a severely deformed man in 19th century London.

Style: exploitation

Plot: friendship, london, england, escape, nurse, biography, based on true story, tragedy, ...

Time: 19th century, 1880s

Cast

Andrew Koji

Olivia Cheng

Jason Tobin

Dianne Doan

Warrior (2019) TV Show

8.0 661 votes

Genre: Action, Crime, Drama

Country: United States of America, Denmark

Seasons: 3

Episodes: 30

Audience: TV-MA

Story: A gritty, action-packed crime drama set during the brutal Tong Wars of San Francisco’s Chinatown in the second half of the 19th century. The series follows Ah Sahm, a martial arts prodigy who immigrates from China to San Francisco under mysterious circumstances, and becomes a hatchet man for one of Chinatown’s most powerful tongs.

Plot: san francisco, california, martial arts, frantic, early america, tong wars

Time: 19th century

Cast

Will Patton

Jessica Capshaw

Josh Brolin

Matthew Modine

Into the West (2005) TV Show

8.0 81 votes

Genre: Action, Drama, Western

Country: United States of America

Seasons: 1

Episodes: 6

Audience: TV-14

Story: The lives of two families, one white American, one native American, become mingled through the momentous events of American expansion, between 1825 and 1890.

Plot: native american, miniseries, alternate history, cowboy, wild west, south dakota, u.s. cavalry, american indian, ...

Time: 19th century

Cast

Douglas Booth

Robert Gulaczyk

Eleanor Tomlinson

Helen McCrory

Loving Vincent (2017)

8.0 2.6K votes

Genre: Animation, Drama, History

Country: Poland, United Kingdom

Duration: 95 min.

Audience: PG-13

Story: A young man arrives at the last hometown of painter Vincent van Gogh to deliver the troubled artist's final letter and ends up investigating his final days there.

Style: melancholy

Plot: artist, investigation, grave, letter, painter, bullying, adult animation, struggling artist, ...

Time: 19th century

Cast

Clint Eastwood

Gene Hackman

Morgan Freeman

Jaimz Woolvett

Unforgiven (1992)

7.9 5.0K votes

Genre: Western

Country: United States of America

Duration: 130 min.

Audience: R

Story: William Munny is a retired, once-ruthless killer turned gentle widower and hog farmer. To help support his two motherless children, he accepts one last bounty-hunter mission to find the men who brutalized a prostitute. Joined by his former partner and a cocky greenhorn, he takes on a corrupt sheriff.

Plot: prostitute, sheriff, right and justice, regret, wyoming, usa, kansas, usa, ...

Time: 19th century

Cast

Pierre Niney

Bastien Bouillon

Anau00efs Demoustier

Laurent Lafitte

The Count of Monte Cristo (2024)

7.9 2.1K votes

Genre: Action, Adventure, Drama

Country: France, Belgium

Duration: 178 min.

Audience: NR

Story: Edmond Dantès becomes the target of a sinister plot and is arrested on his wedding day for a crime he did not commit. After 14 years in the island prison of Château d’If, he manages a daring escape. Now rich beyond his dreams, he assumes the identity of the Count of Monte-Cristo and exacts his revenge on the three men who betrayed him.

Plot: based on novel or book, count, revenge, wrongful conviction, hidden fortune, moral downfall, post‑napoleonic france, parisian aristocracy, ...

Time: 19th century

Cast

Liv Ullmann

Ingrid Thulin

Kari Sylwan

Harriet Andersson

Cries and Whispers (1972)

7.9 784 votes

Genre: Drama

Country: Sweden

Duration: 95 min.

Audience: R

Story: As Agnes slowly dies of cancer, her sisters are so immersed in their own psychic pains that they are unable to offer her the support she needs.

Plot: dying and death, sibling relationship, sister, cancer, mansion

Time: 19th century

Place: sweden

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Why 19th-Century Historical Dramas Captivate Audiences

From the cobblestone streets of Victorian London to the expansive frontiers of the American West, 19th-century movies and TV shows offer an enchanting escape into a pivotal era. Spanning from 1801 to 1900, this extraordinary century was defined by massive industrial innovation, intense social reform, and romantic intrigue, providing filmmakers with an endlessly rich canvas for storytelling.

Top Recommended 19th-Century Movies & TV Series

Whether you crave lavish costume dramas, gritty period thrillers, or sprawling Western epics, these standout film and television titles capture the true essence of the 1800s:

The Gilded Age: Experience high-society ambition, ruthless power plays, and class clashes in 1880s New York.
Pride & Prejudice: Journey through Jane Austen’s iconic romance highlighting love, family, and social status in Regency-era England.
Deadwood: A raw, realistic depiction of an 1870s South Dakota mining camp during the height of the Western frontier expansion.
Little Women: Louisa May Alcott’s beloved coming-of-age story following four sisters navigating life during and after the American Civil War.
Penny Dreadful: A dark, compelling series blending Victorian London’s underground crime with classic 19th-century Gothic horror figures.

Key Themes and Genres in 1800s Cinema

Hollywood and global cinema continuously return to the nineteenth century to showcase diverse sub-genres that fascinate modern viewers:

Gothic Romance & Mystery: Eerie landscapes, psychological suspense, and urban legends taking place in foggy metropolis streets.
Frontier & Civil War Epics: Gritty tales of resilience, exploration, and nation-building across wild, untamed territories.
Victorian High-Society Dramas: Elaborate ballroom gowns, rigid etiquette, and bold rebels challenging societal norms.

Whether you are an avid historical fiction enthusiast or simply looking for your next binge-worthy watch, our curated guide helps you discover the finest 19th-century entertainment available to stream right now. Step into the past and start watching today!