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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.
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.
The sound is in 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio, for which I got the 5.1 DTS version, but it’s just used for dialogue and some music. This is not a special effects film.
The extras are as follows:
- An Inspirational Story of an Unlikely Friendship: The Making of The King’s Speech (22:48): Clips from the film mixed in with soundbites from the key cast and crew members. These appear to be cobbled together from several different sources, so looks a little odd in that respect, but still does what it says on the tin.
- Speeches from the real King George VI: Two here. The pre-war speech from the radio in 1939 read out during the film (5:40), and a post-war one filmed for a newsreel in 1945 (2:27).
- Interview with Mark Logue (17:18): The grandson of Lionel Logue and co-author (with Peter Conradi) of The King’s Speech: How one man saved the British monarchy. I didn’t watch this or the ‘making of’ in full because I wasn’t taken with the film, but you’ll get more out of them if you’re one of those people who felt it deserved all those awards.
- Trailer (2:04): In 16:9.
- Production sketches (0:31): By Oscar nominee Eve Stewart. There’s only a few and they’re all a little bit… odd and cartoony.
- Photo gallery and a look behind the scenes (3:04): Music from the film accompanies still images.
- Audio commentary: From Director Tom Hooper.
The menu features a static image of the two leads, with footage playing in the background while the theme plays on. There are subtitles in English only and the total number of chapters is a paltry 12, which just isn’t enough for the near-2-hour running time. Before the main menu comes a number of trailers for other films, just like an old, annoying rental video. Hence, I’m not listing them here.
The King’s Speech is out now on Blu-ray and DVD.
|
FILM CONTENT PICTURE QUALITY SOUND QUALITY EXTRAS |
4 7 7 5 |
| OVERALL | 6 |
Detailed specs:
Cert: 
Running time: 113 minutes
Year: 2010
Cat no: MP1015BRR0
Released: May 2011
Region(s): 2, PAL
Chapters: 12
Picture: 1080p High Definition
Sound: 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio, DTS 5.1, Dolby Digital 5.1
Languages: English
Subtitles: English
Widescreen: 1.85:1
Disc Format: BD50
Director: Tom Hooper
Producers: Iain Canning, Emile Sherman and Gareth Unwin
Screenplay: David Seidler
Music: Alexandre Desplat
Cast:
King George VI: Colin Firth
Lionel Logue: Geoffrey Rush
Queen Elizabeth: Helena Bonham Carter
King Edward VIII: Guy Pearce
Myrtle Logue: Jennifer Ehle
King George V: Michael Gambon
Archbishop Cosmo Lang: Derek Jacobi
Winston Churchill: Timothy Spall
Stanley Baldwin: Anthony Andrews
Neville Chamberlain: Roger Parrott
Queen Mary: Claire Bloom
Wallis Simpson: Eve Best
Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.