IT CAME FROM THE BOTTOM SHELF!

If you’re looking for the perfect Christmas gift for the Downton Abbey fan in your life, you couldn’t do better than the new Arrow Academy Blu-ray release of Robert Altman’s Gosford Park.  The 2001 film was the brainchild of legendary director Robert Altman and actor Bob Balaban, who wanted to make an Agatha Christie-like mystery set in an English manor house.  The Altman twist was that he wanted to spend as much time depicting the lives of the servants below the stairs as those of the upper classes above.  Balaban brought television writer Julian Fellowes into the project to take a whack at the screenplay.  The completed script ended up being both the foundation for one of Altman’s best films and a prototype for Fellowes later television series, Downton Abbey.

In November of 1932, friends and relatives of wealthy industrialist Sir William McCordle (Michael Gambon) and his wife, Lady Sylvia (Kristin Scott Thomas), gather at their country estate for a weekend shooting party.  Most of the guests (Maggie Smith, Jeremy Northam, Bob Balaban, Charles Dance, Geraldine Somerville, Tom Hollander, Natasha Wightman, James Wilby, Claudie Blakley) have alternative motives for attending the gathering, mostly due to wanting to get their hands on some of Sir William’s money or to settle old scores.  While the guests gossip and lounge above, their visiting servants (Kelly MacDonald, Clive Owen, Ryan Phillippe) try to fit in with the house staff (Helen Mirren, Alan Bates, Emily Watson, Eileen Atkins, Derek Jacobi, Richard E. Grant, and many more).

Two of the guests are Hollywood types — actor and composer Ivor Novello (Jeremy Northam), a distant relative of the McCordles, and producer Morris Weissman (Bob Balaban), who tagged along to do preproduction background research for his movie Charlie Chan in London (a real 1934 mystery that features a murder at an English manor house).  As old grudges bubble to the surface, the party mirrors the Charlie Chan film and a member of the assemblage turns up dead.

As I stated previously, I think that Gosford Park is one of Robert Altman’s best films, and I would rank it as the absolute best of the latter half of his career.  Like the top tier of Robert Altman’s 1970s heyday (McCabe and Mrs. Miller, The Long Goodbye, Nashville), Gosford Park brilliantly juggles an enormous ensemble cast and seemlessly stitches together a variety of diverse storylines.  With two constantly moving cameras capturing all of the action and individual wireless mics on every actor picking up the smallest mumble, Gosford Park lovingly focuses on the minute details of the life, duties, mores, and routines of the place and time it depicts.  It would be an absolutely fascinating narrative, even if there was no element of mystery.

However, the whodunit is also expertly handled, playing fair with the audience in terms of clues, motives, access, and red herrings.  And Stephen Fry and Ron Webster are an absolute delight as the late-arriving double-act of the clueless detective and the more competent underling.  The rest of the cast, stacked with seasoned pros such as Maggie Smith, Helen Mirren, Alan Bates, and Michael Gambon, are pure perfection.

One last note, Gosford Park also contains some wonderful “Easter eggs” for classic film fans.  The details regarding Charlie Chan in London are accurate, including mentions of actor Alan Mowbray and Ray Milland.  Better still are the inclusion of a number of beautiful and catchy songs actually written by actor/composer Ivor Novello.  No matter how you slice it, Gosford Park is a total delight.  It has my highest recommendation.

US-UK/C-131m./Dir: Robert Altman/Wr: Julian Fellowes (based on an idea by Robert Altman and Bob Balaban)/Cast: Kelly MacDonald, Maggie Smith, Ryan Phillippe, Emily Watson, Michael Gambon, Kristen Scott Thomas, Clive Owen, Jeremy Northam, Bob Balaban, Helen Mirren, Alan Bates, Eileen Atkins, Charles Dance, Derek Jacobi, Richard E. Grant, Geraldine Somerville, Tom Hollander, Natasha Wightman, James Wilby, Claudie Blakley, Stephen Fry, Ron Webster

For Fans of: Fans of Downton Abbey, cozy mystery novels, and/or the best of Robert Altman’s filmography should all greatly enjoy Gosford Park.

Video: Arrow Video’s Blu-ray release of Gosford Park is a new 2K restoration from a 4K scan, supervised and approved by director of photography Andrew Dunn.  Consequently, the film has not looked better since its original theatrical release.  A few shots may look a little softer than others, but that is due to replicating period lighting in the interiors, and it is accurate to the original film.  In addition to a very nice HD presentation of the movie, Arrow has assembled a terrific package of new and archival extras.

SPECIAL EDITION CONTENTS:

• DTS-HD MA 5.1 audio
• Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
• Audio commentary by director Robert Altman, production designer Stephen Altman and producer David Levy
• Audio commentary by writer-producer Julian Fellowes
• Brand-new audio commentary by critics Geoff Andrew and David Thompson (author of Altman on Altman)
• Introduction by critic Geoff Andrew
• Brand new cast and crew interviews recorded exclusively for this release
• The Making of Gosford Park archive featurette
• Keeping Gosford Park Authentic archive featurette
• Q&A Session with Altman and the cast
• Fifteen deleted scenes with optional Altman commentary
• Trailer
• Reversible sleeves featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Matthew Griffin
• FIRST PRESSING ONLY: Illustrated collector s booklet featuring new writing on the film by critic Sheila O Malley and an archive interview with Robert Altman

Streaming: At the time of the writing of this review, Gosford Park was streaming on Starz.  In addition, it is available for rental or purchase on multiple streaming platforms.

More to Explore: The natural follow-up to Gosford Park is the often discussed Charlie Chan in London (1934). It is one of five 1930s Charlie Chan films in the DVD box set The Charlie Chan Collection, Vol. 1.

Trivia: Robert Altman intentionally included multiple F-bombs in the finished film to ensure an “R” rating. He thought that the film would not appeal to kids, and he wanted to make sure that adults could enjoy the film without being bothered by grousing children in the theater.

For More Info: Julian Fellowes’Gosford Park: The Shooting Script is still available in book form, and there is an excellent oral history of all of Robert Altman’s productions, Robert Altman: The Oral Biography by Mitchell Zuckoff.