Greatest Ever Costume Dramas Vol.2 (Steelbook) [DVD]

Collection of period dramas. In 'Atonement' (2007), on the hottest day of the summer of 1935, thirteen-year-old Briony Tallis (Saoirse Ronan) sees her older sister Cecilia (Keira Knightley) strip off her clothes and plunge into the fountain in the garden of their country house. Watching Cecilia is their housekeeper's son Robbie Turner (James McAvoy), a childhood friend who, along with Briony's sister, has recently graduated from Cambridge. By the end of that day the lives of all three have been changed forever. Robbie and Cecilia have crossed a boundary they had never before dared to approach and have become victims of the younger girl's scheming imagination - and Briony has committed a dreadful crime, the guilt for which will colour her entire life. Romola Garai and Vanessa Redgrave co-star as Briony as she grows older. In 'Elizabeth: The Golden Age' (2007), Elizabeth I (Cate Blanchett) has to contend with the rising power of Spain as Philip II (Jordi Molla) readies an armada for invasion, intent on returning England to Catholic influence. While her trusty servant Sir Francis Walsingham (Geoffrey Rush) works tirelessly to protect her from numerous plots, Elizabeth discovers she has a potential weakness in her fondness for Sir Walter Raleigh (Clive Owen). In 'Shakespeare in Love' (1998), it's late 16th Century London, and the theatre's most promising young playwright Will Shakespeare (Joseph Fiennes) is suffering from writer's block. Rose Theatre owner Philip Henslowe (Geoffrey Rush) is desperate that Will's new play - tentatively entitled 'Romeo and Ethel the Pirate's Daughter' - be finished, whilst a new cast member, Thomas Kent, is equally eager to make his stage debut. Kent has a secret however: 'he' is actually Viola De Lesseps (Gwyneth Paltrow), merchant's daughter and fiancee of Lord Wessex (Colin Firth). Adopting a disguise to enter a trade forbidden to women, matters become complicated when Will falls for her in her more conventional garb. It may take the intervention of Queen Elizabeth (Judi Dench) herself to make sure the course of true love runs smoothly and that the show goes on. In 'Vanity Fair' (2004), with society growing rich on the wealth generated by an expanding empire, Becky Sharp (Reese Witherspoon) is the ambitious daughter of a poor family, who will let nothing stand in her way in her attempt to climb the social ladder. Taking a position as nanny to the children of Sir Pitt Crawley (Bob Hoskins), Becky insinuates her way into the family's favours and into London society, eventually marrying Crawley's eldest son Rawdon (James Purefoy). When Rawdon proves to be a gambler and a drunkard, Becky wastes no time in approaching the influential Marquis of Steyne (Gabriel Byrne) in the hope that he will help advance her position. But can Becky keep climbing the social ladder forever? Finally, in 'Pride and Prejudice' (2005), when wealthy Mr Bingley (Simon Woods) and his friend, the dashing Mr Darcy (Matthew MacFadyen) arrive in a small Hertfordshire town, Mrs Bennett (Brenda Blethyn) sees it as the perfect opportunity to marry off her eligible daughters. But when Elizabeth Bennett (Knightley) meets Mr Darcy, their equally headstrong natures get in the way of true love.