June 24, 2023

Day: 24, Movie: 24

I chose to go with Downton Abbey: A New Era as the June Swoon 2 film for the day despite the fact that I never watched any episodes of the original PBS series or the first feature movie. I wondered as I was watching A New Era how much of this movie would have been affected by me not watching anything prior to it. I didn’t feel lost as I watched it, but I wondered if it would have felt richer if I had.

There were several storylines going on during the film. First, some of the crew went to the South of France to see a villa that had been left to Violet Grantham (Maggie Smith). Second, a Hollywood movie crew came to Downton Abbey to film on location. There were other storylines involving the staff too.

There did feel like there were some storylines were ignored or pieces of the plot were never fully addressed. Again, that may be because I do not know these characters as much as a longtime fan of this property would be, but there were some moments that felt lacking.

I did like the idea of the Hollywood movie angle. It was actually the story of Singin’ in the Rain as the film they were making was a silent picture, but silent pictures were on their way out. So they changed it to a ‘talkie’ picture. Problem was (just like Singin’ in the Rain) the lead actress of the film, Myrna Dalgleish (Laura Haddock) had a voice that was terrible and they had Lady Mary (Michelle Dockery) dub the film. So this story worked because, one of the greatest musicals of all time already used it.

I do love Maggie Smith. Every minute she was on screen, the movie truly popped. It was a shame that she did not get more time, but it did make sense for the narrative. I also enjoyed the ultimate British butler Mr. Carson (played by Jim Carter) bringing the British to France.

I found this Downton Abbey film to be passable. I was not totally lost and it was enjoyable enough. They did cram a lot into the two hours and it felt as if it could have been shortened up some to make it more concise. Still, not bad.