“The King’s Speech” is a terrific new movie about… well let me dumb it down.
1. King George V croaks
2. Replaced by his son King Edward who abdicates to marry Mrs. Simpson
3. Edwards brother George VI takes over but he has a bad stutter.
That’s in 36 and by 39 a bad stutter is a bit of a problem in the age of the radio broadcast.
So a speech therapist is hired.
And that’s it. But it is really good. Colin Firth is excellent as the King, Geoffrey Rush is excellent as the speech therapist and the usual suspects on leave from Harry Potter are excellent especially the bloke who plays Ron’s rat in Potter as Churchill.
Musically. Slim pickings, though the background stirs in a quasi classical piano sorta way when it should and in two scenes, 30s swing is heard.
1. George VI listening to a recording as he lies on his coach.
2. At a party King Edward has at Balmoral Castle where the music sounds like it wandered in from the Dennis Potter Pennies From Heaven mini series. You can get the soundtrack for real cheap, or at least I did back in the 90s, 80 songs from the 30s for $19.99. It is a fast education on Brit and Yank pop -all jazzy swing, pop ballads and novelty songs.