
You asked for it, so here’s an occasional open thread to bitch about anything tangentially related to history, costume, movies, or TV shows! Or whatever else is on your mind right now. Note that URLs are automatically held for moderation, but most anything else goes as long as you’re not bitchier than we are!
We’re back from our winter break and trying to get into the swing of things. We’ve got plenty of new and classic shows to review, and Snark Week is coming at the end of the month, so we’re busy. Hopefully that will get the year off to a decent start.
What frock flicks are you looking forward to in 2025?
Oh what fresh hell awaits us in S2 of the Buccaneers?
Nooooooooo!!! I’m not resubbing to Apple TV to find out :D
What’s on everyone’s anti-watch list? Period Dramas you wouldn’t touch with a 10 foot pole?
Ooo that’d be a fun top 5 Friday!
I dread the eventual P&P remake on Netflix! We’re in for Hell! At least we have Wolf Hall to look forward to! Jane Seymour and Anna of Kleve are underrated wives! I wish Sofia Coppola would direct a Catherine Howard biopic!
Coppola plus Howard is a great idea.
Netflix doing P&P would be like that bizarre Persuasion movie where they tried to make Anne “a woman of modern sensibilities.”
If you don’t understand the source material, don’t try to adapt it.
Fair warning, NOSFERATU (2024) packs quite a punch and has a fairly potent aesthetic, but it’s definitely not the most cheerful watch – if only because the resident Zombie Vampire is naked a startling amount of the time.
Not all the time, but far more often than even a necrophiliac would prefer.
…
On the other hand there ARE some very elegant frocks.
I really need to see it (gothic! vampire! horror! all the things I love!), but I keep missing chances to get out to the theater.
The costumes in Nosferatu are quite beautiful. Stylish and not dreary, which is refreshing to see for something set during the “death of fashion” Victorian period.
Also, I was recently watching UPSTAR CROW and wondered if there were any other fans of the series on this website – I keep hoping that somebody rather more savvy with mid to late Elizabethan fashion would look over the surprisingly choice selection of costumes to be seen.
There’s discussion of Upstart Crow’s costumes here: https://frockflicks.com/shakespeare-bill-upstart-crow/
I recall the article in question: alas, the reviewer based their observations on the first episode only and does not seem to have reviewed any of the other episodes or the Christmas specials.
Such is life.🙂
Who wishes we’d get a Tv series based on Alison Weir’s Six Tudor Queens series? Or even a good Carmilla movie? AW’s Six Tudor queens would be an epic reaction to the bullshit PFG adaptations or even B,S & Royalty! I’d also love a miniseries based on AW’s new book The Passionate Tudor, about Princess/Queen Mary I! A prequel miniseries about Elizabeth of York would be pretty epic, based on the Last White Rose!
I’d love a decent Carmilla movie – every so-called attempt has been schlocky. But dunno if anyone would take on Weir’s 6 wives, it feels like a big project, & I’d want a streamer w/money to do it well.
The tricky thing about CARMILLA is that it’s a Lesbian Vampire story, but one in which the Lesbian Vampire is depicted essentially ‘catfishing’ no fewer than two teenage girls (with an eye to bleeding the life out of them) and as having killed at least one other victim in the course of the tale (Also a teenage girl).
While Countness Karnstein lacks Count Dracula’s malicious sense of humour and Lord Ruthven’s vindictiveness, she’s only slightly more sympathetic than either of her literary peers – which, coupled with her clear but unstated preferences – helps explain why adaptations have tended to be either sleazy or very loose (Since production crews are either interested in a fully sympathetic Lesbian Vampire Romance or in getting their audience’s rocks off, rather to the detriment of those adaptations.
Having said that, since Ms. Anya Taylor-Joy wasn’t able to star in NOSFERATU (2024), I would happily endorse her for the role of CARMILLA – especially in a non sleazy adaptation of the novel.
Bonus points if Mr Arnold Schwarzenegger shows up as Von Spielsdorf (Since if memory serves he’s originally from Styria, the region of Austria where the story is set, and since THE IRON MASK shows that he can wear the heck out of a pair of 18th/19th century whiskers).
Or (better yet, in my opinion) a series based on Antonia Fraser’s study of the six wives.
WITHOUT Dr. Worsley, whom I’m starting to dislike. Dressing as Georgian royalty was cute earlier in her career, but does Jack the Ripper really need any more coverage? (I avoided that one, for fear Lucy would show up as a Whitechapel bar maid.)
What I’m looking forward to most of all is Snark Week! :)
We’re hard at work :D
I have seen Sarah Bernhardt French biopic. Costumes and settings are very nice, the cast is great but the story is so boring…. going back and forth on the wikipedia checklist
Can you make the Klimt post available, since today is the deadline?
Hi, Have you seen Mr. Turner?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mr._Turner
About the life of painter William Turner from 1820s to his death. The costumes seem very good (to my non-expert eye). What’s your opinion?
Bah, that’s one of those that I feel like I SHOULD watch but haven’t been able to bring myself to do so!
Please do a review on the most recent version of the Count of Monte Cristo. Would love your take on the costumes!!
The film just came out for rent on streaming so it’s possible. Looks like there’s also a miniseries but it’s not available in the US at all.