DVD Reviews

The King’s Speech – Blu-ray Review

By Anne Brodie Apr 21, 2011, 9:42 GMT

After the death of his father King George V (Michael Gambon) and the scandalous abdication of King Edward VIII (Guy Pearce), Bertie (Colin Firth) who has suffered from a debilitating speech impediment all his life, is suddenly crowned King George VI of England. With his country on the brink of war and in desperate need of a leader, his wife, Elizabeth (Helena Bonham Carter), the future Queen Mother, arranges for ...more

Once in a great while there comes a film that is of such high quality, it wins the praise of critics and movie goers alike, numbers of professional awards and best of all a place in our hearts. “The King’s Speech” is just such a film and now it is available for home collections, allowing viewers to enjoy again the fine performances and the careful details in production.

Based on actual historical events, we see King George VI of Great Britain as a man whose courage was not daunted by the stammer that he valiantly fought to correct with the help of an Australian speech therapist Lionel Logue.

There is so much to love and admire in “The King’s Speech” it is difficult to know just where to begin to describe it. The story itself is remarkable, and how it made its way to the screen is the stuff of legends. Colin Firth as King George VI or “Bertie” and Geoffrey Rush as Lionel Logue are perfection, giving audiences characters that are strong, intelligent men, each having his own brand of humor, and manners.

It would be very easy to play these men as stereotypes or caricatures of the history books, but this does not happen. All of the actors performances make these historical personages come to life so that we see them as real people. It is a very human story, and touches on love and friendship, devotion and duty, marriages and partnerships but most of all the beauty of true strength of character.

As Bertie and Lionel work together on Bertie’s stammer, there are revelations as to the personalities of each man. There are glimpses into family life and relationships, freedoms and responsibilities, work and play. Most importantly perhaps, we learn things that indicate that being born into Royalty is not necessarily as full of freedom as being born in Australia and it certainly is not a ticket to do whatever one wants.

The detail in representing the time period and the places add believability to the story allowing viewers to enter into that world and focus on Bertie and Lionel. Lionel’s Australian sentiments and sensibilities as well as his personality give him the humor and strength to tackle Bertie’s problem with just the right amount of grace and audacity.

There are delicious scenes of the home lives of each man, of tender times with wife and children. Moments of humor occur with Lionel’s unorthodox methods of speech therapy, somewhat bewildering to Bertie at first, but which lead him to trust Lionel as both a healer and a friend.

One of our favorite scenes is the first meeting of Elizabeth (Helena Bonham Carter) and Mrs. Logue (Jennifer Ehle) as Elizabeth waits for Bertie’s session to be finished. Lionel has not told his wife who his new patient is, and Bertie discovers that Lionel might just be a tiny bit afraid of Mrs. Logue’s displeasure at being so surprised.

Moments in the film are heartbreaking but never seem falsely sentimental or over dramatized. The natural fear of Bertie that his stammer will somehow make his people think less of him as their monarch is realistically presented. What makes it even more wrenching is that he is so noble, honorable and mindful of his duties one wishes that his countrymen could see the real person and not just what they consider a hindrance to his position.

Eventually they do come to realize Bertie’s courage and qualities, but it will take a large amount of work from both Lionel and Bertie to achieve that step.

The King’s Speech Blu Ray is presented on single disc with a feature running time of 119 minutes. There is a commentary with Director Tom Hooper which fills in details and will delight fans of the film with even more information. A Q&A session with the Director and the Cast is entertaining as to behind the scenes development of characters and production elements.

A “Making of The King’s Speech Featurette is very good, however as a long-time fan of Anthony Andrews and David Bamber, I was distressed to see Mr. Andrews name put with a clip of Mr. Bamber’s performance as a rather snooty theater director who turns down Lionel Logue for the part of Richard III.

Mr. Andrews wonderful performance as Stanley Baldwin was a highlight. Actual recordings of King George VI speeches, and a biography of the real Lionel Logue increase the viewer’s knowledge.