Julian Fellowes

In the summer of 1930, the Crawleys grapple with the threat of social disgrace when Mary finds herself at the center of a public scandal and the family faces financial trouble.

The dowager countess inherits a villa in the south of France from a man she once knew. The family travels to France to find out why he willed it to her.

The Crawleys must prepare to welcome the King and Queen of England, a visit that will unleash scandal, romance, and intrigue, leaving the fate of Downton hanging in the balance.

This one of a kind romantic thriller follows Frank, an American tourist in Italy, who crosses paths with a woman named Elise and is caught in a whirlwind of intrigue and danger.

Set in 1920s French Indochina, two tigers are separated as cubs after the ancient temple where they live is disturbed by Aidan McRory (Guy Pearce) who intends to steal and sell the ancient statues. Two tiger cubs are playing when one (later named Sangha) comes upon a young civet. Sangha chases the civet into its burrow and the mother civet appears and chases Sangha up a tree. The other tiger cub (later named Kumal) appears and chases the mother civet away. Gunshots are heard, and the tigress arrives to protect the cubs. She picks Sangha up and runs for safety. Kumal follows, but can't keep up and falls behind. The cubs' father appears, but the men have caught up with them and he is shot dead by McRory. McRory is an unscrupulous explorer, big-game hunter and temple looter. He discovers Kumal and befriends him, but McRory is arrested for stealing from the ancient temple and Kumal is kept by the chief in the Cambodian village where McRory had been staying. The chief then sells Kumal to a circus where he is to be the star attraction. Sangha remains in the jungle with his mother, but both are soon trapped by McRory as game for a vain Khmer prince to hunt. The mother is shot in the ear and thought to be dead before she jumps up and runs off with a hole in her ear. Sangha is discovered by young Raoul, son of the French administrator, Normandin, and becomes the child's pet. However, Raoul's mother's dog, Bittsi, a schipperke, is a constant antagonist to the young tiger. Kumal is trained by cruel circus ringmaster Zerbino to do tricks, such as jumping through a flaming hoop. Sangha meanwhile dwells peacefully with Raoul until he is at last cornered by Bittsi following a prolonged chase. In self-defence, Sangha attacks Bittsi, badly wounding although not killing him. This provokes a hysterical reaction from the household, particularly Raoul's mother, who insists that Sangha has "got the taste of blood now" and gets rid of him. As a result, he is made a part of the prince's palace menagerie, where he quickly gains a reputation as a ferocious beast. Sangha and Kumal are now very close to each other. The prince then decides to hold a festival in which a battle between two great beasts - the brother tigers - will be the centerpiece. When placed in the cage before the audience during the festival, the two brothers do not immediately recognize each other, and Kumal is afraid to fight. However, when the brothers finally recognize each other they begin to play together instead of fighting, and the audience likes this but the trainers don't. The trainer attempts to antagonize the tigers into fighting, but as he opens the cage to shoot one, the tigers escape, managing to frighten the trainers and the audience into the cage themselves. The two tigers escape, and McRory is determined to hunt them down. After Kumal showing Sangha how to jump through fire to escape, McRory and Raoul find them. However, as McRory takes aim at Sangha, Kumal appears, and demonstrates that he remembers the sweets McRory used to give him. McRory puts down his gun and vows never to hunt again. The two brothers make their way back to their temple home in the jungle where they meet up with their mother (who can be identified by the hole in her ear). Just before the credits, some comments to save the tigers (as a species) are shown.

The movie Vanity Fair (2004) is based on one of the most beloved of all 19th century novels, by the same name, written by William Makepiece Thackeray, a contemporary and friend of Charles Dickens. The movie opens by introducing our two heroines, Rebecca Sharp and Amelia Sedley, who are the best of friends. The girls are about to graduate from an Academy for Young Ladies. Amelia, who comes from a rich family, is a kind and innocent person loved by her classmates and "sucked up to" by her teachers. (I think I just sensed Thackeray rolling over in his grave by my use of slang!) Backy is a poor orphan, who has only been allowed to stay at the school as an unpaid teacher of the French language. She is not called "Sharp" by accident. She has no friends except Amelia, and couldn't care less. Before Becky starts to look for work as a governess, she has been invited to stay for a while at the Sedley home. Here she meets 2 young men; one, Amelia's brother, Josiah is a figure of fun---he is home on a visit from India where he works as an administrator; the other, George is Amelia's fiancee. George has many faults; he is a dreadful snob, he is bored by Amelia and fails to appreciate her love (the two have been engaged since childhood.); he gambles recklessly with his father's money and in fact has been encouraged by dear old Dad to do anything that will raise him above his shameful background in "trade. "The 4 young people make up a party to go to a sort of pleasure garden. Becky sets her cap for Jos, and probably could have snatched him up, but George sneers to Jos that it would be dreadful for him(George) to have to tolerate having a lowly governess for a sister-in-law. Both men are very conscious of the opinion of the chaps at the club. So Becky's first try at entering society fails. George's father has bought him a commission in a military regiment. Through this connection, we are introduced to another Army man, Captain William Dobbin. Dobbin adored Amelia with the pure love