Movie Evaluation: Downton Abbey Seems, Sounds, and Feels as Nice because the Sequence

The Pitch: Set in 1927, the eponymous movie adaption of the beloved six-season sequence, Downton Abbey, opens by tracing the trail of a bit of Royal Mail, from (one assumes) some kind of mailroom at Buckingham Palace to the servant’s entrance at Downton Abbey. It bears the information that King George V and Queen Mary will arrive for a one-night keep briefly order, and the residents of Downton—the Crawley household, their workers, and the village people—are all of a dither. For Girl Mary (Michelle Dockery), the arrival means her estate-management duties develop much more strenuous, as much as and together with establishing folding chairs within the rain and casting loads of side-eye at head butler Thomas (the invaluable Robert James-Collier)—even going as far as to name Mr. Carson (Jim Carter) out of retirement.

For Girl Edith (Laura Carmichael), it’s a royal wrench thrown into the center of her hard-fought home bliss with Bertie Hexham (Harry Hadden-Paton). For Girl Violet (Maggie Smith, international treasure), it’s an opportunity to strong-arm cousin Maud Bagshaw (Imelda Staunton) into explaining exactly why she’s so wishy-washy on naming her inheritor, who ought to, in principle, be Lord Grantham (Hugh Bonneville). And for charming widower Tom Branson (Allen Leech), it’s an opportunity to satisfy—and make eyes at—Maud’s woman’s maid Lucy (Tuppence Middleton), who has a curiously shut relationship together with her mistress. They’re all fairly keyed up, as is Princess Mary (Kate Phillips)—however they’ve bought nothing on Mr. Molesley (the great Kevin Doyle), who is aware of in his coronary heart that this opportunity to serve the royal household is the top of his life and profession. So sure, chaos ensues.