Review: The Grand - Complete Collection

I had never heard of The Grand until my mom bought it one day on Amazon. Both of us did not know anything about the series other than it was about a hotel. As we watched the series, the basis of the story was pretty much Upstairs, Downstairs in that half the show is about the upper class and the other half is about the lower class.

Note: I would usually do separate reviews for the different seasons, but for this, I'm combining them into one review.

Complete Collection Box Art

Synopsis

After World War I, the Grand Hotel in Manchester is reopened by the Bannerman family who has owned the hotel for many years before. The plot lines of the episodes would be similar to Upstairs Downstairs in that part of the plotlines involve the patrons of the hotel and the Bannerman family and the other part involves the waitstaff of the hotel.

Characters

There was only one member of the regular cast that I recognized, and it was Susan Hampshire as Miss Harkness, a guest at the Grand.

Out of all the characters, I would say that there are only three that were likable. The three were John Bannerman, the owner of the hotel, Kate Morris, the servant girl, and Mr. Collins, the head porter. John Bannerman was the owner trying to make the hotel successful after being closed for so long; he loves his family, but sometimes can't express it as well as he should. Kate Morris, the servant girl, tries to do her job and follow the rules; she cares for her friend, Monica, and tries to keep her out of trouble (which didn't work out). Mr. Collins lives with the grief that his son was executed for abandoning his post in the military, but he copes with it and runs the hotel well.

Kate Morris and Stephen Bannerman, John and Sarah Bannerman's
son.

The rest of the characters were horribly, horribly flawed. Miss Harkness has a very disreputable past and for the first half of the first series is proud of it and talks about it openly (Susan Hampshire, you could have done a lot better). She does seem to regret her choices, but ultimately goes back to her previous lifestyle. Marcus Bannerman, John Bannerman's brother, is just creepy and slimy. Sarah Bannerman, John's wife, begins to move away from her husband towards the creepy Marcus. Marcus's girlfriend (later fiancee and then wife) Ruth is mistreated by Marcus the whole first series, though he is slightly better to her face during the second series, but still neglects her. Need I go much further? And that was only part of the upstairs plotlines. And a bit more goes on with the servants that work downstairs. If you're looking for role models, don't look for them in The Grand.

There were also a lot of topics that wouldn't have been discussed so openly in company at the time. Realistically, during that time, there were certain subjects that would have been much more discreetly discussed if discussed at all. In The Grand, those subjects were talked about as if it was a modern day soap opera! It was quite unnecessary and inaccurate.

Scenery

Miss Harkness and Kate Morris

The Grand Hotel itself is something to look at! It's has many lovely views and always looks clean. There aren't many scenes that take place outside, so a great deal of the scenes are inside the hotel.

Costumes

Some of the costumes were well done. A good deal of the guests/owners costumes were very nice and looked pretty. The servants' outfits were the same uniform that they wore. However, it seemed like during the second season, however, that the costumer for The Grand was going out of their way to make Miss Harkness's dresses extremely immodest; it was extremely ridiculous and unnecessary.

Music

The theme music was very nice. It's very flowing and can get stuck in your head easily. Other than that, there aren't many songs that stood out to me very much.

Overall: 0.5/5

I WOULD NOT recommend this, especially to families. There are a lot of scenes that are very mature and a lot of the topics discussed during the show were inappropriate and wouldn't have been talked about so openly during the time period. Honestly, The Grand was more like a modern day soap opera with everyone's dirty laundry out for everyone to see in period fashions. I can't even say that you can easily skip past the inappropriate scenes: some can take you by surprise. I usually don't like to quote other reviewers on my reviews since my reviews are mine, but one reviewer at IMDB put it accurately when they said, "The Grand is just too sordid for more than one viewing." So I won't be watching this again. Be warned about this series. Though the costuming is nice and the hotel itself is lovely to look at, there is some very mature content present throughout the entire series that ruins the entire experience. And, honestly, the plotlines weren't that great to begin with.

The Grand is available on DVD. It is made up of two seasons and 18 episodes that are about 55 minutes long.

Review: House of Eliott - Series 1

One of my hobbies is sewing, and I am also interested in the business world; House of Eliott combines both of those aspects. I had never heard about this series before until my mom mentioned it to me and bought it. We would sit down in the evenings to watch a couple of episodes. It was really interesting. I'm not too big of a fan of 1920's fashion, but this series did do 20's fashion justice.

Box Art

Synopsis
When their father dies, Beatrice (Bea) and Evangeline (Evie) Eliott (Stella Gonet and Louise Lombard) have to find a way to support themselves. Bea is able to get a job working for photographer, Jack Maddox, who becomes a friend of the two sisters. Both Eliott sisters are able to sew and design their own clothes: eventually, they start up their own couture fashion house called the House of Eliott.

Characters
There aren't too many faces that you may easily recognize in House of Eliott. Stella Gonet was in the most recent adaptation of Persuasion as Mrs. Musgrove, and Louise Lombard was on popular show NCIS. Those are the only two that I can think of. The creators of the series are well known, though. This series was created by Eileen Atkins (Deborah Jenkyns in Cranford) and Jean Marsh (Mrs. Ferrars in Sense and Sensibility); these two women were also the same women who created popular 70's series Upstairs Downstairs.


Of the two sisters, I prefered Bea to Evie. Bea was more sensible than emotional and naive Evie. Since Evie had no mother, Bea had to act as a mother to her (and because of the fact that Bea was much older than Evie). I didn't dislike Evie, but I thought that she was a little too naive at times. It seemed that she was more driven by emotion, while Bea was more driven by what was sensible.



The one character that I really disliked was Penelope Maddox, Jack Maddox's sister. I don't really think she added much to the story other than she was controversial. It seemed like that was her only purpose: to be controversial. She got irritating quickly. If she wasn't in the series, the storyline would have gone on smoothly without her. She seemed to be an unnecessary addition to the show.

Scenery

The scenery is very nice. You can tell that the episodes were not filmed on sound sets. Outdoor scenes take place both in nice London neighborhoods and in poorer neighborhoods. Since House of Eliott takes place in London, there aren't many opportunities to see country scenery. You do occasionally see country scenery, but there are very few scenes of them. The interiors of some of the buildings are also very nice to look at.

Costumes

Evie in her party dress

One of the main aspects of House of Eliott is the costuming, since the show is about fashion. I never was much of a fan of 1920's fashion, but Wow! is it awesome in here! Towards the beginning of the series, Bea and Evie's outfits aren't all that great (since they were poorer), but as the series goes on and they develop their fashion house, the costuming gets better. The costuming is not limited to what the main characters are wearing: there are also fashion shows that show off the collections that the House of Eliott had been working on. It's very interesting to see.

Music
I love the theme song and credits song! They are very upbeat pieces and, just a warning, they may get stuck in you head! There are a couple of dance scenes with some nice 20's music. A very good soundtrack, overall.

Bea at a party with her date.

Overall: 4/5
A very good start to the series. There is one episode where there is a mature scene at the end of it, but it was only in that one episode (Episode 2, specifically). There are some mature topics discussed, but they don't get really graphic, but there are things implied. The costuming is very lovely and the plot lines are very interesting. Each episode continues to the next, similar to a miniseries, but this was a regular TV series. I would recommend this show.

House of Eliott - Series 1 can be purchased on it's own or along with the show's two other seasons in a complete collection. There are twelve, 50 minute episodes on four DVD's.

House of Eliott

My mom and I started watching this series from the early 90's called The House of Eliott.

It's really interesting. It's about these two sisters, Beatrice and Evangeline Eliott (also known as Bea and Evie), who, after their father died and left them no money, have to go into business in order to make a living. They have only their sewing skills and their love of fashion. They open up a fashion house called The House of Eliott, where they make dresses for women. Throughout the series, the sisters have to work through scandal and deal with things that go on in a business.

The costumes in here are very nice! 1920's era dresses are featured and some of the headdresses that are worn are very pretty.

You might also recognize a few of the actresses as you watch through the series. Bea is played by Stella Gonet, who you might recognize as Mrs. Musgrove from Persuasion (2007). Louise Lombard, who plays Evie, is in the TV series CSI. In a couple of episodes, Elizabeth Garvie, who was in the 1980s version of Pride and Prejudice, was Lady Elizabeth Montford. Phyllida Law  was in an episode; you might recognize her from the Gwenyth Paltrow Emma and as the mother of Sophie Thompson (Miss Bates from the same Emma) and Emma Thompson (Elinor Dashwood from Sense and Sensibility).

It's a really interesting series. I might review it at some point. I haven't watched all of it yet (I'm almost at season 3), so it might be a while before I review it. There is some suggestive language and one scene in one episode that was a little mature, but the scene was very brief.

This series really holds your attention as you watch through the episodes. There are three seasons in total, which you can buy separately or in one collection.