20th Century Period Pieces on Netflix
Last updated May 03, 2025
Dangerous Liaisons
2012 | NR | 3.2 out of 5 StarsTwo experts in seduction, Mo Jieyu and her ex-lover Xie Yifan, decide to entertain themselves with a wager involving the innocent beauty Du Fenyu. But when Xie begins falling in love with Du, the cruel erotic game begins to backfire on the players.
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The Colombian Connection
2011 | NR | 3.2 out of 5 StarsJack Hooks is an ex-cop set up by his corrupt partner and sent to jail for a drug crime he didn't commit. Yanked out of prison with an early release deal by the DEA, he's sent on a mission to bring down the drug trade of his former partner.
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The Gangster
2012 | NR | 3.2 out of 5 StarsBased on a true story and set in 1950s and '60s Bangkok, this Thai crime drama tells the tale of Jod, a promising young gangster moving through the ranks of the city's mafia as he battles for turf against rival gangs and the Chinese triads.
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The Day of the Locust
1975 | NR | 3.1 out of 5 StarsHollywood is where starry-eyed dreamers reach for the sun, and it's where many of them are scorched, too. This 1975 film made an impression for its portrayal of desperados who ache to make it big, but fail, in the entertainment industry of the 1930s.
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Dirty Deeds
2002 | NR | 3.1 out of 5 StarsAustralian mobster Barry Ryan (Bryan Brown) controls the city's gambling scene, making a killing off the casino slot machines. This attracts the attention of the American Mafia, who send in pensive veteran Tony (John Goodman) and his violent sidekick (Felix Williamson) for a piece of the action. Ryan must also contend with his feisty wife (Toni Collette), his needy mistress (Kestie Morassi) and a crooked cop (Sam Neill).
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Me and Orson Welles
2008 | NR | 3.1 out of 5 StarsThe story of a whirlwind week in 1937 NYC when a young aspiring actor (Zac Efron) is thrown into the middle of Orson Welles' Mercury Theatre Company on the eve of the opening of Welles' historic staging of Shakespeare's Julius Caesar.
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Amelia
2009 | NR | 3.1 out of 5 StarsHilary Swank stars as famed aviator Amelia Earhart in this dramatic biopic that follows the daring pilot's rise from obscurity in Kansas to her troubled marriage to businessman George Putnam (Richard Gere), who recruited her for her first transatlantic flight. Mira Nair (The Namesake, Vanity Fair) directs; Ewan McGregor, Joe Anderson, Christopher Eccleston and Mia Wasikowska co-star.
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Accidents Happen
2009 | NR | 3.1 out of 5 StarsGloria Conway is a sharp-tongued mom in this darkly comic story of a family cursed with a streak of bad luck. But as life takes unexpected detours, Gloria manages to tear apart her pain to find humor in even the toughest things that happen to her.
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Cracks
2009 | NR | 3.1 out of 5 StarsMiss G., a teacher at a girls' boarding school, is unusually close with one of her charges, Di. But when the arrival of a new student evokes strong emotions, disrupting Miss G.'s relationship with the others, it is certain that someone will get hurt.
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The Killer Inside Me
2010 | NR | 3.1 out of 5 StarsWest Texas Deputy Sheriff Lou Ford is harboring a dark secret. Though the small town's residents think he's a bit dense, Ford is, in fact, afflicted with a "sickness" that turns the mild-mannered peace officer into a brutal, psychotic killer.
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Lebanon
2009 | NR | 3.1 out of 5 StarsIn the Israel-Lebanon conflict of the 1980s, four Israeli soldiers command a tank amid a tense, chaotic situation. Confined to the stark interiors of the tank, the men wrestle with fear, anger and their own consciences in the face of possible death.
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One Day
2011 | NR | 3.1 out of 5 StarsAfter a romantic tryst on college graduation night, Emma and Dexter pursue separate dreams. This romantic drama based on a novel of the same name checks in with them each year on the same date, tracking their personal and professional progress.
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J. Edgar
2011 | NR | 3.1 out of 5 StarsLeonardo DiCaprio stars in this riveting biopic as J. Edgar Hoover, the longtime FBI director as notorious for his overzealous methods of law enforcement as for the rumors regarding his cross-dressing and close relationship with protégé Clyde Tolson.
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Cheerful Weather for the Wedding
2012 | NR | 3.1 out of 5 StarsOn the day of Dolly Thatcham's wedding, the sight of her former beau leads her to realize that going ahead with the ceremony would be a huge mistake. Dolly's mother tries valiantly to maintain order in this refined comedy set in the 1930s.
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All the King's Men
2006 | NR | 3.0 out of 5 StarsSean Penn stars as corrupt Southern politician Willie Stark -- a charismatic man who wins the populist vote but, behind closed doors, is as underhanded as those he smeared -- in this remake of an Oscar-winning 1949 film of the same name. Ex-reporter Jack Burden (Jude Law) unwittingly helps Stark gain political power, but it's just a matter of time before the governor's crooked dealings are exposed.
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Chéri
2009 | NR | 3.0 out of 5 StarsWhen French courtesan Madame Peloux (Kathy Bates) sets her pampered son, Chéri (Rupert Friend), up with middle-aged fellow courtesan Lea de Lonval (Michelle Pfeiffer), she wants to ensure that he learns everything he needs to know about lovemaking from the very best. But the affair lasts for years, creating problems when it's time for Chéri to marry a wealthy woman. Stephen Frears directs this romantic drama, based on a novel by Colette.
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Is Anybody There?
2008 | NR | 3.0 out of 5 StarsGrowing up in a seaside nursing home run by his parents takes its toll on 10-year-old Edward, but things begin to look up for the lonely boy when a retired magician with a zest for life moves in.
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Champions
2008 | NR | 3.0 out of 5 StarsIn the 1930s, China announces its first entry in the Olympics, and thousands nationwide vie for a chance to introduce martial arts to the world. Tension mounts as two very different men take the lead: a nationalistic street thug and a noble dreamer.
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Not Fade Away
2012 | NR | 3.0 out of 5 StarsInspired by the music of Bob Dylan, Jimi Hendrix, the Beatles and the Rolling Stones, three 1960s high-schoolers form a rock band in the New Jersey suburbs. James Gandolfini co-stars in this debut feature from "Sopranos" creator David Chase.
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Adam Resurrected
2008 | NR | 2.9 out of 5 StarsDecades after he survived the Holocaust by becoming a pet "dog" to a brutal concentration camp commandant (Willem Dafoe), Jewish circus entertainer Adam Stein (Jeff Goldblum) finds himself confined to an Israeli mental institution. But when he encounters a feral young boy being held like a dog in the hospital's basement, Stein discovers a new opportunity to reclaim his humanity. Paul Schrader directs this biting drama.
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Spies of Warsaw: Season 1
2013 | NR | 2.9 out of 5 StarsWith World War II looming, a French military attaché is posted to Warsaw and soon finds himself entangled in multiple espionage intrigues. Meanwhile, he falls for a bewitching Parisian attorney also engaged in global political affairs.
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Spies of Warsaw
2013 | NR | 2.9 out of 5 StarsAs Germany prepares to lead the world into war, military attaché Col. Jean-François Mercier tries to convince French leaders of the growing danger. While risking his life to make his case, he unexpectedly falls in love with a Parisian lawyer.
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Khoya Khoya Chand
2007 | NR | 2.8 out of 5 StarsNikhat is an ingénue who sees her career leap from that of an extra to a leading lady; Zafar Ali Naqvi is a headstrong writer determined to make it in competitive Bollywood. Sparks fly when the writer steals the young starlet from a rival.
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Beloved
2011 | NR | 2.8 out of 5 StarsIn the 1960s, circumstances separated Madeleine from her husband. Thirty years later, Madeleine watches history repeating itself in the life of her daughter, Véra. But as times change, so do the ways these women respond to love and loss.
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Spoils of War
2010 | NR | 2.8 out of 5 StarsDispatched behind enemy lines to destroy a stash of millions in counterfeit currency -- part of a Nazi plot to undermine the Allied economy -- a team of commandos must elude the Germans and fight the allure of taking the money and running.
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