230 Films & TV Shows Set In Asia During The 19th Century
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The Bushido Blade
๐ฏ๐ต Japan The 1850sIt cuts to the heart of courage. โ A steel samurai blade that was to be given to the American ambassador by the Emperor of Japan is stolen. American sailors and Japanese samurai are sent to find it.
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Clan of the White Lotus
๐จ๐ณ China The 19th CenturyShaolin practitioners and brothers Wu and Hung kill the merciless Pai Mei. However, Pai Mei's even more merciless brother White Lotus takes revenge; killing most of the Shaolin disciples, including Wu and Hung's girlfriend, leaving only Wu's pregnant wife and Hung as the only remaining practitioners of Shaolin left to avenge the deaths. But Hung's kung-fu will not be powerful enough so he must learn feminine kung-fu techniques to help him try and defeat White Lotus.
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Oblomov
๐ท๐บ Russia The 1850sSt. Petersburg, mid 19th century: the indolent, middle-aged Oblomov lives in a flat with his older servant, Zakhar. He sleeps much of the day, dreaming of his childhood on his parents' estate. His boyhood companion, Stoltz, now an energetic and successful businessman, adds Oblomov to his circle whenever he's in the city, and Oblomov's life changes when Stoltz introduces him to Olga, lovely and cultured. When Stoltz leaves for several months, Oblomov takes a country house near Olga's, and she determines to change him: to turn him into a man of society, action, and culture. Soon, Olga and Oblomov are in love; but where, in the triangle, does that leave Stoltz?
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Killer Constable
๐จ๐ณ China The 19th Century2 million taels in gold has been stolen from a vault within the Forbidden City. The Empress wants the money returned within 10 days. Chief Constable Leng Tian-Ying is hired to bring back the gold robbers, dead or alive- and Leng's earned a reputation of never bringing anyone back alive.
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Ten Tigers of Kwangtung
Guangdong Province The 19th CenturyChang Cheh directs this old school Shaw Brother produced kung fu yarn. The film opens with members of the Ten Tigers group getting attacked by a pair of mysterious assailants. The film then flashes back several years previous to focus on Ming partisan Chu (Ku Feng) who is on the run from Manchu forces. Local merchant and kung fu enthusiast Li Chen-chau (Ti Lung) gives the fugitive shelter in his pawnshop and quietly recruits some of his fellow martial master associates to help protect the lad. When Li's professional rival rats him out, Manchu official Liang (Johnny Wang Lung-wei) not only orchestras his army but fools a couple other kung fu masters including Beggar Su (Phillip Kwok Tsui) into helping his cause. After a heated battle, Li manages to convince Su to joining his cause, thus forming the Ten Tigers. The film then snaps back to the original storyline, where the identities of the mystery assailants are revealed.
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Cantonen Iron Kung Fu
Guangdong Province The 19th CenturyIn a small Chinese town wandering criminals kill a local merchant to take over his trade routes, leaving Liang Kun (Leung Kar Yan) to seek vengeance and protect his town.
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Junoon
๐ฎ๐ณ India The 1850sSet during the 1857 War of Independence, an obsessed Indian Nawab desires to wed a young Anglo-Indian woman, but the girl's obstinate mother stands between them.
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Empire of Passion
๐ฏ๐ต Japan The 1890sA young man has an affair with an older woman. He is very jealous of her husband and decides that they should kill him. One night, after the husband had plenty of sake to drink and was in bed, they strangle him and dump his body down a well. To avert any suspicions, she pretends her husband has gone off to Tokyo to work. For three years the wife and her lover secretly see each other. Finally, suspicions become very strong and people begin to gossip. To make matters worse, her husband's ghost begins to haunt her and the law arrives to investigate her husband's disappearance.
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The Duellists
๐ซ๐ท France ๐ฉ๐ช Germany ๐ท๐บ Russia The 1800s The 1810sFencing is a science. Loving is a passion. Duelling is an obsession. โ In 1800, as Napoleon Bonaparte rises to power in France, a rivalry erupts between Armand and Gabriel, two lieutenants in the French Army, over a perceived insult. For over a decade, they engage in a series of duels amidst larger conflicts, including the failed French invasion of Russia in 1812, and shifts in the political and social systems of Europe.
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The Chess Players
๐ฎ๐ณ India The 1850sSatyajit Ray's First Hindi Film โ It is the year 1856. Nawab Wajid Ali Shah is the king of Awadh, one of the last independent kingdoms of India. The British colonialists, intent on controlling this rich land, have sent general Outram on a secret mission to clear the way for an annexation. Pressure is mounting amidst intrigue and political manoeuvres, but the Nawab whiles away his time in pursuit of pleasure and religious practice. The court is of no help eitherโCourt nobles Mir and Mirza, ignoring the situation of their country and all their duties towards their families, spend their days playing endless games of chess. The film is based on Munshi Premchand's short story of the same name.
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La tigre รจ ancora viva: Sandokan alla riscossa!
๐ฒ๐พ Malaysia The 19th CenturyThe pirate Sandokan, the Bengal tiger and the East India Company's terror, fighting the British Empire and the ondeskefulla James Brooke, rahjan of Sarawak.
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Max Havelaar
๐ฎ๐ฉ Indonesia The 19th CenturyAn idealistic Dutch colonial officer posted to Indonesia in the 19th century is cohvinced that he can make the kinds of changes that will actually help the local people he is in charge of, but circumstances soon make him realize just how out of touch he really is, and it doesn't take long for things to go from bad to worse.
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Challenge of the Masters
๐จ๐ณ China The 19th CenturyThe Wong family kung fu school gets smacked around by a rival school. Wong Fei-hong gets fed up with the abuse and goes to learn from his fathers master. After one of the rival schools members kills some of the towns people Wong Fei-hong becomes enraged trains even more comes back and gets his revenge.
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Tosun Pasha
๐ช๐ฌ Egypt The 19th CenturyGreen Valley is ours! โ Late 19th century in Alexandria. Two traditionally rival Turkish families, "Seferoglu"s and "Tellioglu"s are competing for the "Green Valley". The winner will be determined by Daver Bey, who has a beautiful young daughter, Leyla. Both families try to arrange a marriage between a man from their family and Leyla, so that Daver Bey will be inclined to give the green valley to his "relatives". Tellioglus, who are behind in the race, desperately find a final solution: They will fake their idiotic butler, Saban, as the highest ranked Ottoman soldier in Egypt: Tosun Pasha.
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The Last Tempest
๐จ๐ณ China The 19th CenturyDespite Kuang Hsu's enthronement as the last reigning Emperor of China, his ability to rule effectively is overshadowed by the ever-present power of the Dowager Empress. When his attempts to reform the Imperial system are thwarted by the Dowager Empress, he attempts to curb her power. His efforts are not successful, and this failure leads directly to his own death and the end of Imperial rule in China. The Dowager Empress, though, ends her days comfortably and in peace.
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The Man Who Would Be King
๐ฆ๐ซ Afghanistan The 1880sRudyard Kipling's epic of splendor, spectacle and high adventure at the top of a legendary world. โ A robust adventure about two British adventurers who take over primitive Kafiristan as "godlike" rulers, meeting a tragic end through their desire for a native girl. Based on a short story by Rudyard Kipling.
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Love and Death
๐ท๐บ Russia The 1800s The 1810sBoris is a simple Russian villager who pines from afar for his beautiful cousin Sonja. Forced against his will into joining the Russian army during the Napoleonic Wars, the cowardly Boris accidentally becomes a military hero. But when his beloved Sonja comes to him with a dangerous patriotic scheme, Boris debates his desires and beliefs.
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Legend of the Werewolf
๐ซ๐ท France ๐ท๐บ Russia The 19th CenturyA Tyburn Tale of Terror โ A travelling circus in 19th century France adopts and showcases a feral "wolf boy", who grows into adulthood only to kill the one-man band. He runs off to Paris, where he develops a jealous, overprotective crush on a prostitute, leading him to attack her client, incurring a pursuit by a determined police surgeon.
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Royal Flash
England ๐ฉ๐ช Germany ๐ฆ๐ซ Afghanistan The 1840sNe'er-do-well Harry Flashman is coerced by Otto von Bismark into impersonating a prince. โ Cowardly rogue Harry Flashman's (Malcolm McDowell) schemes to gain entry to the royal circles of 19th-century Europe go nowhere until he meets a pair of devious nobles with their own agenda. At their urging, Flashman agrees to re-create himself as a bogus Prussian nobleman to woo a beautiful duchess. But the half-baked plan quickly comes unraveled, and he's soon on the run from several new enemies who are all calling for the rapscallion's head.
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The Empress Dowager
๐จ๐ณ China The 19th CenturyThis dragon lady of the Ching Dynasty was the power behind the throne for 50 years, and hew vast tapestry of palace intrigues is vividly brought to the screen in this memorable epic.
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This Bloody, Blundering Business
๐ต๐ญ Philippines The 1900s The 1890sAn incisive satire on U.S. foreign policy, THIS BLOODY BLUNDERING BUSINESS traces the history of American intervention in the Philippines following the Spanish-American War. A silent movie format with lively ragtime piano music is combined with a dramatically understated narration and excerpts from "newsreels" of the period to reveal the nature of American attitudes toward Third World peoples and significant parallels with contemporary American foreign policy.
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The Legend of the 7 Golden Vampires
๐จ๐ณ China The 1900s The 1800sHammer Horror! Dragon Thrills! The First Kung Fu Horror Spectacular! โ Professor Van Helsing had been asked to help against the tyranny of skeletal creatures that are responsible for terror and death amongst the peasants in rural China. He is the only person qualified to deal with the cause of these phenomena, for the undead are controlled by the most diabolical force of all.... Count Dracula. But he is not alone- to aid him comes a mystical brotherhood of seven martial arts warriors.
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The Assassination of Ryoma
Kyoto Prefecture The 1860sStory of the last three days in the life of Sakamoto Ryoma (1836-1867), imperial loyalist who tried to unite the Choshu and Satsuma clans and prepared the way for the Meiji Restoration (1868).
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Prophecies of Nostradamus
๐ฏ๐ต Japan ๐ฎ๐ฉ Indonesia ๐ต๐ฌ Papua New Guinea The 1990s The 1830sCatastrophe 1999 โ Professor Nishiyama, after studying and interpreting the prophecies of Nostradamus, realizes that the end of the world is at hand. Unfortunately, nobody listens to him until it is too late. As the effects of mankind's tampering of the earth - radioactive smog clouds, hideously mutated animals, destruction of the ozone layer - rage out of control, the world leaders hurtle blindly toward the final confrontation. The film sparked controversy in Japan and was subsequently pulled out of circulation, with no official video release of the uncut film.
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Lady Snowblood
๐ฏ๐ต Japan The 19th CenturyYuki's family is nearly wiped out before she is born due to the machinations of a band of criminals. These criminals kidnap and brutalize her mother but leave her alive. Later her mother ends up in prison with only revenge to keep her alive. She creates an instrument for this revenge by purposefully getting pregnant. Yuki never knows the love of a family but only killing and revenge.
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