Palmerin Posted January 13, 2015 Share Posted January 13, 2015 I was afraid to spend any money watching this Oscar honoree on the big screen; now that I have watched it on the SUNDANCE channel, I am satisfied that my reticence was justified. An absolute tedium--bored boring people sitting around pretending that the stutter of George VI was a national emergency. A genuinely riveting drama could have been made of the true tragedy of the life of GVI: his addiction to tobacco--THIRTY to FORTY cigarettes a day, plus several pipes and cigars!--, which killed him at the tender age of 55. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Palmerin Posted January 13, 2015 Author Share Posted January 13, 2015 And, speaking of THE KING'S SPEECH, what is your take on the Abdication Crisis? Ever since I read in detail about that event I have felt that it was all a mountain range of nonsense. The Prince of Wales never wanted to be King-Emperor, so why was he not allowed to quit while he still had the chance? And, please, don't give me that jazz about the kingship being his responsibility and duty! My stepfather--who was as much of a beastly ogre as George V--loved to torment me by forcing me to do things I did not want to do by arguing that it was my ,,responsibility and duty'' to do them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Barton_Keyes Posted January 13, 2015 Share Posted January 13, 2015 I will concede that THE KING'S SPEECH has a very predictable screenplay, but it does not seem overly hyperbolic to say that King George VI's stutter was a national emergency. In the years preceding WWII, England needed a monarch who exuded confidence, not something you'd find in a king with a speech impediment. And I think the performances in the film are uniformly excellent, with Colin Firth and Geoffrey Rush going a long way toward humanizing a basically abstract figure in most peoples' imaginations. Helena Bonham Carter is also not to be missed as Queen Elizabeth (the Queen Mother, that is), delivering a very understated, realistic characterization of a woman who is so well-remembered. To each his (or her) own, I guess, but I think that THE KING'S SPEECH was one of the most entertaining films of the last decade. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
misswonderly3 Posted January 14, 2015 Share Posted January 14, 2015 And, speaking of THE KING'S SPEECH, what is your take on the Abdication Crisis? Ever since I read in detail about that event I have felt that it was all a mountain range of nonsense. The Prince of Wales never wanted to be King-Emperor, so why was he not allowed to quit while he still had the chance? And, please, don't give me that jazz about the kingship being his responsibility and duty! My stepfather--who was as much of a beastly ogre as George V--loved to torment me by forcing me to do things I did not want to do by arguing that it was my ,,responsibility and duty'' to do them. Well, it's all part of growing up, and being British. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hamradio Posted January 14, 2015 Share Posted January 14, 2015 I was afraid to spend any money watching this Oscar honoree on the big screen; now that I have watched it on the SUNDANCE channel, I am satisfied that my reticence was justified. An absolute tedium--bored boring people sitting around pretending that the stutter of George VI was a national emergency. A genuinely riveting drama could have been made of the true tragedy of the life of GVI: his addiction to tobacco--THIRTY to FORTY cigarettes a day, plus several pipes and cigars!--, which killed him at the tender age of 55. I was only disappointed the movie didn't have a proper ending.... Th-th-th-tha-tha-tha-that's all, folks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LonesomePolecat Posted January 14, 2015 Share Posted January 14, 2015 Well I loved it, and I don't love many recent films, and found the story incredibly inspiring and fascinating. But that's just me Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tikisoo Posted January 14, 2015 Share Posted January 14, 2015 To each his own, Palmerin. There's movies everyone likes that I disliked too. I very much enjoyed THE KINGS SPEECH. It made those charactors & situation "real" for me. I also like the "simpler" times depicted, when sincerity was more important than money. The ending was emotional enough to bring me to tears. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
roverrocks Posted January 14, 2015 Share Posted January 14, 2015 THE KING'S SPEECH was an excellent movie that I watched twice since I enjoyed it so much the first time. Very uplifting movie. The acting was top notch. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Palmerin Posted January 15, 2015 Author Share Posted January 15, 2015 I tried to watch EDWARD & MRS SIMPSON back when it played on MASTERPIECE THEATRE, but I quit at the second episode because, just like THE KING'S SPEECH, that show was nothing but morose people droning on and on about how the affair of Edward VIII with Wallis Simpson was a threat to humanity in general and British civilization in particular. What am I missing? Everybody in that affair behaved like idiots; only Mrs. Simpson, who was willing to remove herself so that EVIII could keep the throne, behaved with any dignity. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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