Most of the cast of Downton Abbey is back for the movie of the same name. Maggie Smith was probably the star of the series and the movie and she played the Dowager, Violet Crawley to perfection yet again. The cast of the tv series are joined by actors, Imelda Staunton, Max Brown, Mark Addy, Lesley Nichol and many others playing new characters. Simon Jones and Geraldine James play King George V and Queen Mary.
Maggie Smith had a good sparring partner with Imelda Staunton, who played a cousin of the family, who was also a lady in waiting to the Queen. She is the subject of one of the many subplots in the movie.
It’s got a few interesting themes in there, like republicanism versus monarchy, inheritance and class, and a gay character exploring his sexuality in 1920s England.
Highclere Castle in Hampshire, England is again the setting of Downton Abbey and the production bears up the world of 1927 quite well, writes David Flynn. The costumes, furniture and city streets are all designed with the good style that was in the series. The writer, Julian Fellowes wrote a good script, albeit not as good as his Oscar winning 2001 movie script, ‘Gosford Park’.
‘Downton Abbey’ is simply another episode of the television series, and fair play to the production team for that, because as a screen story it works, albeit not for cinematic audiences. It would have been a good Christmas special on ITV instead of a movie feature, but it will be in future years.
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