Downton Abbey

This movie is a love letter to the fans of the original PBS series.  It has everything we would want, and maybe even a little more.  It’s 1927 and the Crawley family is back along with their beloved staff as they prepare for a visit from King George and Queen Mary.  Every character has a story line of some kind, as everyone plays their part to help make the visit a success.  Jim Carter (Carson), as always, brings a dignity to the whole house as he is persuaded to leave retired life for a few days to get the house, and downstairs staff, in spit-spot shape.  He manages it all in spite of the arrival of the most obnoxious set of Royal Household staff, arrogant and disdainful of their country contemporaries. This gives Mr. and Mrs. Bates (Brendan Coyle and Joanne Frogget) a wonderful story line that involves some ingenuity and a great deal of nerve, that I absolutely loved!  There are several budding romances, and some in the most unlikely places, and even a couple of new stories.  Happy to say that Maggie Smith is back as Lady Violet, the Dowager Countess, and as deliciously snarky as ever.  Everything is done perfectly – script, settings, costumes, and witty, witty banter.  There is humor and warmth, intrigue and all the bits of the long gone life of the  country gentry of pre-World War II Britain that continue to fascinate modern folk. If you didn’t watch Downton Abbey at all, I think you will still find much to hold your interest and even entrance you, for the movie can stand on its own. This is for the fans, though, and I must say I enjoyed this immensely.   “I am an expert in every matter,” says Violet at one point.  I assume she means the quality of movies too, and who am I am to disagree with a Dowager Countess?