A historical drama (also period drama , period piece or just period ) is a dramatic work set in a past time period, usually used in the context of film and television, which presents historical events and characters with varying degrees of fictional elements such as creative dialogue or fictional scenes which aim to compress separate events or illustrate a broader factual narrative. The biographical film is a type of historical drama which generally focuses on a single individual or well-defined group. Historical dramas can include romances , adventure films , and swashbucklers .
17-651: Sweet Kitty Bellairs is a 1930 American historical musical comedy film directed by Alfred E. Green . The film is based on the 1900 novel, The Bath Comedy by Agnes Castle and Egerton Castle . Shot entirely in Technicolor , the film stars Claudia Dell , Ernest Torrence and, Walter Pidgeon and is set in Bath, England in 1793. The novel was first adapted for the stage by David Belasco in 1903 and starred Henrietta Crosman . A silent film adaptation starring Mae Murray followed in 1916. Kitty Bellairs ( Claudia Dell ),
34-425: A famous flirt of her day, comes to Bath for the season. Early on in the film she declares that "in spite of her thirty or forty affairs, I've lost not a bit of my virtue." Her path is strewn with a number of conquests, including an enamored highwayman , a lord and some others who hang on her every word. A highwayman stops her coach as she is on her way to Bath and is immediately raptured by Kitty Bellairs. He trades
51-541: A genre directed towards women. Historical dramas have also been described as a conservative genre, glorifying an imagined past that never existed. Historical drama may include mostly fictionalized narratives based on actual people or historical events, such as the history plays of Shakespeare , Apollo 13 , The Tudors , Braveheart , Chernobyl , Enemy at the Gates , Les Misérables , and Titanic . Works may include references to real-life people or events from
68-650: A specific period such as the Roaring Twenties , or the recent past. In different eras different subgenres have risen to popularity, such as the westerns and sword and sandal films that dominated North American cinema in the 1950s. The costume drama is often separated as a genre of historical dramas. Early critics defined them as films focusing on romance and relationships in sumptuous surroundings, contrasting them with other historical dramas believed to have more serious themes. Other critics have defended costume dramas, and argued that they are disparaged because they are
85-478: Is a form of see-through clothing for women consisting of a sheer, usually long, dressing gown. It is a form of nightgown intended for wear at night and in the bedroom. It was introduced in France in the 18th century, where it mimicked the heavy head-to-toe style of women's day dresses of the time. By the 1920s, the negligee began to mimic women's satin single-layer evening dress of the period. The term "negligee"
102-452: Is approached by his friend who laughs at his shyness. Nevertheless, Lord Varney declares his love for her and decides to write a love poem to Kitty. The film then proceeds to the next day and we see Kitty being tended to by her maid while chatting with her hairdresser about her three lovers. She describes them and asks his opinion on whom she should choose. The film then proceeds to the house of Lady Julia Standish ( June Collyer ) on whom Kitty
119-421: Is paying a call. Lady Julia's husband is neglecting her and Kitty gives her advice on how to make her husband interested once again. Her husband, Sir Jasper Standish ( Ernest Torrence ) arrives from a trip to find her dressed elegantly as if expecting a caller. Meanwhile, Kitty places a love note addressed to her in a conspicuous place with a lock of red hair and leaves the house. Through a welter of songs into which
136-438: Is talking to Kitty Bellairs about her love affairs. Kitty asks him which man she should choose and the hairdresser says she should choose the highwayman because he prefers "a manly man." In another scene, Kitty teaches her friend how to get her husband to pay attention to her. Her instructions include wearing Parisian negligee and finding another lover. The film survives in a black-and-white nitrate copy . No copies of
153-462: The film are known to exist in the original Technicolor. The color work on the film was highly praised by the film reviewers of the day. Historical film Historical drama can be differentiated from historical fiction , which generally present fictional characters and events against a backdrop of historical events. A period piece may be set in a vague or general era such as the Middle Ages , or
170-566: The highwayman kisses her several times and slips a ring on her finger leaving her enraptured. Lord Varney, however, is in love with Kitty himself but is extremely bashful and shy. The film then progresses to the city of Bath, where the inhabitants sing an amusing song about their daily lives, and the proceeds to a dance which Kitty is attending. She meets Captain O'Hara ( Perry Askam ) who declares his love for her. When Lord Varney approaches and asks for his dance from Kitty, Captain O'Hara declares that "it 'was' his dance" and whisks her away. Lord Varney
187-470: The introduction of cheap synthetic fabrics such as nylon and its finer successors. From the 1940s to the 1970s, the trend was for negligees to become shorter in length (e.g. the babydoll of the 1970s). Negligees made from the 1940s to the 1970s are now collectible vintage items. In the UK in 2004, negligees accounted for only four percent of women's nightwear sales, women's pyjamas having dominated since
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#1732899032671204-523: The loot from the passengers for a kiss from Kitty who feels she should "yield" in order to save the life of Lord Varney ( Walter Pidgeon ), who has gallantly come to defend her honor. In spite of this, Lord Varney draws his sword and ends up losing the fight when he loses his sword, upon which the highwayman declares, "Blood is not a pretty sight for tender eyes, Retrieve your sword while I go about my business." He proceeds to kiss Kitty who declares she considers herself not to have been kissed at all, upon which
221-408: The negligee emerged strongly as a form of lingerie . Modern negligees are often much looser, made of sheer and diaphanous fabrics, and trimmed with lace or other fine material and bows. Multiple layers of fabric are often used. The modern negligee thus perhaps owes more to women's fine bedjackets or bed-capes, and up-market slips than to the nightgown . It spread to a mass market, benefiting from
238-425: The principals break at short intervals she at length decides on a lord instead of a highwayman. Lord Varney, hearing that Kitty was visiting Lady Standish, comes to call on Kitty at Lord Standish's house. Lord Standish immediately assumes that he is fooling around with his wife and insults him so that he must fight a duel "according to the code" in order to uphold his honor. The report of the scandal soon flies through
255-787: The relevant time period or contain factually accurate representations of the time period. Works that focus on accurately portraying specific historical events or persons are instead known as docudrama , such as The Report . Where a person's life is central to the story, such a work is known as biographical drama , with notable examples being films such as Alexander , Frida , House of Saddam , Lincoln , Lust for Life , Raging Bull , Stalin , and Oppenheimer . Negligee The negligee or négligée ( French : négligé [negliʒe] ; lit. ' neglected ' ), also known in French as déshabillé ( [dezabije] ; lit. ' undressed ' ),
272-533: The town and we are taken to a bath where everyone is talking about the supposed affair. Kitty happens to be there and as soon as she hears the story she begins to fear for the life of Lord Varney, whom she now realizes is the one she really loves. Through a welter of songs into which the principals break at short intervals, as well as outrageous Pre-Code comedy, satire and drama, Kitty and Lord Varney are at length united. The film contains several examples of Pre-Code humor. In one scene, an obviously gay hairdresser
289-566: Was used on a Royal Doulton run of ceramic figurines in 1927, showing women wearing what appears to be a one-piece knee-length slip made of silk or rayon , trimmed with lace . Although the evening-dress style of nightwear made moves towards the modern negligee style—translucent bodices , lace trimming, bows, exemplified in 1941 by a photo of Rita Hayworth in Life —it was only after World War II that nightwear changed from being primarily utilitarian to being primarily sensual or even erotic ;
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