Dark comedy, "suggested by" Harry Kressing's novel "The Cook", has opportunist Michael York worming his way into the lives of the eccentric, cash-strapped family living in a weathered German castle, at first by gaining employment there as a footman. York is exceptional as the shameless Conrad, who uses his charm to beguile everyone around him, but Angela Lansbury is too beautiful, too vital to be convincing as a dowager Countess (one can imagine this curvy lady having her pick of any eligible man in the country). Still, Lansbury's fluttery flamboyance, which the Countess seems to put on--like a costume, for show--is colorful and amusing, while theatre director Harold Prince oversees the proceedings with knowing wit and self-assurance. Not for every taste, but a well-done show of manners and immorality. ** from ****