Dramas based on classic literature on Netflix
Last updated April 28, 2024
Masterpiece Classic: Little Dorrit
2008 | NR | 4.2 out of 5 StarsIn this Emmy-winning rags-to-riches miniseries based on Charles Dickens' novel, Claire Foy stars as the titular Amy Dorrit, a poor girl who follows her father out of debtors' prison when they learn the family is entitled to a life-changing fortune.
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North & South
2004 | NR | 4.2 out of 5 StarsWhen her father moves his family to an industrial mill town, the parson's daughter, Margaret Hale, struggles to adapt to her harsh new surroundings. This BBC series is based on the popular novel by Elizabeth Gaskell.
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North & South
2004 | NR | 4.2 out of 5 StarsWhen her father uproots his family from their serene rural burg for an industrial mill town, parson's daughter Margaret Hale (Daniela Denby-Ashe) struggles to adapt to her harsh new surroundings in this BBC series based on Elizabeth Gaskell's novel. As her mother's health fails, Margaret throws herself into the fight for workers' rights and clashes with mill owner John Thornton (Richard Armitage). Sinead Cusack and Tim Pigott-Smith also star.
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Masterpiece Classic: Little Dorrit
2008 | NR | 4.2 out of 5 StarsIn this rags-to-riches miniseries based on Charles Dickens's epic novel, Claire Foy stars as the titular Amy Dorrit, a poor girl who follows her father out of debtors' prison when they learn the family is entitled to a life-changing fortune.
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Masterpiece Classic: Great Expectations
2011 | NR | 4.1 out of 5 StarsAn orphaned young man meets a convict in a cemetery and sets into motion a series of events that leads him from a life in his brother-in-law's forge to a mysterious inheritance and his acquaintance with the eerie Miss Havisham and her beautiful ward.
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Masterpiece Classic: Great Expectations
2011 | NR | 4.1 out of 5 StarsIn this lavish production of Charles Dickens's classic tale, orphan Pip's fortunes change when an anonymous patron takes an interest in him. Meanwhile, he becomes involved with eccentric Miss Havisham, who can't get over being left at the altar.
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The Last of the Mohicans
1992 | NR | 4.0 out of 5 StarsWhen rugged frontiersman Hawkeye (Daniel Day-Lewis) saves the Munro sisters -- two newly arrived English settlers -- from a Huron ambush, he ends up in the midst of the battle between the British and the French for control of the American colonies. Director Michael Mann's first-rate production also stars Madeleine Stowe as the Munro sister who wins Hawkeye's heart, and Wes Studi as the Huron warrior who has a score to settle with her father.
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Masterpiece Classic: Wuthering Heights
2009 | NR | 3.9 out of 5 StarsEmily Brontë's sweeping tale of romance set against the backdrop of the Yorkshire moors gets the "Masterpiece" treatment in this lush made-for-television adaptation starring Charlotte Riley and Tom Hardy. Cathy (Riley) eventually fell in love with Heathcliff (Hardy), the young Gypsy boy her father brought home years ago. But now that they're adults, another man (Tom Payne) is offering her his affections -- and a far more comfortable life.
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Hara-Kiri: Death of a Samurai
2011 | NR | 3.9 out of 5 StarsHanshirô, a destitute samurai, asks to commit hara-kiri at the estate of feudal lord Kageyu. Knowing the dishonor this will bring to his house, Kageyu begs him to reconsider, unaware of the shocking truth behind Hanshirô's choice of locale.
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True Grit
2010 | NR | 3.9 out of 5 StarsAfter drifter Tom Chaney (Josh Brolin) murders her father, 14-year-old Mattie Ross (Hailee Steinfeld) hires alcoholic U.S. Marshal Reuben "Rooster" Cogburn (Jeff Bridges) to help her exact revenge. The disreputable lawman still has grit, though, and mounts an epic search. Joining the duo on their quest is a Texas Ranger (Matt Damon) who's also hunting for Chaney in this updated Western that received multiple Oscar nods, including Best Picture.
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The Way Back
2010 | NR | 3.9 out of 5 StarsAfter narrowly escaping from a wretched World War II Siberian labor camp, a small band of multinational soldiers desperately undertakes a harrowing journey to traverse Siberia, the Gobi Desert and the Himalayas on foot.
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Masterpiece Classic: Wuthering Heights
2009 | NR | 3.9 out of 5 StarsEmily Brontë's sweeping tale of romance set against the backdrop of the Yorkshire moors gets the "Masterpiece" treatment in this lush made-for-television adaptation starring Charlotte Riley and Tom Hardy.
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The Grapes of Wrath
1940 | NR | 3.9 out of 5 StarsTom Joad, a Depression-era everyman, leads his poor family on a harrowing journey from Oklahoma's Dust Bowl to the promised land of California in this adaptation of John Steinbeck's classic novel.
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Mansfield Park
1999 | NR | 3.8 out of 5 StarsIn this period drama loosely based on Jane Austen's most autobiographical novel, penniless heroine Fanny Price is sent to live with wealthy relatives in 1800s England, where her wit and writing talent find the room -- and circumstance -- to grow.
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Jane Eyre
1996 | NR | 3.8 out of 5 StarsJane Eyre is an orphan forced to endure life at a harsh boarding school. As Jane grows into an independent, strong-willed woman, she takes a governess job at Thornton Hall and falls in love with the estate's brooding owner, Mr. Rochester.
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Anna and the King
1999 | NR | 3.8 out of 5 StarsIn this fact-based 19th-century tale, English widow Anna Leonowens travels to Asia to tutor the king of Siam's 58 children. Brimming with prejudice, Anna at first believes the king is a barbarian, but the two soon develop a mutual respect.
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Daniel Deronda
2002 | NR | 3.8 out of 5 StarsThe illegitimate son of a wealthy aristocrat, Daniel Deronda harbors a secret past and a ready supply of cash. But when he meets Gwendolyn, a beautiful woman in desperate need of money, things get complicated, as he's already involved in an affair.
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Daniel Deronda
2002 | NR | 3.8 out of 5 StarsThe illegitimate son of a wealthy British aristocrat, Daniel Deronda harbors a secretive past and a ready supply of cash. But when he meets Gwendolyn, a beautiful woman in desperate need of money, things get even more complicated.
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Jane Eyre
2011 | NR | 3.8 out of 5 StarsDriven from her post at Thornfield House by her love for her brooding employer and his secret past, young governess Jane Eyre reflects on her youth and the events that led her to the misty moors in this artful adaptation of Charlotte Brontë's novel.
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Little Women
1994 | NR | 3.8 out of 5 StarsLouisa May Alcott's beloved novel comes to life in this sensitive, soulful adaptation. Four sisters and their mother battle life's vicissitudes in Civil War-era America after their father leaves to join the conflict.
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Under the Greenwood Tree
2005 | NR | 3.7 out of 5 StarsAdapted from Thomas Hardy's novel, this charming tale follows schoolteacher Fancy Day, who returns to the bucolic hamlet of Melstock to look after her ailing father. To no one's surprise, three disparate suitors are soon courting the young beauty.
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Nicholas Nickleby
2002 | NR | 3.7 out of 5 StarsLife in 19th-century England deals Nicholas Nickleby a difficult hand when his father dies and Nicholas, his sister and his mother, now penniless, are forced to seek help from his twisted Uncle Ralph, who wants to tear the family apart.
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The Way We Live Now
2001 | NR | 3.7 out of 5 StarsDuring the 1870s railway boom, ordinary people are blinded by wealth in this miniseries adaptation of Anthony Trollope's satirical novel. When financier Augustus Melmotte moves his business and his family to London, rumors emerge about his past.
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The Way We Live Now
2001 | NR | 3.7 out of 5 StarsBased on the 1875 novel by Anthony Trollope, this sharp-edged miniseries artfully satirizes the greed and hypocrisy of upper-class Victorian society. The main story revolves around Augustus Melmotte, a mysterious financier who settles in London.
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Cruel Intentions
1999 | NR | 3.6 out of 5 StarsQuenching a thirst for dangerous games, promiscuous Kathryn Merteuil challenges her stepbrother to deflower their headmaster's daughter before summer ends. If he succeeds, he gets to bed Kathryn. If he fails, she'll win his most prized possession.
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