Best British Country House Movies?

Emma, Mansfield Park, the original Upstairs Downstairs (not country house but superb), The Innocents, Brideshead Revisited (series).

The Winslow Boy with Jeremy Northam.

^ Well, not a country house movie, but Edwardian set, and probably has the feel you’re after.

I’m watching the Inspector Alleyn Mysteries on Amazon. 1990s BBC . He’s posh, but works for Scotland Yard. Based on Season 1, despite being a police officer, he generally works on cases where posh people that he knows personally get killed.

^set just after WWII.

Peter’s Friends, A Midwinters Tale

Where are the country houses?

You came through for me, DL. I owe you one.

Gosford Park (2001)

The film is a novel come to life, but at its core is the relationship between a young maid (Kelly Macdonald) and her Ladyship (Maggie Smith) over the course of a country weekend from Hell. So many characters, each with a complete backstory. You can watch the film multiple times and learn something new about a character each time.

The film was directed by Robert Altman, written by Julian Fellows, and produced by Bob Balaban.

As well as Smith and Mcdonald, the mystery has a very impressive ensemble cast: Helen Mirren, Clive Owen, Charles Dance, Kristin Scott Thomas, Ryan Phillippe, Michael Gambon Derek Jacobi, Alan Bates, Emily Watson, Stephen Fry, and Jeremy Northam as Ivor Novello.

R9, did you read the original post?

[quote] I’ve watched Gosford Park to death

Nicholas Nickleby (2002)

Although not necessarily a country manor, the Dickens adaptation follows young Nicholas as he works for a horrendous boys school, a struggling theatrical troupe, a law clerk, and a French tutor.

Written and Directed by Douglas McGrath (Emma)

Starring Charlie Hunnam, Jamie Bell, Anne Hathaway, Jim Broadbent, Tom Courteney, Nathan Lane, Barry Humphries, Timothy Spall, Juliet Stevenson, Edward Fox, Alan Cumming, David Bradley, and Christopher Plummer

R9 is R56 and OP of the below-linked thread. He is also the “He IS X!”/“Let’s discuss” poster.

Not Britain, but France - Jean Renoir’s “Rules of the Game” - absolutely superb.

The Madness of King George (1994)

Directed by Nicholas Hytner and written by Alan Bennett

Nigel Hawthorne, Helen Mirren, Ian Holm, Rupert Graves, Julian Wadham, John Wood, Jim Carter, Geoffrey Palmer, Amanda Donohoe, and Rupert Everett

This list has some good ones: Gosford Park, Howards End, The Go Between, and The Innocents to name a few

A Handful of Dust

Fadge!

Strong +1 to Howard’s End. And give Remains of the Day a chance, it’s very good and should be up your vague “country house” alley.

Have you ever watched The Little Stranger? Not a "country house" movie in the traditional sense, but a crumbling country house after WWII when the inhabitants were broke & the son and heir is a broken man. Kind of makes you realize how much *work* these homes were, particularly without servants.

Woman in Black

Salt

1991's Where Angels Fear to Tread - the E.M. Forster adaptation not directed by James Ivory.

And I cheated with that one @ R22 because it's set mostly in Tuscany.

You can't get any better than The Draughtsman's Contract.

A Room With A View. Yes, much is set in Italy but there are English houses to.

too ^

Saltburn!

Midsomer Murders. It's a TV series that's run for years and invariably involves some rich family with a mansion.

If we can cheat with Italy, Up at the Villa.

And I second the recommendation for the original Brideshead Revisited. It's the best miniseries ever made.

Also, the 1980 Love in a Cold Climate, if you can find it.

[quote] Kind of makes you realize how much *work* these homes were, particularly without servants.

Noël tried to tell you

Will a French country house do? La Règle du jeu

The early 2000s version of Love in a Cold Climate/In Pursuit of Love was a joy, and had a great cast: Rosamund Pike, Celia Imrie, Anthony Andrews, and two great final performances from Sheila Gish and Alan Bates. It’s my ideal comfort viewing, as refreshing as a glass of champagne.

Tristram Shandy, A Cock and Bull Story

A great one that’s less well known is The Shooting Party (1985), starring James Mason as the lord, John Gielgud as his gamekeeper, and a bevy of other great actors including Robert Hardy playing the house guests. It takes place on the eve of the Great War and is a moving study of the way members of that society distinguished “us” from “them” in their relations with each other and (most fascinatingly) the animals on the estate. A present but unspoken message is how those attitudes led them into war. All lovers of Gosford Park should watch this. It is based on the excellent 1980 novel by Isabel Colgate and I think is one of those rare instances in which the movie is even better than the book.

Dawson’s Fifty Load Weekend in the Country: Bumbury Hall.

R34 Thank you!

Second vote for Midsomer Murders.