The King's Speech: He had a stammer. He overcame it. The feel good story of the decade...
Seriously, The King's Speech
is one of the UK's recent success stories, with funding from the UK Film Council, an organisation that's brings
in five pounds for every one pound it spends, but which is due to be closed thanks to Culture Secretary Jeremy
Hunt (careful how you say that).
In 1925, King George V is on the throne and he asks his second son, the Duke of York (Colin Firth),
eventually to be George VI, not to march 10,000 men up and down a hill but to give the closing speech at the
Empire Exhibition in Wembley. Unfortunately, he's got a horrible stammer and that's shown to us as the film
begins. Following this debacle, he's given the encouraging 'news' that smoking cigarettes calms one's nerves and
gives you confidence. Hmm... that wouldn't wash if used as an advertising campaign today.
Initially, he's given seven sterilised silver balls, by his doctor, to put into his mouth as an attempt
to apparently cure his condition. Naturally, it doesn't work, and so, without his knowledge, his wife,
Queen Elizabeth (Helena Bonham Carter), goes to see Lionel Logue (Geoffrey Rush), who helps
people with their speech defects, with a view to arranging an appointment - one to which he does go, but
doesn't feel it has gone well at all and calls it a day, never to return... but we all know he will.
It then leads on to take in the full effect of Edward & Mrs Simpson - with Guy Pearce surprisingly, to me,
taking the role of Firth's screen-brother, King Edward VIII, who initially takes the role of King after their
father, George V (Michael Gambon) dies - and the lead-up to World War II where it could really be
'Stammer Time' for Bertie.
The King's Speech is well-directed with great attention paid to period detail and has interesting visual
quirks, in two-handed conversations and, generally, with the composition of the image. The best parts of the film
all come between Firth and Rush, but quite frankly, a lot of the rest of it is fairly dull and overlong.
As an aside, despite it taking place over 14 years, no-one actually ages; and Colin Firth also sounds a bit like
Labour leader Ed Miliband! Also, at the time the film is set at the beginning, King George VI was only 30 years
old, yet Colin Firth is 50.
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Presented in the original 1.85:1 theatrical ratio and in 1080p high definition, the picture is mostly good,
but doesn't quite feel like a Blu-ray: just doesn't feel as crisp and clear as it should do.
For the record, I'm watching on a Panasonic 37" Plasma screen via a Samsung BD-P1500 Blu-ray player.
