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5[[quoteright:350:[[Film/GosfordPark https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/gosfordpark.png]]]]
6[[caption-width-right:350: Party like it's 1929.]]
7
8A (usually) unspecified date somewhere between the end of UsefulNotes/WorldWarI in 1918 and the commencement of UsefulNotes/WorldWarII in 1939. A time of women in evening gowns and gentlemen in dinner jackets mingling at well-to-do cocktail parties, rich tweed-clad country gentlemen and hard-boiled detectives who are veterans of World War I. Lots of action takes place in big country houses and small surrounding villages in the countryside, often involving (depending on the author/genre) either wacky romantic misunderstandings or cold-blooded acts of murder, both of which evolve around complex, labyrinthian schemes. In the more urban areas (usually either {{UsefulNotes/London}} or UsefulNotes/NewYorkCity), there's lots of ArtDeco around, swank parties, heavy drinking, and gay repartee. While TheRoaringTwenties and then TheGreatDepression both took place around this period, the rather conservative and patrician milieu of the Genteel Interbellum Setting tends to keep the era's real-world social, cultural, and political upheavals somewhat at arm's length.
9
10This trope was formerly named "Christie Time" after the period when most (if not all) of Creator/AgathaChristie's Literature/HerculePoirot {{novel}}s are thought to be set (they actually cover a time period of 1916 to the early 1970s, suggesting that Poirot lives to be over a hundred years old) and when all said TV adaptations are set. It could well have been called [[Creator/PGWodehouse Wodehouse]] Time also.
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12The historical name for this period is the Interbellum, hence the name. Later portrayals may see it combined with DieselPunk.
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14In his short story ''Umney's Last Case'', Creator/StephenKing refers to a temporal variant, ChandlerAmericanTime. Here, the action is set at the very end of the period, just before America enters the War in 1941.
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16In Genteel Interbellum Setting and ChandlerAmericanTime the time from 1918-1941 is usually ''[[YeGoodeOldeDays idealized]]'', while in DieselPunk it is the opposite, often containing critical deconstruction of the values of those times.
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18See also OldDarkHouse, which is usually the setting for TenLittleMurderVictims.
19
20Compare and contrast TheGayNineties, BigFancyHouse, VictorianNovelDisease.
21----
22!!Examples:
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24[[foldercontrol]]
25
26[[folder:Board Games]]
27* ''TabletopGame/{{Clue}}''/''Cluedo'' is usually set during this period. Over the decades, [[SettingUpdate modernizations]] have been occasionally attempted, but they never go over well and always revert back to the original.
28[[/folder]]
29
30[[folder:Comic Strips]]
31* ''[[ComicStrip/RupertBear Rupert]]'' (which actually began in 1920) and other British children's NewspaperComics.
32* The American-colonial Philippines had an equivalent in ''ComicStrip/{{Kenkoy}}'', which began in 1928, and whose title character enjoys dressing up to the nines, American-style (despite it likely being hotter in such a tropical setting), and wooing women and getting into silly hijinks along the way.
33[[/folder]]
34
35[[folder:Film — Live-Action]]
36* ''Film/DowntonAbbey'', set in 1927
37* ''Film/GosfordPark''
38* ''Film/OurDancingDaughters''
39* ''Film/BrightYoungThings'', the film version of Waugh's ''Literature/VileBodies''.
40* ''Film/TheThinMan'' film series, depicting the adventures of Nick and Nora Charles.
41* The film version of Mr. and Mrs. North.
42* ''Film/TheRemainsOfTheDay'', as with [[Literature/TheRemainsOfTheDay the book]], bounces between interbellum and post-war.
43* ''Film/TheShadow''
44* ''Film/TheKingsSpeech'' is set in this period.
45* ''Film/{{The Phantom|1996}}''
46* ''Film/{{Bullshot}}''
47* The first part of ''{{Film/Atonement}}''.
48* ''Film/TheGrandBudapestHotel''
49* ''Film/VictorVictoria''
50* ''Film/{{Hugo}}'', set in GayParee in the late 1920s–early 1930s.
51* ''Film/QuezonsGame'' (set around 1938, just before UsefulNotes/WorldWarII starts, either in Europe with the Nazi Germany invasion of Poland in 1939, or in the American Philippines with the Japanese invasion in 1941)
52* ''Film/CloudAtlas'': Frobisher's era. His letters read like a particularly bitter Creator/PGWodehouse novel.
53[[/folder]]
54
55[[folder:Literature]]
56* Most of Nancy Mitford's body of work, but especially ''Literature/ThePursuitOfLove'' and ''Literature/LoveInAColdClimate''. The various TV adaptations fall under this heading as well.
57* Most of Creator/GKChesterton's ''Literature/FatherBrown'' stories, although the first two collections were published before and during WWI respectively.
58* Former TropeNamer Creator/AgathaChristie:
59** ''The Secret Adversary'' (1922), which introduced Literature/TommyAndTuppence not so long after they were both out of work due to the end of UsefulNotes/WorldWarI. ''Literature/PartnersInCrime'' (1929) is a series of linked short stories about their joint venture in running a detective agency. Unlike [[Literature/HerculePoirot Poirot]] mentioned above, Tommy and Tuppence [[GrowOldWithMe aged roughly in real time]].
60** Christie's final novel ''Curtain'' actually does provide a timeframe for her stories (or at least the ones about Poirot, though this would probably drag a lot of others into the mix as well by proxy due to overlapping characters), placing them in the period of the early 1920s through the early 1940s. This may not always be consistent with the details of all of her stories (especially the Poirot novel ''Third Girl'', which deals with Swinging Sixties youth culture) but at least it's established.
61** The late ''Literature/MissMarple'' novel ''At Bertram's Hotel'' provides an InternalDeconstruction. Written and set in the mid-1960s, it features Miss Marple checking into an old-established and seemingly-unchanged Olde Worlde luxury hotel, which [[spoiler:turns out to have been taken over by a criminal conspiracy]]. The ending has Miss Marple reflecting to herself that times have changed and she can't live in the past.
62* "Literature/DeadStars" (1925), by the Filipino author Paz Marquez Benitez, is implied to be contemporarily set in the 1920s American Philippines—a time similarly stereotyped as sunny, idyllic and peaceful (in fact, it's often locally nicknamed "peacetime"), but in the Filipino context "interbellum" doesn't so much count back to WWI, but instead to the Philippine-American War, the same war that allowed U.S. colonialists to occupy the fledgling first Philippine republic.
63* Creator/KerryGreenwood's Literature/PhryneFisher mysteries, which are mostly set in Australia during 1928 (although the last two books have moved into 1929, and ''Murder in Montparnasse'' had flashbacks to post-UsefulNotes/WorldWarI Paris).
64* Creator/NgaioMarsh's Roderick Alleyn mysteries.
65* ''[[Literature/LordPeterWimsey The Lord Peter Wimsey Mysteries]]'' by Creator/DorothyLSayers.
66* Various books by Creator/EvelynWaugh, most notably ''Vile Bodies'' and ''Literature/BridesheadRevisited'', though the latter averts this by telling the story through characters during the war [[SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome reminiscing about the life they've lost]].
67* Creator/PGWodehouse's Literature/JeevesAndWooster stories are often remembered as this, but in fact they do have occasional references that establish the passing of time (there's a past-tense mention of World War II in at least ''Ring for Jeeves'' - which is a bit of OddballInTheSeries - and short story ''Bingo Bans the Bomb'' is set in context of nuclear disarmement protests). [[Series/JeevesAndWooster The TV series]] is definitely and deliberately set in Christie Time, though.
68** Wodehouse himself [[FlipFlopOfGod was a bit inconsistent]] on this point; asked point-blank when his novels were set, [[http://www.theparisreview.org/interviews/3773/the-art-of-fiction-no-60-p-g-wodehouse he said]] "Between the wars, rather", and sometimes excused the out-of-dateness of his settings by claiming that he wrote "historical novels". He also confessed to [[VagueAge not knowing how old his characters were]].
69** To make things even more confusing, Creator/GeorgeOrwell put forward a case that Wodehouse's stories are in fact TwoDecadesBehind, and that for all intents and purposes they are set in TheEdwardianEra.
70* Jean Ray's Harry Dickson novels.
71* E. F. Benson's ''Mapp and Lucia'' books.
72* Leslie Charteris' first few dozen stories about Literature/TheSaint. But poor old Simon Templar, an RFC veteran from WWI, was still debonairly thirtyish in WWII, and still in harness in the 1983.
73* Creator/JoWalton's AlternateHistory ''Literature/SmallChange'' trilogy takes place in an extended Genteel Interbellum Setting: Britain's fascist-sympathetic government stays out of WWII, while one main character is a homicide detective whose investigations drag him deeper and deeper into a conspiracy trying to keep it that way.
74* Most of Creator/HPLovecraft's stories take place in this time period, appropriately enough as it covers the span of his literary career and he far preferred Ye Olde Anglo-Saxon way of life to the hustle and bustle of contemporary urban America; as the setting is LovecraftCountry, it remains credible.
75* ''Literature/TheFountainhead'', by Creator/AynRand, is supposed to be set in a generic, strangely historically-detached version of TheRoaringTwenties where jazz, flappers, and Prohibition curiously go unmentioned.
76* S.S. Van Dine's erudite and sublimely supercilious PhiloVance.
77* Many of Rex Stout's early Literature/NeroWolfe novels are set in this period.
78* Creator/RichardLockridge's husband and wife detectives, Literature/MrAndMrsNorth.
79* Creator/DashiellHammett's ''Literature/TheThinMan'' epitomizes the high-life in New York during this period.
80* Literature/ThePhantomDetective provides a pulp-hero version of the genteel detective.
81* Creator/DamonRunyon's works are some of the definitive "Everyone's-a-gangster-and-wears-hats-while-talking-snappy" incarnation of the era.
82* The Creator/ElleryQueen series had its origins in this setting.
83* Erich Kästner's comedy ''Drei Männer im Schnee'' (''Three Men in the Snow''), including snooty servants, big cars, and a [[FourthDateMarriage second date engagement]].
84* A few ''Literature/{{Biggles}}'' books set during his "freelance Gentleman Adventurer" period before his MandatoryUnretirement to fight the Nazis take place in this setting, most notably ''Biggles and Co'', which was basically a standard issue detective story with added SkyPirates.
85* ''{{Literature/Madeline}}'' and to a lesser degree the first book of ''{{Literature/Babar}}'' take place in a particularly GayParee-flavoured version of this trope.
86* ''Literature/ConsiderTheLily'' is set in England among the landed gentry in 1929
87* ''Literature/TheSecretsOfDrearcliffGrangeSchool'' and ''Literature/TheHauntingOfDrearcliffGrangeSchool'' are set at an all-girls boarding school in England at some unspecified point in the 1920s. Aftereffects of World War I come up at several points, and the epilogue chapter of ''Secrets'' has the main characters meeting again as adults during World War II.
88* ''Literature/TheRemainsOfTheDay'', as with [[Film/TheRemainsOfTheDay the movie]], bounces between interbellum and post-war.
89* Though the course of 20th century history has changed a lot due to the Confederacy winning the [[UsefulNotes/TheAmericanCivilWar War of Secession]] the world of ''Literature/Timeline191'' also features two extremely destructive global conflicts closely analogous to our [[UsefulNotes/WorldWarI world]] [[UsefulNotes/WorldWarII wars]]. After the standalone first book in the series, the remaining ten novels are divided into three series. The middle series covers the entirety of this war's interbellum setting, which is similar in a lot of ways, but far less 'genteel'.
90[[/folder]]
91
92[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
93* ''Series/AllCreaturesGreatAndSmall1978'' and its [[Series/AllCreaturesGreatAndSmall2020 modern reworking]] both begin in this era in a small village in 1930s Yorkshire, although in the 2020 series, wealthy widow Mrs. Pumphrey holds a cocktail party at her mansion that allows the women to show off their evening gowns and the men their dinner jackets. James Herriot's actual experiences would have occurred in the midst of World War II, and though later seasons of both shows do depict it, he intentionally set his stories in a more idealized period where the war's shadow was far away.
94* ''[[Series/CarryOnLaughing Carry On Laughing!]]'': the [[AffectionateParody "Lord Peter Flimsy"]] episodes.
95* ''Series/DoctorWho'': [[Recap/DoctorWhoS19E5BlackOrchid "Black Orchid"]] and [[Recap/DoctorWhoS30E7TheUnicornAndTheWasp "The Unicorn and the Wasp"]], plus bits of [[Recap/DoctorWhoS10E2CarnivalOfMonsters "Carnival of Monsters"]].
96* ''Series/DowntonAbbey'' moves into this period starting in Series 3. Series 1 being firmly [[TheEdwardianEra Edwardian]] and Series 2 being set during UsefulNotes/WorldWarI.
97* ''Series/JeevesAndWooster''
98** The [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=190C8rRKe3w opening titles]] are practically the Genteel Interbellum Setting incarnate.
99* ''Series/{{Poirot}}''. Like the above, the early seasons also had [[https://youtu.be/H3A8z0hbJXg opening titles]] which were essentially pure distilled Genteel Interbellum Setting, although in being on the "murder mystery" side of the spectrum rather than the "wacky romantic misunderstandings" end they're a bit DarkerAndEdgier.
100* ''Series/UntilAutumn''
101* ''Series/UpstairsDownstairs'' and its lookalike ''Series/TheDuchessOfDukeStreet'', for the most part, though both actually run from about 1900 to 1930.
102** ''Brass'', a comedic British NighttimeSoap [[AffectionateParody Affectionately Parodied]] this style of drama, as well as ''Series/{{Dallas}}'' and the like.
103* ''Series/YouRangMLord''
104* Deconstructed in ''Series/PeakyBlinders''. The setting is definitely interbellum (starting in 1919, and WordOfGod is that they plan to end it with the outbreak of UsefulNotes/WorldWarII), but there's a lot of emphasis on what the working class are up to, with the protagonists being a family of nouveau-riche gangsters. As the series progresses, it becomes clear that the "genteel" world of high society and politics is far more dangerous and cruel than the world of organized crime -- especially when a certain MP by the name of [[HistoricalDomainCharacter Sir Oswald]] [[ThoseWackyNazis Moseley]] shows up.
105[[/folder]]
106
107[[folder:Music]]
108* Max Raabe and Das Palast Orchester are a modern jazz orchestra from Berlin that specializes in music of this era (and performing covers of modern pop songs in the same style).
109[[/folder]]
110
111[[folder:Theatre]]
112* Basically all of Creator/NoelCoward's comedies, such as
113** ''Theatre/BlitheSpirit''
114** ''Theatre/EasyVirtue''
115** ''Theatre/PrivateLives''
116* ''Theatre/APortraitOfTheArtistAsFilipino'' [[note]]Set in colonial Manila in October 1941, it's technically past the 1939 "deadline" as war has been raging in Europe for nearly two years by this point, but as an American colony, the Philippines hasn't yet been dragged into the Pacific theatre of the war—which begins, of course, with Pearl Harbor, two months later. Plus, the Old World, Spanish-influenced culture and high society of the Walled City Intramuros certainly qualifies the play for this trope.[[/note]]
117* ''Theatre/LendMeATenor''
118* Operatic example: Lennox Berkeley's chamber opera ''A Dinner Engagement''.
119* Ferenc Molnár's ''Játék a kastélyban'' was adapted into ''two'' very Interbellum-flavoured English-language plays: Creator/PGWodehouse's ''The Play's the Thing'' (1926), and Creator/TomStoppard's ''Rough Crossing'' (1984 but set in the 1930s).
120[[/folder]]
121
122[[folder:Video Games]]
123* The first ''VideoGame/LauraBow'' game, ''The Colonel's Bequest'' takes place in this setting. The story is set in 1920s Louisiana, and Laura's friend Lillian along with all of Lillian's family are invited to her uncle's slightly decrepit bayou plantation, where he announces that he is drawing up his will to split his money between them. Everyone, regardless of whether they are elderly {{Grand Dame}}s, glamorous young actresses, or ne'er do well rogues, has a secret to hide or knows the secrets of someone else present, and it isn't long before a series of murders begins...
124* The ''VideoGame/ProfessorLayton'' series ''seems'' to be set in this, but the [[AnachronismStew anachronisms flow so thick,]] you might as well chalk it up to PurelyAestheticEra.
125* Amiga game ''Murder!'' is set in this kind of environment; the player character is in a mansion with a dead body and a lot of guests with secrets and has two hours to solve the crime before the police show up.
126[[/folder]]
127
128[[folder:Western Animation]]
129* ''WesternAnimation/TheLegendOfKorra'' is set in an alternate universe 1920s to 1930s aesthetic bonded with Asian elements.
130[[/folder]]
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