Since the movie, "The King's Speech", is not showing at the movie theater nearby in Houma, La., I decided to see the film while I was in New Orleans on Monday. After I dropped off my grandchildren from Thibodaux to visit their aunt and cousins in New Orleans, I headed for the theater. The movie is superb, intelligent, adult (NOT meaning sexually explicit!) entertainment. The actors, the sets, the witty script, everything about the movie is just right. Before seeing the movie, I read only one review in the New Orleans Times-Picayune, and that one was all I needed to get me there. I left the theater with great satisfaction at the close of nearly two hours, thinking that my time was very well spent.
Have a look at the cast:
Colin Firth - King George VI
Helena Bonham Carter - Queen Elizabeth
Guy Pearce - King Edward VIII (later, The Duke of Windsor)
Michael Gambon - King George V
Geoffrey Rush - Lionel Logue
Timothy Spall - Winston Churchill
Jennifer Ehle - Myrtle Logue
Derek Jacobi - Cosmo Gordon Lang (Archbishop of Canterbury)
Anthony Andrews - Stanley Baldwin
Eve Best - Wallis Simpson
Freya Wilson - Princess Elizabeth
Ramona Marquez - Princess Margaret
Colin Firth performed the best I've ever seen him in a film. He didn't play George VI, he was George VI. Helena Bonham Carter performed in her usual excellent style as Bertie's (as he was known in the family) wife Elizabeth, later Queen Elizabeth, and for many years after her husband's death, known and loved as the Queen Mum.
Since Bertie stutters, public appearances are painful for him and for those who listen to him speak. Enter Geoffrey Rush, in a brilliant performance as Lionel Logue, an Australian speech coach, and the story takes off with the focus on the relationship between the two men, as Logue puts Bertie through his paces to rid him of his stutter.
As war looms, and Bertie's brother, the Prince of Wales, played well by Guy Pearce in his brief appearances, is determined to continue his relationship with the twice-divorced, Wallis Simpson, the possibility that Bertie, rather than his brother David, as the Prince of Wales was known in the family, would succeed their father on the throne increased. Bertie ever more desperately needs to overcome the stutter.
Derek Jacobi, as Archbishop of Canterbury Cosmo Lang, is a delight to watch and comes close to stealing every scene he's in, and Michael Gambon as George V is excellent. Claire Bloom, as usual, shines in her cameo part as George V's consort, Queen Mary. Anthony Andrews plays Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin. I hadn't seen Andrews act since the TV series "Danger UXB". Of course, I remember him best from his role as Sebastian Flyte in the magnificent "Brideshead Revisited" series. He's grown old, but not so old as I have. Although her appearance is brief, Eve Best is stunning as Wallis Simpson. The only casting with which I would take issue is Timothy Spall as Winston Chruchill. To me, Spall did not fit the part.
My fairly clear memories go back to the later years of World War II, so I remember seeing the Royal Family in the newsreels in the movie theater and in Life and Look magazines. I remember the times, and I remember the people, which probably made the film more enjoyable for me, especially since every aspect of the movie is so well done.
During the Blitz, George and Elizabeth remained at Buckingham Palace, which received several direct hits, and the girls were sent to stay at Windsor Castle. The two visited the bombed areas and the bomb shelters in London and conducted themselves altogether honorably throughout the war.
After Edward's abdication, he married the woman he loved, and, as the Duke and Duchess of Windsor, they traipsed around the world partying for many years, with intense coverage by the media for, I suppose, their great skill at having a good time.
Well, I've rambled on with my reminiscences about the period, but I hope I did not do a spoiler review, and I urge you all to see the movie. Watch the trailer, if you like.
