Highest-Rated Movies about 'Early 20th Century'

Two English Girls (1971), Mahler (1975), The Valley of Decision (1945), Fanny and Alexander (1982), Elmer Gantry (1960), The Endurance: Shackleton's Legendary Antarctic Expedition (2000), Kings Row (1942), Modigliani (2004) ... Let's take a look at the ranked list of the best Early 20th Century movies.

#1. Two English Girls (1971)

Storyline: This French film chronicles a decades-long love triangle between Claude (Jean-Pierre Léaud), an art critic, and sisters Ann (Kika Markham) and Muriel (Stacey Tendeter). Claude initially intends to marry Muriel, but after a lengthy separation, he decides to call off the wedding. Ann then visits Claude in Paris to champion her heartbroken sister. Instead, Ann falls for Claude. Over the intervening years, Claude's preference shifts as the three remain embroiled in a complicated relationship.

Plot Keywords: romance, drama, french film, literary adaptation, love triangle, romanticism, emotional conflict ...

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#3. The Valley of Decision (1945)

Storyline: An Irish maid, Mary Rafferty (Greer Garson), falls for Paul (Gregory Peck), who is the son of her rich boss, William Scott (Donald Crisp). To further complicate matters, Mary's father, Pat (Lionel Barrymore), lost both of his legs in an accident at the steel mill owned by Paul's father. Neither William or Pat approves of the couple's romance, and the burgeoning relationship only becomes a bigger battleground when a strike erupts at the steel mill.

Plot Keywords: drama, romance, family, class conflict, historical, america, social change ...

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#4. Fanny and Alexander (1982)

Storyline: It's the early twentieth century Sweden. Adolescent siblings Alexander and Fanny Ekdahl lead a relatively joyous and exuberant life with their well-off extended paternal family, led by the family matriarch, their grandmother, Helena Ekdahl. The openness of the family culture is exemplified by Helena's now deceased husband ending up becoming best friends with one of her lovers, a Jewish puppet maker named Isak Jacobi, and their Uncle Gustav Adolf's open liaison with one of the family maids, Maj, who everyone in the family adores, even Gustav Adolf's wife, Alma. Between the siblings, Alexander in particular has inherited the family's love of storytelling, his parents and his grandmother who are actors and who manage their own theater. Things change for Alexander and Fanny when their father, Oscar, dies shortly after Christmas 1907. Although she truly does believe she loves him, the children's mother, Emilie, decides to marry Bishop Edvard Vergérus, who she first met as the officiate at ...

Plot Keywords: family, drama, historical, swedish, childhood, fantasy, religion ...

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#5. Elmer Gantry (1960)

Storyline: Elmer Gantry is a fast-talking, hard-drinking traveling salesman who always has a risqué story and a hip flask to entertain cronies and customers alike. He is immediately taken with Sister Sharon Falconer, a lay preacher whose hellfire-and-damnation revivalism has attracted quite a following. Gantry uses his own quick wit and Bible knowledge to become an indispensable part of Sister Sharon's roadshow, but his past soon catches up with him in the form of Lulu Bains, now a prostitute. While Gantry seeks and eventually gets forgiveness from Sharon, tragedy strikes when she finally manages to get out of her revivalist tent and opens a permanent church.—garykmcd

Plot Keywords: religion, hypocrisy, faith, alcoholism, redemption, corruption, romance ...

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#6. The Endurance: Shackleton's Legendary Antarctic Expedition (2000)

Storyline: A retelling of Sir Ernest Shackleton 's ill-fated expedition to Antarctica in 1914-1916, featuring new footage of the actual locations and interviews with surviving relatives of key expedition members, plus archived audio interviews with expedition members, and a generous helping of the footage and still photos shot on the expedition.—Jon Reeves <jreeves@imdb.com>

Plot Keywords: adventure, documentary, history, survival, legendary, expedition, courage ...

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#7. Kings Row (1942)

Storyline: Five children in an apparently ideal American small town find their lives changing as the years pass near the turn of the century in 1900. Parris Mitchell (Robert Cummings) and Drake McHugh (Ronald Reagan), both of whom have lost their parents, are best friends; Parris dreams of becoming a doctor, studying under the father of his sweetheart Cassandra Tower (Betty Field), while Drake plans on becoming a local businessman when he receives his full inheritance - juggling girlfriends in the meantime. As they become adults, the revelations of local secrets threaten to ruin their hopes and dreams.—scgary66

Plot Keywords: drama, romance, film noir, psychological drama, small town life, social issues, coming of age ...

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#8. Modigliani (2004)

Storyline: Set in Paris in 1919, biopic centers on the life of late Italian artist Amedeo Modigliani, focusing on his last days as well as his rivalry with Pablo Picasso. Modigliani, a Jew, has fallen in love with Jeanne, a young and beautiful Catholic girl. The couple has an illegitimate child, and Jeanne's bigoted parents send the baby to a faraway convent to be raised by nuns. Modigliani is distraught and needs money to rescue and raise his child. The answer arrives in the shape of Paris' annual art competition. Prize money and a guaranteed career await the winner. Neither Modigliani, nor his dearest friend and rival Picasso have ever entered the competition, believing that it is beneath true artists like themselves. But push comes to shove with the welfare of his child on the line, and Modigliani signs up for the competition in a drunken and drug-induced tirade. Picasso follows suit and all of Paris is aflutter with excitement at who will win. With the balance of his relationship with Jeanne on the line, Modigliani tackles this work with the hopes of creating a masterpiece, and knows that all the artists of Paris are doing the same.—Sujit R. Varma

Plot Keywords: artist, biography, painter, paris, italy, artistic career, romance ...

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#10. A River Runs Through It (1992)

Storyline: The Maclean brothers, Paul and Norman, live a relatively idyllic life in rural Montana, spending much of their time fly fishing. The sons of a minister, the boys eventually part company when Norman moves east to attend college, leaving his rebellious brother to find trouble back home. When Norman finally returns, the siblings resume their fishing outings, and assess both where they've been and where they're going.

Plot Keywords: family, coming of age, brotherhood, father-son relationship, american west, rural life, nostalgia ...

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#11. Songcatcher (2001)

Storyline: After being denied a promotion at the university where she teaches, Doctor Lily Penleric, a brilliant musicologist, impulsively visits her sister, who runs a struggling rural school in Appalachia. There she stumbles upon the discovery of her life - a treasure trove of ancient Scots-Irish ballads, songs that have been handed down from generation to generation, preserved intact by the seclusion of the mountains. With the goal of securing her promotion, Lily ventures into the most isolated areas of the mountains to collect the songs and finds herself increasingly enchanted - not only by the rugged purity of the music, but also by the raw courage and endurance of the local people as they carve out meaningful lives against the harshest conditions. It is not, however, until she meets Tom - a handsome, hardened war veteran and talented musician - that she's forced to examine her motivations. Is the "Songcatcher," as Tom insists, no better than the men who exploit the people and extort their land?—Sujit R. Varma

Plot Keywords: music, drama, history, america, country music, female lead, scholar ...

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#12. Sons and Lovers (1960)

Storyline: It's the early twentieth century. The Morel family lives in the coal mining community of Bestwood, England, just outside of Nottingham. There is little connection now between husband and wife, Walter and Gertrude, due to their differences, while each quietly or not so quietly is able to manipulate emotionally their now adult sons. While eldest son William has escaped the clutches of his parents by moving to London, each of the two remaining sons have ended up having a natural alliance or connection to one parent. Arthur, like brusque Walter, works in the mines, something that Walter believes is their duty and legacy. Artistically inclined Paul, who is self-taught in his art, instead has a lower paying office job, in Gertrude's mind it a longer path but to greater financial gain, Paul who is never to work in the mines. Paul, arguably, would live as a painter if he was able. Paul's relationship with two women is shown in light of the influence Gertrude has had in his life, he who has separated the concepts of love, sex and marriage in his mind. The first is childhood friend, farm girl Miriam Leivers, who Paul has also instilled a romantic notion of the arts and literature. Their relationship is also affected by Mrs. Leivers, who has taught Miriam to have an ugly view of physical sex, it purely a means to procreation. The second is work colleague Clara Dawes, an emancipated woman separated from her laborer husband, Baxter Dawes.—Huggo

Plot Keywords: literary adaptation, family drama, coming of age, psychological conflict, mother-son relationship, love triangle, working class ...

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#13. Two Brothers (2004)

Storyline: 1920s Indochina. In the wild, a pair of adult tigers have just had a litter of two male cubs. It is a loving family unit, with the two brothers having a bond through their adventurous spirit. In different incidents, the cubs are captured individually, and although both in captivity live very different lives. Their individual captures were directly or indirectly associated with the work of Aidan McRory, a treasure and big game hunter, whose main goal is to make as much money for himself by selling his largely illegally obtained artifacts and animal parts at auction in Europe. Through the process, he has an emotional connection with one of the cubs, who is eventually named Kumal, but of who he eventually loses track. The cubs' lives are affected negatively by a number of other people who are working solely toward their own end goals, but the other cub, who is eventually named Sangha, also makes an emotional human connection to a young boy named Raoul Normandin, the son of the area ...

Plot Keywords: adventure, family, drama, animals, nature, wildlife, brotherhood ...

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#14. The House of Mirth (2000)

Storyline: Terence Davies' The House of Mirth is a tragic love story set against a background of wealth and social hypocrisy in turn of the century New York. Lily Bart is a ravishing socialite at the height of her success who quickly discovers the precariousness of her position when her beauty and charm start attracting unwelcome interest and jealousy. Torn between her heart and her head, Lily always seems to do the right thing at the wrong time. She seeks a wealthy husband and in trying to conform to social expectations, she misses her chance for real love with Lawrence Selden.

Plot Keywords: drama, romance, historical, american, novel adaptation, high society, female protagonist ...

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