Ahem...I love bodice rippers.
I agree with Ottoline- I have not been to the movies for longer than I can remember- and between you and V-A- I am all pepped up and ready to go.

Sounds good. I'll be there. Hope that nice rich buttery smell doesn't give us away!

And Otto, I feel the same way entirely. I love the period pieces, both seeing them on film and reading about them. I read about the Mitford sisters a few years back. And read about a lot of obscure royalty many years ago. William Shirer and Harrison Salisbury were my idea of vacation reading (even though those were rougher subjects.) This is why I love Downton Abbey so much. And Gosford Park. Actresses and actors from both appear in AK. Love the cross pollination of the British acting class.

I AM interested in the Mitford sisters, esp Debo, the youngest. Has anyone read "Wait for Me"?

http://strainedconsciousness.blogspot.com/2010/12/wait-for-me-by-deborah-mitford.html

I love the wallpaper-as-curtains story re her wedding.

ahem. I think maybe I'm too much of a prude to love a good bodice-ripper. My favorite romantic movie of all time is PERSUASION, a Jane Austen film, and I can't even remember if they ever even kiss in it! You're much more of swinger than I am, Laura-- but that doesn't surprise me at all!

Madonna's "W.E." seems to have been panned. Why look at Madonna's version of the clothes and story, when you can see and speculate upon the real thing, which is amazing and full of angles, while Madonna's lower-class+rock-star opinion of it all holds zero interest for me. Laura: Wallis, not Wallace!

My understanding of Debo's departure from Chatsworth is that of course upon her husband's death her son inherited all and his wife became Duchess, and Debo became Dowager Duchess, an arrangement known to all, all the time. And Debo amiably moved to smaller digs in the village, or so she says. The deal with Downton is different, in that there was no male heir, plus Cora's Dad stupidly let her sign her entire fortune over to the estate as a condition of marriage (thinking she would surely have a son), but she did not, or at least not a live one.

While I'm being cranky, I want to note that in looking at these trailers, they all waaaay too brightly lit, way too rich, clothes way too new and perfectly ironed. Of course, that's what we want to see. But did anyone see the 10-hr Soviet version of "War and Peace," made about 40 yrs ago? Candlelight only, no excessive make-up, clothes often wrinkled -- reminds the viewer that the past was not a Hollywood set, and esp not a perfect Marchant/Ivory set, in spite of hot and cold running illiterate peasant servants. I recall 5 of the main women huddled in a candle-lit circle, embroidering petit point they could barely see, the edges of the grand room all in spooky shadow, hairdos without hairspray, lots of other clues to remind us that it was long ago.

You're right, of course: Wallis. I know that, yet the brain does its own thing sometimes. Well, more often these days!

I have a book on English country houses and Deb and her Chatsworth are in there. Personally? I'd rather be the dowager in the little cottage by the lane. Could walk to the village and not worry about the family pile falling down all around one's heels.

But perhaps my favorite all time AK was with Helen McGrory (sp?) who is a fabulous actress but only seems to get off beat or small roles in films. She is in Skyfall as a government minister who questions M. She was a lead in a fabulous PBS show about a trial jury and the relationships they developed. Meantime, she will always be my favorite Anna. The right age and depth. It was a little difficult to accept Keira K. in the role.

Yes, Cyn, that's the one I was referring to. Do you remember it? It was fabulous and I want to find it to watch again.
Hey, I like Weeby's new reply feature!!! It's brand new!!!

Not exactly a bodice-ripper, but one of my all time favorites is ENCHANTED APRIL. Very romantic and pretty and still sharp. About what happens to 1910s (?) English people when they let loose in Italy. There is romance but there is also a beautiful evocation of women's friendships.

O.M.G. -- I just watched "Enchanted April" on the link above. Thank you, thank you, thank you, for steering me to it. (part 5/9 is missing from the link above, but no matter). Just as a tiny symbolic blip, near the end, Joan P uses the word "presently" correctly -- like a special little greeting to me, because it is one of the little gremlins that I have a lifelong irritation with (presently = "in a moment," not "at present").

I reserve the word "enchanting" for v few things -- like the scent of lily of the valley. This was like that. Once, again, thank you!

I finally decided to post a thought, and let me tell you this is another very strong post. Thanks so much with this fantastic new web site.