The King's Speech   Starring: Colin Firth, Geoffrey Rush, Helena Bonham Carter and Guy Pearce Momentum Pictures RRP: £19.99 MP1015D Certificate: 12 Available 09 May 2011

Based on the true story of Queen Elizabeth II's father and his remarkable friendship with maverick speech therapist Lionel Logue, The King's Speech charts the personal relationship that developed between England's reluctant King George VI, plagued by a nervous stammer, and his irreverent Australian speech therapist. As the second son of George V, Prince Albert "Bertie" was not expected to ascend to the throne, but when his brother Edward abdicates to marry American Wallis Simpson, Bertie, as his successor, is crowned King George VI. George becomes King as radio is taking off as a mass medium and the Second World War looms. Thrust into the international spotlight he must speak not only to the nation but to the people of the British Empire, across the world...

The King's Speech, for those who have been living in a cave for the last year, was nominated for 12 Academy Awards. It eventually won four (Best Picture; Best Director; Best Actor (Colin Firth); and Best Original Screenplay.

The story follows the relationship that develops between Prince Albert "Bertie", the future George VI, and his speech therapist as the two try to overcome Bertie's speech impediment. A life long stammerer, Bertie is forced to make numerous public appearances and speeches, but his speech problem makes this almost impossible. With the help of Lionel Logue, Bertie is soon making huge progress... but he's a long way from being a competent public speaker.

While this is an entertaining movie with some incredible performances Firth's, for me, wasn't the stand out role I was expecting. Geoffrey Rush, on the other hand turns in a much more interesting character. There are also some neat casting touches including Helena Bonham Carter as Queen Elizabeth, Guy Pearce as King Edward VIII Michael Gambon as King George V, Timothy Spall as Winston Churchill and Derek Jacobi as the Archbishop of Canterbury.

I was also thrown by the final act. I'm sure I'm not spoiling anything here... but minutes before Bertie's important speech at the end of the movie he seems unable to even get past the first sentence. So I couldn't fathom how he managed to pull it all together in the end.

Extras include an audio commentary with Tom Hooper; An Inspirational Story of an Unlikely Friendship - The Making of The King's Speech (22 min, 48 sec); Speeches from the Real King George VI (5 min, 43 sec Pre-War Speech Broadcast on Radio September 3, 1939 and 2 min, 27 sec Post-War Speech Filmed on Newsreel May 14, 1945); Interview with Mark Logue (17 min, 18 sec chat with Lionel Logue's grandson on how this story can now be told); Trailer (2 min, 04 sec); Production Sketches (31 sec) and Photo Gallery (3 min, 04 sec).

8

Nick Smithson