"The King's Speech" (2010)

Dwight Dekeyser rating: AAA

Dear Reader:

“Hail Britannia!  Britannia rules the screen!”  When was the last time you saw a movie where the audience burst into applause at The End?  This was one of those wonderful times.  The King’s Speech is in many ways a nostalgic throw back to the golden years of public television (PBS) starting in 1971, when WGBH/Boston presented Masterpiece Theatre, hosted by the venerable Alistair Cooke, followed by A&E in 1985. The sterling productions from the BBC, ITV, and Granada Television left an indelible impression on those of us lucky enough to have been weaned on them week after week.  It was television of a quality not hitherto seen in the United States.  Serials like The Forsyte Saga, Upstairs Downstairs, Elizabeth R, The Six Wives of Henry the VIII, the First Churchills, The Jewel in the Crown, Poldark, Lillie, and I, Claudius mesmerized American audiences hungry for sophisticated drama with a decided British bent.  After the Beatles, it was the second “British Invasion.”  

Indeed, The King’s Speech was a reunion for the audience with some of the actors from those memorable casts:  Colin Firth, Jennifer Ehle, and David Bamber from Pride and Prejudice (1985); Claire Bloom and Anthony Edwards from Brideshead Revisited (1981), Michael Gambon from The Singing Detective (1985), and Britain’s most famous stutterer (until now), Derek Jacobi from I, Claudius (1976), in a bit of ironic casting.  Remember, these were television productions, not major motion pictures.  It was an era when writers actually wrote programs of significance for “the boob tube,” long before reality T.V. was let loose upon the viewing public.  Lillie Langtry, the Jersey lily, came from the Isle of Jersey, not the Jersey Shore.  No Snooki in these series.

The movie is the true story of how the awkward speech-impaired Duke of York “Bertie” (Colin Firth) ascended to the British throne as George VI, with the help of his unconventional Australian speech therapist Lionel Logue (Geoffrey Rush).  Firth and Rush made an extraordinary team portraying this unlikely partnership of king and commoner.  (I will try to resist the use of superlatives in reviewing this film, but fair is fair.)  For Firth, especially, this must have been a demanding role.  How does one learn to stutter, after all?  (Sounds like the movie in reverse.)  But it was not just the newly-learned impediment that was so impressive but the agony, energy, and frustration emoted by the duke to “enunciate!” even the most ordinary words.  The poor man was tortured.  Perhaps, this was why Bertie, the reluctant and accidental king suffered from those awful “nashes,” what we would call  hissy fits.

The Duke and Duchess of York (Bertie and Elizabeth) with their children, princesses Elizabeth and Margaret made a happy foursome.  Like most modern royals, they were relieved to have “dodged the bullet” of monarchy.  That is, they could have all the benefits of being a royal without having the burden of all the scrutiny and ceremony of being the head of state.  Standing on a permanent pedestal can make for sore feet.  However, history (and his brother David, Edward VIII) had something different in mind.  There were several factors in King Edward’s abdication, aside from that old yarn, “without the help and support of the woman I love.”  Mrs. Ernest Simpson (Wallis) was a twice-divorced “adventuress,” to quote Queen Mary.  She was an ambitious American socialite who lent her sexual favors to men she felt could advance her “career.”   She was said to have possessed David more than dominated him and referred to the king as "the little man."  He worshiped her and built his world and empire around her or tried to.  It didn’t work.

It has been well-known that the King Edward VIII was a “Nazi sympathizer.”  He and the duchess paid Hitler an “unofficial state visit” after his abdication in October 1937.  The extent to which the duke favored Adolf Hitler’s political beliefs and held a personal admiration for the Fuhrer had been a well-guarded state secret until the 1990s.  This was chronicled in the BBC television documentary entitled, Edward VIII, the Traitor King (1995).  The King’s Speech alluded to it, but did not press the matter.  Mrs. Simpson aside, David as king and later as a British army officer was an imprudent and careless man.  As king, he said things to Mrs. Simpson that were reported to the German Ambassador, Joachim von Ribbentrop, her other lover at the time.  After the abdication, the couple attracted powerful Nazi agents wherever they traveled telling the Germans state secrets that altered the destiny of the war and the world.  He was a traitor and a deserter, she was an enemy spy.   They had to go.  The double divorcee was just the ticket for the king's departure.  (Isn’t this a great story?!  It could be the sequel, starring Guy Pearce.  Don’t strike that set!)

The production value of the movie was really first rate; the interiors and costumes were period and are reasons enough to see the picture, aside from the tremendous acting and touching story.  The costume designer (Jenny Beavan) did a marvelous job on the “dowdy duchess” (Wallis’ term for her full-figured sister-in-law).  The production could not have been as successful as it was without a battalion of historic style consultants and artists.  They are the very thing that makes these British spectaculars so spectacular – not to mention the legion of the great actors the Empire has to offer.  Is there anything more beautiful than hearing a British actor speak BBC English?  (Providing they don’t stammer.)  Warning:  this movie is genuinely moving.  “Be prepared,” to quote Lord Baden-Powell.  You just might need that hankie.

Here's the trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QmtpxP6t57A

From the vault:  Women in Love (1969), Directed by Ken Russell, starring Glenda Jackson, Alan Bates, Oliver Reed, and Jennie Linden.  No royals but plenty of Brits.  AIDS activist Larry Kramer was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Writing, Screen Play Based on Material from Another Medium.  (I’d be bitter, too!)  “It’s so dark and mysterious.”

Best of luck in your movie selections.  Your faithful friend,

Dwight Dekeyser

© 2010 Dwight Dekeyser, Esq.  All rights reserved.