Below you will find an excellent list of books, films and a few TV Series.  Some films are an absolute must-see if you are at all interested in Private Service. "Remains of The Day" for instance is a true masterpiece.

Clicking on a Link will take you directly to the listing at Amazon.

Interesting Books
(All Links open up in a new window)

Interesting Films & TV Series
(All Links open up in a new window)
 

This excellent film is probably best described as subtle elegance. Framed in the present, the movie deals with the lives inside an English country home just prior to World War II. Reunited with the filmmakers from Howards End are Emma Thompson as Miss Kenton, the head housekeeper, and Anthony Hopkins as Stevens, the impeccable butler. The bittersweet story centers on Stevens and his dedication to his master, Lord Darlington. Stevens summarizes: "I don't believe a man can consider himself fully content until he has done all he can to be of service to his employer." Enveloping Stevens's world are the pending war with Germany, Darlington's horribly misguided interests in said war, and, most effectively, his relationship with Miss Kenton. Stevens is the very essence of repression, but as played by Hopkins he is neither piteous nor self-righteous. Like his master, Stevens becomes misguided in his loyalties, although his is an emotional deprivation, possibly condemning him to lifelong regret. Excellent in supporting roles are Christopher Reeve, Ben Chaplin, and Hugh Grant.

Gosford Park

Gosford Park finds director Robert Altman in sumptuously fine form indeed. From the opening shots, as the camera peers through the trees at an opulent English country estate, Altman exploits the 1930s period setting and whodunit formula of the film expertly. Aristocrats gather together for a weekend shooting party with their dutiful servants in tow, and the upstairs/downstairs division of the classes is perfectly tailored to Altman's method (as employed in Nashville and Short Cuts) of overlapping bits of dialogue and numerous subplots in order to betray underlying motives and the sins that propel them. Greed, vengeance, snobbery, and lust stir comic unrest as the near dizzying effect of brisk script turns is allayed by perhaps Altman's strongest ensemble to date. First and foremost, Maggie Smith is marvelous as Constance, a dependent countess with a quip for every occasion; Michael Gambon, as the ill-fated host, Sir William McCordle, is one of the most palpably salacious characters ever on screen.

Arthur

When you get lost between the moon and New York City (ahem), chances are you'll find yourself taking another look at this hit comedy starring Oscar-nominated Dudley Moore as the charmingly witty, perpetually drunken millionaire Arthur Bach. Arthur falls in love with a waitress (Liza Minelli) who doesn't care about his money, but unfortunately Arthur's stern father wants him to marry a Waspy prima donna. The young lush turns to his wise and loyal butler (Oscar-winner John Gielgud) for assistance and advice. Arthur was a huge hit when released in 1981, as was its Oscar-winning theme song by Christopher Cross. Few remember that the movie was, sadly, the only one ever made by writer-director Steve Gordon, who died less than a year after the film's release. Consistently funny and heartwarming, Arthur was hailed as a tribute to the great romantic comedies of the 1930s.

My Man Godfrey

Director Gregory La Cava deftly balances satire, romance, and social comment in this 1936 classic, which echoes Frank Capra in its Depression-era subtext. The Bullocks are a well-heeled, harebrained Manhattan family genetically engineered for screwball collisions: father Alexander is the breadwinner at wit's end, thanks to his spoiled daughters, the sultry Cornelia (Gail Patrick) and the sweet but scatterbrained Irene (a luminous Carole Lombard), his dizzy and doting wife, Angelica (Alice Brady), and her "protégé," Italian freeloader Carlo (Mischa Auer). When Irene wins a society scavenger hunt (and atypically trumps her scheming sister) by producing a "lost man," a seeming tramp named Godfrey (William Powell), all their lives are transformed. With the always suave, effortlessly funny Powell in the title role, this mystery man provides the film's conscience and its model of decency; the giddy, passionate Lombard holds out its model for triumphant love.

Mrs. Brown

A romantic drama in the Masterpiece Theater vein, this John Madden film looks at the relationship between Queen Victoria and John Brown, a commoner who, though a servant, becomes her closest friend and confidant. As such, he proves the catalyst to bring her back into public life and out of her private mourning for the late Prince Albert. But the closeness of their friendship sets tongues wagging about the impropriety of what appears to be an affair between queen and commoner (an issue the film never directly addresses). The film's charm lies in the flinty give-and-take between the wonderfully starchy Judi Dench as Victoria and the robust Scottish comedian Billy Connolly, here playing it straight as a strong-willed Scotsman who comes to enjoy the power he wields by virtue of having the queen's ear. Antony Sher is also striking as Prime Minister Disraeli, in a performance that all but shimmers with unspoken malice.

Being There

Peter Sellers triumphs in his Award-winning role as an illiterate gardener hilariously catapulted into the fast lane of political power. Shirley McLaine and Academy Award winner Melvyn Douglas co-star. A simple-minded gardener named Chance has spent all his life in the Washington D.C. house of an old man. When the man dies Chance is put out on the street with no knowledge of the world except what he has learned from television. After a run in with a limousine he ends up a guest of a woman (Eve) and her husband Ben an influential but sickly businessman. Now called Chauncey Gardner Chance becomes friend and confidante to Ben and an unlikely political insider.

The Ruling Class

The Ruling Class achieves something that is almost completely unheard of in film comedy. It hits the ground running with an unforgettable cameo by the great Harry Andrews and almost never loses its kinetic pace for 2 1/2 hours. Peter O'Toole is best remembered as Lawrence Of Arabia and by later generations as the eccentric dandy in My Favorite Year & Creator. But in this gem of a "Only in the 70's" satirical comedy O'Toole gives what will probably rank as his best film performance. It is certainly the best script he has ever had to work with in his brilliant, if erratic, film career.

Murder by Death

This movie includes an all star cast portraying different famous detectives- Sam Spade, Jessica Marples, Hercule Peroit, and Sidney Wang, searching for some answers when invited to a mansion of their soon to be deceased host. Locked in the house, they must find out who done it? who are the staff? what's for dinner?. With stuffed mooses that stare, rooms decked in spun sugar cobwebs, and a ready to assemble maid in a trunk, each scene has some quirk that seems to make sense to one of the detectives...but nothing to the viewer. All in all the movie is more of a parody of mystery stories and detectives, how their cases were always so complex, and how they never seemed to make complete sense...until of course the end. Be surprised though, this ending makes little sense either, but in a good way.

Trading Places

In this crowd-pleasing 1983 comedy of high finance about a homeless con artist who becomes a Wall Street robber baron, Eddie Murphy consolidated the success of his startling debut in the previous year's 48 Hours and polished his slick-winner persona. The turnabout begins with an argument between superrich siblings, played by Ralph Bellamy and Don Ameche: Are captains of industry, they wonder, born or made? To settle the issue, the meanies construct a cruel experiment in social Darwinism. Preppie commodities trader Dan Aykroyd is stripped of all his worldly goods and expelled from the firm, and Murphy's smelly derelict is appointed to take his place, graduating to tailored suits and a worldclass harem in record time. Eventually the two men team up to teach the nasty old manipulators a lesson, cornering the market in frozen orange juice futures in the process.

Clue

The story to Clue is a great mystery. Six individuals Mr.Green (McKean), Mrs.Peacock (Brannen),Col.Mustard (Mull), Mrs.White (Kahn), Miss Scarlet (Warren), and Pro. Plum (Lloyd) have all received invitations to a mysterious house. They all have been invited to dinner and have no idea while they are there. When they reach the house they discover that the master is not there, but his butler Wadsworth(Curry) and Maid Yvette(Camp) are the only people there. The guests are informed that they are there by the invitation of Mr. Boddy. Mr. Boddy is blackmailing them all and that's the only thing in common the six people have. Then people start dying in the home and now it's up to the whole group to see who is doing it and to see if they can get out alive.

Fancy Pants

Bob Hope is up to his classic shenanigans in Fancy Pants, a loose remake of the comedy favorite Ruggles of Red Gap. Hope plays Humphrey, an American actor playing a British butler in a hokey play in London. When a fortune-hunter hires the cast to help him woo a wealthy American girl (Lucille Ball, playing her character like a female John Wayne), the girl's domineering mother takes a shine to Humphrey and hires him to be their butler back in New Mexico. But when they arrive out West, the townsfolk believe that Humphrey is British nobility, and even Teddy Roosevelt drops by for a visit. Despite their different comic styles, Hope and Ball have an oddball chemistry together; throw in some musical numbers, physical slapstick, and a shaggy dachshund, and the results will please any Hope fan. (There are, however, some unfortunate racial stereotypes.)

The Fallen Idol

The Fallen Idol was the first of three collaborations between director Carol Reed and writer Graham Greene who would later team up on the legendary The Third Man and is a small masterpiece itself. An elegant thrilling balancing act of suspense and farce this tale of the fraught relationship between a boy and his beloved butler whom the child eventually believes might be guilty of murder is a visually and verbally dazzling knockout with enough tricks up its sleeve to stand with the best of early Hitchcock. Special Features: New restored high-definition digital transfer" A Sense of Carol Reed" a 2006 documentary.

The Dresser

The lives and relationships of those within a British traditional touring stage company provide the backdrop for the five-time Oscar nominee The Dresser (Best Picture; Best Actor; Best supporting Actor; Best Director; Best Screenplay Adaptation). The Dresser is a compelling study of the intense relationship between the leader of the company and his dresser. Sir (Albert Finney) a grandiloquent old man of the theater has given his soul to his career but his tyrannical rule over the company is now beginning to crack under the strain of age and illness as he prepares for his two-hundred-twenty-seventh performance of King Lear. Sir's fastidious and fiercely dedicated dresser Norman (Tom Courtenay) submits to Sir's frequently unreasonable demands tends to his health and reminds him of what role he is currently playing. The two men are essential to each other's life. This is a film rich in comedy compassion and love for theater.

Sabrina

Basic story is a chauffeur's daughter who grows up in a rich household falls in love with the younger brother of the household. She is sent to Paris for her own good and returns to become a problem turning in to a subliminal attraction for the older brother. First off this is a remake of the 1954 Sabrina. As with all remakes when you compare them nothing is as good. I usually have the same attitude with a few exceptions. In this case I would not attempt to compare as it is not a period piece and there is no correlation other than names and general circumstances. That being said this is a fun movie. Even though it is anticipateble and predictable the execution is superb. The dialog matches the characters and makes you feel that you are part of the movie. They did go a little overboard trying to frump up Julia Ormond for the early scenes, however she did clean up nicely.

Upstairs, Downstairs

The Complete Series contains 68 episodes on 20 DVDs, as well as the series retrospective Upstairs Downstairs Remembered: the 25th Anniversary Special. Initially set in 1904, the first season comprises 13 episodes, 5 of which are 5 black-and-white episodes not aired during the first season of the original U.S. broadcast. The second season's 13 episodes cover various relationship problems and an appearance of King Edward VII. The third season's 13 episodes follow the London household through the prewar years (1912-1914). Outstanding cast performances and the dramatic backdrop of the Great War give the fourth season, set in 1914 to 1918, its reputation as the best of the five. Due to limited filming budgets, the war is largely seen through home-front activities. The 16 episodes of the fifth and final season cover the swinging '20s to the stock market crash (1919-30). The episodes of the fifth season are more self-contained than other seasons' and every bit as entertaining. Whether you first met the Bellamys and their delightfully enjoyable downstairs entourage in the 1970s or are just getting to know them now, the superb acting and compelling character development will always be the reason to watch.

Jeeves & Wooster

Bertie Wooster is feeling a bit shy of the mark when his new valet reports for duty, bringing with him a much-needed cure for the effects of the previous night's excesses. On the strength of this sterling debut, Jeeves is formally retained, and the unsuspecting servant is thrown headlong into the glorious mix of overbearing aunts, unbidden guests, friends in need and romantic entanglements that is Bertie's lot in life. To millions of devoted fans, P.G. Wodehouse's "Jeeves and Wooster" stories are a delightful obsession, an irresistible and irreverent romp through the drawing rooms of Edwardian England's tweedy elite. Now, these comic masterpieces come to life in acclaimed productions with an extraordinary cast that features Hugh Laurie (Sense and Sensibility, Strapless) as the well-meaning but dim aristocrat Bertie Wooster, and Stephen Fry (Wilde, Cold Comfort Farm) as Jeeves, his hilariously arch and resourceful valet.

Blackadder

For the first time every Blackadder episode is packaged together in a special boxset, including Blackadder's Christmas Carol, Back and Forth and The Cavalier Years. This six disc set has a running time of 763 minutes and is released for a limited period.

To the Manor Born

To the Manor Born is another BBC sitcom from the genre's golden age, one that came to dominate the ratings during its initial three-season run from 1979-80. Providing Penelope Keith with her first major role after The Good Life, the show focuses on a way of life that now appears hard to comprehend, with storylines concerning hunt balls, village committees, and eccentric brigadiers only adding to the dated feel. What provided the program's key interest, however, was not the terribly quaint Little England setting but the burgeoning relationship between Keith's Audrey fforbes-Hamilton and Richard De Vere (Peter Bowles), the new owner of Audrey's old home, Grantleigh Manor. It's all very, very English (the show is set in a village called Cricket St. Thomas) and the continuing use of farce almost creates a sense of parody. But look beyond the infuriating stereotypes and there is some sharp writing going on, predating the city vs countryside debate by nearly two decades. Penelope Keith is, as ever, fantastic value and while new viewers may simply not get the joke, those looking for a spot of nostalgia could do far worse.