The King's Speech

We finally got around to watching The King's Speech on DVD, courtesy of my daughter and son-in-law.

So many Oscar winning movies have disappointed, but I am glad to say this film didn't. It is clear to see that the movie emerged from British Television. Colin Firth and Jennifer Ehle were the hero and heroine of Pride and Prejudice and David Bamber was also in that; Anthony Andrews starred in Brideshead Revisited, Derek Jacobi in I Claudius (as another famous stammerer) and Cadfael, Helena Bonham Carter has been in many classical dramas but has been seen fairly recently on TV as Enid Blyton, Anne Boleyn, Morgan Le Fey and Vera Brittain. Only the Australians, Geoffrey Rush (Shine) and Guy Pearce (L.A. Confidential) are really big film stars. Timothy Spall has been the star of several Mike Leigh low-budget successes.

The Oscar-winning director, Tom Hooper had previously made The Damned United, which I watched earlier in the year, but he also cut his teeth in television with one of the Prime Suspects and the John Adams mini-series.

I thought the sense of period was well captured and the playing of the principlals excellent. It was a serious piece of movie making and an unusual subject that was well worth the acclaim.