Before You See DOWNTON ABBEY, See These Movies and Shows

By Sam Moffitt | September 23, 2019

Sam Moffitt’s article about movies and shows was originally posted May 15th, 2015. In honor of the new hit movie version of DOWNTON ABBEY, We Are Movie Geeks is reposting this list

By rights I should hate the English. Seriously, my background is almost entirely Scots and Irish. I grew up hearing about the troubles the English gave to the Scots and Irish, both in school and from my parents.

Yet I do not, I love the English. How can I hate a country that gave us not only Monty Python but also Benny Hill and the Carry On Films? How can I bear any ill will to a country that gave us writers of the caliber of Ramsey Campbell, Brian Aldiss, Michael Moorcock and J. G Ballard? How can anyone hate a country that not only prizes eccentric behavior but encourages it? Take Mr. Kim Newman for instance, a brilliant writer whose work appears regularly in Video WatchDog and Videoscope Mr. Newman dresses himself, has his hair and mustache styled and speaks in the manner of someone from the 19^th Century! And let us not forget Hammer Films as well as the actors that made them work, Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing. And I haven’t even touched on the British Invasion music from the 1960s.

And I must mention Alfred Hitchcock, H.G. Wells, The Goon Show (especially Spike Milligan), Gerry and Sylvia Anderson, The Avengers and Boris Karloff. Boris Karloff!?!? If England’s only contribution to world culture were Boris Karloff I could forgive them anything!

All of which leads me to the subject of Downton Abbey and what to do until the Sixth and final season airs in this country. I heard and read a lot about Downton Abbey and wanted to see the series. I warned my sweetheart Radah, that if we began watching them we would be hooked, much as we got hooked on Deadwood and Carnivale and Dexter.

And of course we did, binge watching all five seasons and reveling in the plot twists and the wonderfully written and acted characters. Especially the characters of Anna and Mr. Bates and their slow to develop romance and I personally love the character of Tom Branson, a true Irishman who constantly reminds the Crawley family that their life of privilege has a price.

I gave this some thought and came up with this highly personal, opinionated and timely list of movies and television shows which bare more than a passing resemblance to Downton Abbey. My criteria was simple, there has to be a wealthy family, English or American, with major characters both upstairs and down. Which leads me straight to:

1. Upstairs, Downstairs 1971-1975

I am not really playing fair here. I have to admit I never watched much of Upstairs, Downstairs. One of the most popular shows on PBS to be imported from England I saw just a bit of one episode wherein the family mourns the death of King Edward, bringing to an end the Edwardian era. But I have from reliable sources that much of Downton Abbey, including entire story lines, were inspired by Upstairs, Downstairs.  It even inspired an American version on CBS which I would love to see again but seems to have vanished without a trace. Beacon Hill ran for not even a full season and detailed the life of a rich Irish family living in Boston’s Beacon Hill area. Something historians pointed out would have never happened in the 1920s era in which the show was set. Never mind, I recall the family appeared to have been inspired by the Kennedys. I have not seen these episodes since the 1970s so forgive me if my memory is not accurate. I recall a son who came back from WWI missing an arm and looking very F. Scott Fitzgerald with his Arrow collars and slicked back hair and dark rimmed eyes. I also recall the Downstairs crew had a black cook who actually had a story line for himself. The show was controversial in that the first episode had the male characters visiting a brothel, wherein all the working girls were also black. And even more historically accurate when the characters visited a speakeasy the jazz band was all black. All of this caused a bit of controversy which may have been a major factor in the show being cancelled and leaving all the storylines hanging. That and the fact that not many people watched (except me) and I loved the show and would love to see any existing episodes again. Youtube has a promotional ad for the show and that’s about it.

1. REMAINS OF THE DAY   1993

An elegant and authentic period piece from the prolific team of Merchant/Ivory, Remains of the Day features a brilliant performance by Anthony Hopkins as a butler in a huge English estate so devoted to his life of service he refuses to make any move to find happiness for himself. Matching him both in service and acting chops is Emma Thompson as a head maid who makes the mistake of falling in love with this “gentlemen’s gentleman”. Hopkins character is so focused on his butler duties he continues to work the day his Father dies, ignores direct insults from an upper class, arrogant twit, passes up the chance for love with Thompson’s character and cannot see that his Lordship, the always brilliant James Fox, is a Nazi sympathizer and basically not a very nice person. REMAINS OF THE DAY goes into as much detail about the workings of an English manor house as does Downton Abbey and tells a heartbreaking story of a life that is basically wasted.

1. REBECCA   1940

Alfred Hitchcock’s first American movie is a wonderful adaptation of a Daphne Du Maurier novel wherein a nameless American woman (Joan Fontaine) is wooed by and marries an English Lord, Maxim De Winter (Laurence Olivier) and finds herself way out of her depth trying to fill the shoes of Rebecca,( Max’s first wife, who died under mysterious circumstances,) and whose ghost apparently haunts Manderley , the great house where the story takes place. Rebecca does not have much in the way of Downstairs characters but we do get a real winner in Mrs. Danvers, an incredible piece of work from Judith Anderson. Her tour of Rebecca’s rooms and wardrobe is an unforgettable scene.  Hitchcock was made to follow the novel closely due to the insistence of the producer, the legendary David O. Selznick. No matter, REBECCA is prime Hitchcock and a wonderful look at the upper and lower classes of England in that time period. PBS did a wonderful miniseries version in 1979 for Mystery, and again in 1997 (a version I have not seen) and the novel is still terrific, as is all of Du Maurier’s work.

1. The Addams Family 1964-1966

A 1960s sitcom about a “creepy, kooky” family? Yes, absolutely. The Addams Family fits my criteria perfectly. Unlike the working class Munsters, the Addams Family was independently wealthy, although how and when Gomez made his money is never quite explained. We only get one Downstairs character but he is a winner, the unforgettable Lurch as played by Ted Cassidy (unless you also count Thing!). I only recently got the dvds of both seasons of the Addams Family and found, to my delight, they are still funny and the real treasure of the show, the icing on the cake, is Lurch. All the actors are in on the joke and they all shine but Lurch is such a special presence and steals every scene he is in, you look forward to his scenes. I wish there had been more seasons. Both The Addams Family and The Munsters were top rated shows, very popular, and both were cancelled with no explanation from their respective networks. What a shame. When these shows were brand new I wanted to be a member of the Addam’s Family, I wanted to BE Pugsley, especially after Gomez told the school principal on Pugsley’s first day of school (in the very first episode) that “If we wanted him happy we’d keep him at home!”

1. MY MAN GODFREY 1936

Considered to be the first screwball comedy MY MAN GODFREY concerns a “forgotten man” terrifically played by William Powell, who is collected on a scavenger hunt by a rich, spoiled, drama queen of a “madcap heiress” also well played by Carol Lombard (the two were married for a time). Godfrey holds up very well and is still a laugh riot. We get quite a lot of Downstairs activity, Godfrey becomes the family butler, straightens out the family finances, earns the respect of the Father (the always fun Eugene Pallette) and every other member of the household and even throws Lombard into a shower with all her clothes on. MY MAN GODFREY has been in public domain for years so there are multiple versions on the market. But the fine folks at Criterion issued a special edition and cleaned up the sound and image tremendously, that version is worth seeking out. The many rooms of this mansion are beautiful to behold when you can see all the detail that went into the sets. A masterpiece of Upstairs and Downstairs characters and story.

1. CAVALCADE 1933

I am again not really playing fair here. This British production from 1933 of a Noel Coward play fits my criteria, it follows not one but two English families who comprise both the Downstairs as well as Upstairs characters. It is a handsomely mounted production but in my opinion is easily the worst movie that ever won a Best Picture Oscar. Leonard Maltin’s Movie Guide gives it four stars, (perhaps I should watch it again sometime?) What I recall is a grueling, slowly paced and stagey production filled with Imperial rhetoric and snobbery, and the worst bunch of spoiled, upper class children I have ever witnessed. A sample of dialog? As the Father gets ready to go to South Africa and the Boer War one of the spoiled brat children is heard to say “Promise me you’ll cut Paul Kruger (A Boer Leader) into tiny bits with your sword! Say you will Daddy!” And this was the same year King Kong was released!

1. THE SERVANT 1963

A young upper class Englishman (James Fox again, absolutely brilliant!) hires a personal man servant and makes the mistake of choosing Dirk Bogarde (also brilliant) who is not at all what he seems.  Bogarde’s character has this “sister” you see, Sarah Miles, (and yes, you guessed it, also brilliant!) and…  I don’t like to give out spoilers but absolutely nothing is what it seems in this one of a kind film, written by Harold Pinter, directed by Joseph Losey which turns the tables on the whole British class system and which could only take place in England. See it and you’ll understand why, this story could not stand a chance of being told in any other country. Probably the best movie on this list.

1. THE ADMIRABLE CRICHTON   1957

A devastating satire on the English class system Crichton (also known as Paradise Lagoon) sees an upper class family and their servants’ ship wrecked on a lovely tropical island (which exists only in movies.) The most resourceful, knowledgeable and the best leader in the group is of course the head butler, Crichton, wonderfully played by Kenneth More. Slowly but surely the class distinctions disappear, although this is no grown up version of Lord of the Flies, no indeed, closer in spirit to Blue Lagoon the upper class daughter finds herself enchanted with this new version of the family butler. Crichton is funny, warm hearted and finally heart breaking when the family is rescued and the old class barriers come flying back up. I have not seen Crichton in years but still recall the horror of Crichton resuming his old role and the effect on his beloved. This one is too sad for words.

1. GOSFORD PARK 2001

One of Robert Altman’s great films and the direct ancestor of Downton Abbey, GOSFORD PARK was written by Julian Fellowes, the creator of Downton Abbey. Much like any Agatha Christie story it concerns a murder in an upper class English manor house but Altman, as usual, is not interested in making a film to conform to anybody’s idea of genre. Altman is much more interested in the Downstairs characters, of which there are many, and turning the conventions of the murder mystery inside out. One of the delights is that Maggie Smith plays EXACTLY the same character as she does on Downton Abbey. And with an all star cast it is, as always with Altman, a delight to see the many characters juggled about, and every single actor has a moment to shine. GOSFORD PARK, and possibly REMAINS OF THE DAY, are the closest in spirit to the world of Downton Abbey.

1. THE RULING CLASS 1972

Here finally is what might be called the Anti-Downton Abbey, and my personal favorite, Peter Medak’s cutting edge satire of English class distinctions with a way over the top performance (two performances really) from Peter O’Toole. The story is simple; the 13^th Earl of Gurney has accidently hanged himself, in an opening scene with the great Harry Andrews. In a bedroom scene that is both hysterically funny and still shocking the old Earl dons his red Army coat and a ballet tutu and proceeds to auto asphyxiate himself, all the while ranting upper class drunken gibberish “I see six vestal virgins smoking cigars! Moses in bedroom slippers!” With the death of the 13^th Earl of Gurney the inheritance of the huge estate falls to Jack, the 14^th Earl of Gurney, who is also a paranoid schizophrenic who believes himself to be no less than Jesus Christ. In a performance that has to be seen to be believed O’Toole is by turns funny, creepy, weird, touching and finally believable, this guy may very well actually be Jesus returned to Earth! Even more shocking, when Jack decides to actually take the responsibility that comes with great wealth, inherited privilege and the title of a real English Lord he leaves Jesus behind and becomes no less than Jack the Ripper himself! Here is where a lot of people were confounded and outraged by Medak’s film, it goes from high comedy, complete with unexpected musical numbers, into dark and dangerous waters. O’Toole is more than up to the task and pulls it off wonderfully. Once again we only get one major Downstairs character but he is yet another winner for our side. The unforgettable Tucker (Tuck to the family) played by Arthur Lowe, a character actor in the grand old tradition, Tucker is both a loyal servant and card carrying Communist. He inherits a great deal of money from the deceased Earl and no longer has to work but stays on to torment the bunch of upper class twits who employ him and try to help the new Earl of Gurney make his way in the world in which he finds himself. THE RULING CLASS is merciless in exposing the English upper class as a bunch of in bred, delusional, uneducated, racist, homophobic, stupid and finally insane and murderous, toffy nosed twits who have trouble wiping their own behinds. Reality in other words. If you totally love the world of Downton Abbey, THE RULING CLASS may not be for you but it was a major box office success in its day and remains a serious cult film.