Monday, March 5, 2012

Secrets of the Manor House

From Jean Renoir's "The Rules of the Game" to "Gosford Park" and countless murder mystery movies in between in addition to the glowing television successes such as "Upstairs, Downstairs", "Brideshead Revisited", and the recent "Downton Abbey" phenomenon, the British Manor House has been a source of fascination for many. "Secrets of the Manor House" is an hour long exploration of the Manor House class system that held for over 1,000 years until its unraveling following the First Great War. The program is (expectedly) staid but holds informative interest, especially in interviews with those who had still been involved, both upstairs and down, in the waning years of the system.