50 of Trystan’s Favorite Frock Flicks

48 thoughts on “50 of Trystan’s Favorite Frock Flicks”

1. Happy Birthday.

   But where’s Zeffirelli Romeo and Juliet?

   And Genevieve Bujold was a terrific Anne. Just the right bit of French accent and costumes. But I did like Natalie Dormer’s, too. She was the bright spot in the Tudors.

   And Wives and Daughters….

   1. I guess romance wasn’t on my mind, lol, & there’s only 50 ;)

      I actually haven’t seen Wives & Daughters (it was Kendra who did the whole week about the series).

      1. It’s worthwhile.

         And what about the ones to grow on? (old bd joke)

2. Happy Birthday Trystan!

   1. Thanks!

3. Happy birthday!

   My list if I had one would overlap with yours with these, some not especially for costume reasons because I wasn’t so aware until I started reading your blog:

   I Claudius
   Elizabeth R (barely remember but was impressed at the time)
   Dangerous Liaisons
   Sense and Sensibility
   Middlemarch
   Impromptu
   Tess
   Buccaneers
   Age of Innocence
   Room with a View
   Howard’s End
   Jeeves and Wooster
   Some Like It Hot
   Cold Comfort Farm
   Brideshead Revisited

   Not saying some of the others weren’t worth watching or interesting, but they don’t own my heart in the same way.

   Ones I now have to watch or rewatch because of your post today and reviews in the past:
   History of the World
   Six Wives (saw most of this at the time, but it’s been so long, also black & white)
   Anne of the Thousand Days
   Blackadder II
   the two MQoS
   Orlando
   Much Ado about Nothing
   Jefferson in Paris (that screenshot!)
   Wuthering Heights
   Return of the Native

   1. fist bump That’s a fine list for rewatching with a nice drink &/or some chocolate :)

4. My gateway was what I lovingly refer to as “Hank and his six pack” and then Elizabeth R. Our lists would mirror each other’s list. There’s a couple on here that I’ve need to find as I’ve never seen them.

5. Happy Birthday Trystan!

   1. Thanks!

6. I’ve seen and loved most of these. Good choices! What are your thoughts on Immortal Beloved? Also, one of my favorites.

   1. Immortal Beloved is grand! This isn’t my set-in-stone list, just 50 that came immediately to mind ;)

7. Many happies!!
   I’d stick Peaky Blinders in there and I loved the aesthetic in Taboo. Do you recall the old Forsyte Saga? And Poldark?

   1. I’ve seen most of those, but none yank my chain. I liked the old Poldark better than the new one tho :D

8. Appy Birthday! Fantastic list!! Someone mentioned Poldark and I second that!

   1. Thanks!

9. Happy Birthday! I see that that I have a great many more movies to watch. :)

10. So many of these are on my top 50 list too. I hope you had a wonderful birthday! <3

    1. Not surprised we have some in common!

11. Happy birthday, and thank you for the wonderful retrospective.

12. You have splendid taste, milady.

    1. Thank you :)

13. Dang! You have awesome taste! By the way: I hope the day of your birth is beautiful, peaceful & also awesome x

14. Somewhat O.T., but I just saw “Never Look Away” (WWII and post-war Germany; based on the early life and paintings of Gerhard Richter: art as a means of understanding history, one’s life, etc.). Very well-made and acted, with some good mid-century costuming.

15. Hey, Trystan, are you going to do anything special for today?
    And any word on the release of Happy Prince? I haven’t seen anything yet.

    BTW, have you seen Bohemian Rhapsody?

    1. I just found Happy Prince available on digital rental! Adding into our Frock Flicks budget for next month :) I missed Bohemian Rhapsody in the theaters so I’ll have to catch it on streaming soon.

16. I would get you the complete set of Norris’s costume books. As for faves, I haven’t seen even half of the films on your list.

    1. A fun gift, thanks!

17. Happy birthday, ElderGoth! What a marvelous idea to list your favorites! It would be interesting to do this regularly, say, every five years, to see how one’s taste changes over time.

    But I must correct the name of one of your choices. It is “I, Clavdivs”, pronounced with the “v”s! That’s the way that my friends and I have referred to it by since the original showing on PBS.

18. Happy birthday! I really like some of the selections on your list. I would need a day or two to select my top 50 favorites.

19. No love for the Gothy WTF?! that is Salem? Bad goth! No cloves for you! Seriously, happy birthday. May you live long enough to turn into Maggie Smith.

    1. Lady Hermina, that is the most perfect birthday wish ever. I have alerted my friends that they must deploy it when I turn 50 later this year. Trystan, I echo Hermina’s wish for you! And I was glad to see many of my faves on your list. I would add the Ioan Gruffudd Forsyte Saga and the glorious Mystery series Partners in Crime, which ignited my passion for 1920s fashions. Ooh, and the Jane Seymour Scarlet Pimpernel… and Somewhere in Time… I guess I really should make my own list.

    2. Salem makes my teeth itch! The vampire historical movies are my gothy loves :D

20. Cool – there’s some classics in there!

21. Happy Birthday! This is a terrific list, and I would get you that definitive MAry, Queen of Scots movie you so deserve.,

    1. I dream of it, thank you!

22. Happy Birthday, Trystan! Thanks for all the fun and snark. May your day have chemises and no stretch velvet!

    1. Hee, thanks!

23. Happy birthday Trystan! Gone With The Wind!

    1. Thanks, but as a born Southerner & a liberal Californian, GWTW is waaaaay too problematic to make the top of my list.

24. Happy Belated Birthday! I hope you had a spectacular day. 💖✨💖

    1. Thanks!

25. Happy Belated Birthday!! I hope your day was fabulous! I turned 50 last month and it’s been surprisingly freeing. :) Love your list, please give Wives and Daughters a watch – good story with great costuming and hair!

26. Lol….are you me???? Awesome list.

27. Belated Happy 50th!
    I feel like this is an appropriate time to let you know that I used to keep up with your alt.gothic.fashion stuff WAYYY back in the late 90’s. I remember following your website as you gathered your wedding attire. Then decades later I followed some unrelated link or google search here, and after reading a post, I scrolled down to the “About the Author” section and I was like “Oh, it’s Trystan!”

    So thank you for 20+ years of keeping me entertained on the internet!

28. Cheri, persuasion. Start the revolution without me.

29. Wow, Trystan. Happy belated birthday!! It looks like I discovered this website about a month after your b-day and this post over a year later. So, here’s a belated happy 51st!!!!! What would I give for your birthday? Easy! I would give you tickets to an awesome, kick-ass costume exhibit!

    I tallied up my overlaps with yours and found 14 films that we both love. I won’t list them all here but I will say this: 1. Bram Stoker’s Dracula is the most BEAUTIFUL movie ever made. 2. The Juliette Binoche/Ralph Fiennes version of Wuthering Heights is WONDERFUL and does not get the attention that it deserves. 3. Much Ado About Nothing, Dangerous Liaisons, and Interview with a Vampire are EVERYTHING. 4. You are so right: Stephen Fry was BORN to play Oscar Wilde! 5. Daniel Day Lewis looked his absolute BEST as Newland Archer in The Age of Innocence, and this movie hits all the right notes.

    Your post caused me to think back on the costume dramas that imprinted my young, impressionable heart–not only for their costumes (of which I’m not an expert) but for their story, and more probably my teenage hormones and love of melodrama. I LOVED The Three Musketeers (1993); First Knight (I know it’s not a beloved film here); Othello (1995); Emma (1996); The Untouchables TV series (1993); Last of the Mohicans (for DDL!); and House of Eliott (does anyone else remember this British TV show?)

    Once again, thanks Trystan for taking down memory lane and for letting us peak into your costume-loving heart! Happy belated birthday!!!!

    1. Thanks! And yes, Daniel Day Lewis is amazing in everything.

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