The film’s sequel, Downton Abbey, brushes the widow’s ailing health under the Aubusson rug for a roaring melodrama

Correct me if I’m wrong – but first in the end Downton Abbey Hadn’t we seen Maggie Smith’s Violet Crawley tell her beloved granddaughter Lady Mary (Michelle Dockery) that her days were numbered?

There was a tender moment between them, remember, when an emotional Violet assured a tearful Mary that everything would be fine, that life would go on without her, that they would still be rich, etc, etc.

And yet, as Downton Abbey: A New Era begins, it’s obvious to anyone with eyes and ears that Violet is alive and… um, she’s actually fine.

I suppose big, sloppy cinematic goodbyes don’t mean what they used to mean. Our theory, if you’re interested, is this Downton Creator and writer Julian Fellowes had no idea the first film would gross $200 million at the box office.

We imagine the 2019 feature was intended as a kind of last hurray for everyone involved in the lavish, lengthy endeavor about snooty aristocrats and their obedient servants.

It shouldn’t spawn a sequel. If that were so, Fellowes would never have suggested that Violet – Downtonfunniest component and most valuable player – was about to tip the bucket.

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you can not have Downton without Maggie Smith. It just wouldn’t work – and Fellowes knows it. So does this chic and surprisingly adequate follow-up, which temporarily puts Violet’s grim medical diagnosis on the sidelines.

A new era acknowledges that Grandma is ill, but never establishes what exactly that illness is. She continues to attend dinners replete with extravagant jewels and dresses. And she still gets the best lines.

Part of the beauty of this shamelessly ridiculous sequel is its simplicity. It’s the late 1920’s and we have not one but two tasty story developments cooking. The first concerns an old flame of Violet from a previous century. Yes, the widow countess had a guy abroad.

He’s dead now, but apparently the old charmer left her a chic villa in the south of France.

To complicate matters further, the Frenchman was married – and while his wife is not at all happy about it, their son has invited the entire Crawley clan to come and claim what is rightfully theirs.

The second part of the plot involves a Hollywood film company asking the Earl of Grantham (played by Hugh Bonneville) if they can make a silent movie in his gaff.

The Count is appalled. Films are of course something for commoners – but apparently they need the money (A new era’the biggest punch line), and besides, most of them will be off to France for a while to visit grandma’s old love shack. So you might as well let the movie people have their fun.

Snobby and scandalous antics follow. Mary complains about a leak in the attic. The main actor of the feature film ( Dominic West as Guy Dexter with the fabulous nickname) sets his sights on Barrow the Butler (Robert James-Collier).

The fictional film’s leading lady (Laura Haddock) makes a sex joke at the dinner table in Crawley. Someone is not well. Someone makes googly eyes at someone else’s wife. Someone is referring to former Irish Republican Tom Branson (played by Allen Leech) as a leopard who has successfully switched spots – no, really.

We could go on, but why bother? Fellowes lets his characters explain the rest.

Never before has such a generously budgeted big-screen feature put so much effort into making sure its audience understands the mechanics of the story. Lavishly staged sequences come and go in the blink of an eye.

Their only purpose, it seems, is to allow something Downton‘s dedicated cast to remind each other – and us – of what’s happening, what happened, or what’s about to happen.

A pretty yapping distraction A new era strums along and never shuts up – but you know what? I did not want that.

Despite its flaws – and there are many of them – Fellowes’ film is never boring, skillfully directed by Simon Curtis.

True, it borrows heavily from a certain Gene Kelly musical, but the movie-within-a-movie aspect gives way to a few lighthearted comic interludes.

It is brilliantly performed and neatly structured. It’s funny, charming, and hammy in all the right places. It basically works. A lush and ludicrous melodrama with heart, A new era Passes the time well and is better than it should be.

They can have that for the posters.

Even when published

The Marilyn Monroe Mystery: The Unheard Tapes
A star
Netflix; Certificate 15

One might imagine, given its title, that director Emma Cooper’s film has something new to say about the incomparable Marilyn Monroe. As it turns out, this sullen and spectacularly bland portrayal is more of a sleepy tour of Irish journalist Anthony Summers’ extensive research for his 1985 biography of the screen icon.

Summers conducted hundreds of interviews with colleagues, friends and associates for Goddess: The Secret Life of Marilyn Monroe, including Billy Wilder and John Huston. Here he shares his tapes for the first time. We’re not exactly sure why, and this crass and largely pointless film struggles to justify its existence.

The first half plays out like a somber career review; the second, a dripping investigation into the circumstances of Monroe’s death on August 4, 1962. Yes, The Secret of Marilyn Monroe revels in silly sensationalism – and let’s not start with the pretentious interview reconstructions.

Cooper’s documentary borrows heavily from stories repeated to death in a gross, sinister way that leaves a nasty aftertaste. Chris Wasser

The Velvet Queen
Four stars
IFI & selected cinemas; no cert

In his 1978 Tibetan travelogue The snow leopard, researcher Peter Matthiessen described the “terrifying beauty” of the world’s elusive big cat as “the stuff of human longing.” Just like this book, this award-winning Gallic documentary is about two men who set out to see the creature in a way akin to a grail hunt.

Director Marie Amiguet shadows acclaimed wildlife photographer Vincent Munier and writer Sylvain Tesson as they trudge to frigid ledges to await and observe an animal that has evolved to almost blend into its surroundings. Other wild animals appear – bears, wolves, hawks, antelopes, foxes. This and the jutting Himalayan landscape, one of the last pristine wildernesses, are captured through stills and footage in a way that will blow your mind.

As with so many stories about animals, The Velvet Queen it’s really about us Tesson’s voiceover muses on the cosmic patience required to sit and wait for something to materialize in your viewfinder.

While Tesson’s script can get overripe, the drive from the likes of Munier is undeniably intriguing. Meanwhile, the results are unfolding just as the couple is about to give up. Hilary White

Casablanca beats
Four stars
IFI & selected cinemas; Certificate 12A

The liberating qualities of artistry and expression are a vehicle for this spirited docu-drama about aspiring young rappers in a particularly seedy neighborhood of the Moroccan city made famous by Bogart and Bergman.

We’re not sure why Anas (Anas Basbousi) quit playing hip-hop to teach at a local cultural center, but subtle clues are starting to shine through. Anas lives in his car and is passionate about instilling the power of the genre in his students. Anas is a supportive but demanding mentor. For the wonderful students in his hip-hop class, rapping and rhyming is not only a portal to political discourse, but also personal empowerment in a monastic Muslim society that eschews such self-expression.

This is another example of vibrant and bold social realist storytelling from the MENA region. Director Nabil Ayouch gets brilliant results from his amazing troupe of untrained actors, many real teenage schoolboys, at the real-life center he co-founded where the filming takes place.

While the story structure isn’t particularly unique, the setting and the cultural baggage it brings to the template give it an unusual advantage. Hilary White