Last night we were fortunate enough to view The King's Speech. What performances by Colin Firth and Geoffrey Rush! Even though I live across the pond, I was familiar with some of the acrimony between Elizabeth II's mother, and Edward and Wallis Simpson. I know that it carried over to the Queen. Neither of the brother's wanted to be king. Many say that The Queen Mother blamed Edward for George's early death. The fact that he was addicted to cigarettes certainly contributed to that. I don't think I was aware of George VI's speech impediment. There will be conjecture for centuries about the hold Wallis had over Edward. There are even some who think Wallis had AIS. All that aside Firth gave a performance that is truly worthy of an Oscar, as was Rush's. It is a remarkable, tight little film. It will be around long after most of the fluff that is generated by the studios disappears into memory's dust bin.
There was a lot of great acting. Helena Bonham Carter received an Oscar nomination as the Queen Mother, George VI's wife. Timothy Spall (Peter Petigrew in Harry Potter) portrays Winston Churchill. The whole ensemble was wonderful.
What was amazing last night was that we were literally the only two people viewing the film. It was a bad theater night as there weren't 20 people in the entire theater of eight screens.
I am not a big movie goer, and go to only two or three a year. I am certainly glad I went to this one.
Portia
Comments
Not an avid film goer myself...
Like you, I only go to two or three films a year, at least in a cinema as opposed to watching a DVD on big screen with a small gang of friends (I don't have a TV, so no watching by myself at home). Saw The King's Speech with a gang of friends and acquaintances from Uni and I have to say, I'm very positively surprised by how good a film it was. Definitely worth the half hour walk to the cinema from home in -20° and snow (with good company of course) and back.
It's easy
to get carried away by the romantic notion that Edward gave up his crown for the woman of his dreams. He apparently resented his loss of the throne and negotiated with Hitler with whom he and Wallis had sympathies. He also illegally traded currencies and made a fortune from it, protected by his status from prosecution.
In short, probably Wallis Simpson did us Brits a favour by taking the playboy tosser away from the throne and allowing someone who at least believed in what he was doing and the duty to his country.
One true story about King George VI. Someone I knew was commanding a battery firing a 21 gun salute for his birthday in Hyde Park. He was dressed in some posh uniform and was inspecting the guns, which had been freshly painted. The king was warned, "Be careful, sir, the paint is still wet," to which he held out a kid gloved hand and touched it, saw the paint on the fingers and said, "So it is." Not the sharpest knife in the drawer.
Angharad
Angharad
KGVI
I take all you say, Ang, but add one thing. He served us well despite his limitations, and thank god his borther and his domme were eased out. His daughter has been a success, too, but if I hated Wallis for anything, it would be for her 'too rich, too thin' crack. How many dead or ailing women because of her?