03 March 2013

Substitutes for Vulgarity & Downton Abbey

The Hireling, 1973

Sunday nights aren't the same without Downton Abbey.  Sure, the plots are flimsy as erasable bond but it's a soap opera and nothing more.  Jullian Fellowes certainly had lots of inspiration but I find these three films, okay, two... but more on that later, these films will fit nicely into your Sunday nights and into Jullian's Final Draft software.  Problem is, once seen, it might be hard to go back to Downton.  I like to think of The Hireling as Henry Poole compared to Downton's Tommy Hilfiger.

The score of this 1973 picture, directed by Alan Bridges, is eerily similar to Downton. The plot, also very similar, centers on a relationship between a working class Robert Shaw (who's so good)  and a lady of property and title played by one of the most underrated hotties ever, Sarah Miles. A crazy hottie but a hottie nonetheless.  Unlike Downton, Hireling is dark, painful and empty of bizarre conflict resolutions.  There are no resolutions in Hireling.  But then, it's a helluva lot more interesting.  There's beauty in the dark.  Watch it tonight since the entire picture is on You Tube...







Evil Under the Sun, 1982

"Vulgarity is no substitute for wit."
Downton Abbey, 2012

"Vulgarity and coarseness have become 
substitutes for wit and taste."
Evil Under the Sun, 1982

It can't be easy cranking out a series with a lot of unknown actors who come into tall cotton and give notice. I understand Mrs O'Brien is leaving DA and there's talk Fellowes might be as well. Man, these people must be raking it in. I steal lines from movies all the time but I don't get paid.  Anything. That Downton has a line from an obscure '80s picture that no one has ever seen, and if they did, they don't remember it, strikes me as odd.  Then again, Maggie Smith starred in this Poirot mystery with Peter Ustinov so maybe she contributed the line...without knowing it.  

Not that Downton took much else from Evil Under the Sun. I was never a Poirot fan but Ustinov brings much needed sloppiness to the detective who's, "so precise in his appearance."  Hey, I just stole that line from another movie.  It's a fun Sunday night flick with a bitchy Roddy McDowall delivering that line up there with typical bitchy, Stoke on Trent, aplomb.  There's even a gigolo who planks Diana Rigg.   Diverse stuff for Rod fans or gigolo wannabes. 






The Shooting Party, 1985

Best for last.  My hero, and he might be dead for all I know, that's the problem with on-line acquaintances, Jamm Good, turned me onto The Shooting Party shortly after I started the Trad.  Jamm, aka, Ta'er, was an encyclopedia of obscure apparel trivia and I have suspected he was, and still might be, a big Kahuna in the industry.  Alan Bridges directed this as well and I've had a thing for James Mason since I was 12.  Throw in Edward Fox and John Gielgud and the cast at Downton seem a bit...soap opera.

It's a beautiful film because they were still using film back in 1985.  It's Mason's last picture and it seems like it was a template for production designers on Downton.  The end of an era, what. The costumes will slay you.  The story moves it all along quickly what with a brace of pheasant, shotguns, dogs, whiskey and filter-less cigarettes.  Not to mention no one thinks about money.

I suppose that's why the world is so in love with Downton Abbey...Like the Busby Berkley musicals during the depression, we long to escape economic fear and for an hour, sometimes two, we are aristocracy.  Still, someone told me years ago that having money just means you can pay the bills on time. 




10 comments:

Main Line Sportsman said...

Someone told me years ago you can be broke at many level....like Lord Grantham.

"what with a brace of pheasant, shotguns, dogs, whiskey and filter-less cigarettes." This nice turn of phrase sort of encapsulates my creedo...if you have to have a credo.
There, I stole a movie line...

Anonymous said...

"Patrick, aren't you getting a little tired of rowing?"

Now that's evil under the sun!

-DB

cpd said...

"The Shooting Party" is one of my all time favorites the driven shooting scenes are tremendous and the clothes don't hurt either.

Films of this nature offer true escapism.

Brummagem Joe said...

The Hireling and particularly Shooting Party are in a somewhat different league than Evil although it's quite good. Those interested in the British class thing could also usefully check out The Go Between (Christie at her more glowing) or for a more contemporary take The Servant.

Smitty said...

Money provides a certain level of freedom.....I suspect.

Smitty said...

Tin, I think F. Scott Fitzgerald lays it down masterfully.
“Let me tell you about the very rich. They are different from you and me. They possess and enjoy early, and it does something to them, makes them soft where we are hard, and cynical where we are trustful, in a way that, unless you were born rich, it is very difficult to understand. They think, deep in their hearts, that they are better than we are because we had to discover the compensations and refuges of life for ourselves. Even when they enter deep into our world or sink below us, they still think that they are better than we
are. They are different. ”
― F. Scott Fitzgerald

Spalding said...

Country house porn is not complete without Remains of the Day and Gosford Park,ans didn't Hem answer F.Scott with "yes they have more money."

Anonymous said...

Howdy John Boy. Aw shucks - you're too kind. Insert something ironic or "witty" here. Am at least 9 months tardy in the snail mail for which your address was requested. I'll attempt to approach that task in the spring. Same address? Are we aware that Fellowes created Gosford Park? Appeared in the series Monarch Of The Glen (yep, Landseer in the opening credits) as Killwillie(sp?)? Wrote "Snobs"?
Apologies if'n you've previously addressed the aforementioned. Hope to see you on Charlie Rose flogging the M. Yours in absentia, etc. Ta'er, of that ilk.

Anonymous said...

(Highclere (Downton Abbey) appears recurringly as Totleigh Towers in the Jeeves & Wooster series of 20 years ago.) Ta'er

Anonymous said...

Just watched "The Hireling."

No resolution is correct. I spent the last ten minutes thinking "how is the director going to wind this up?" the answer being: he doesn't. At least, not in a satisfying way.