Colin Firth Crowned King at the Oscars (and The King's Speech wins Best Picture Award!)

Well, who would believe it!

That low budget film that I blogged about looking forward to watching here before Christmas has only gone and won the Best Film Oscar in Hollywood!

Best Actor Colin Firth and Best Director Tom Hooper

In in spirited contest with its supposed main rival 'The Social Network', 'The King's Speech' won the big 4 Oscars ovenight. It won for Best Orginial Screenplay, Hooper won the coveted Best Director Award whilst Colin Firth as was widely expected walked off with the award for Best Actor. To crown a fantastic evening, it then won the biggest accoloade going - that for Best Picture which now puts him it alongside Schindler's List, Gandhi, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, The Godfather, The Sound of Music, Lawrence of Arabia, West Side Story, Ben-Hur, Casablanca and Gone with the Wind in the pantheon of Hollywood film greats.

It is a quite phenomenal achievement and the British sweep of the main awards on the evening was maintained by Christian Bale's victory in the Best Supporting Actor category in the film 'The Fighter'. Whilst 'The Social Network' only won 2 Oscars in the end, 'Inception' did match 'The King's Speech's haul of 4 statuettes but there's no question which film has taken the main plaudits.

I followed up my original blog post about my interest in the film from a historical perspective with additional posts here and here having watched the film and followed its success over recent weeks and I'm absolutely delighted to add to it with this final piece.

Well done to King Colin! A Royal Performance and Richly Rewarded for it!

BAFTAs Fit For A King - Next Stop Hollywood

Well, the plaudits keep coming.

King Colin

'The King's Speech' has followed up its Golden Globes success by winning 7 BAFTAs - the British Oscars.

The British film phenomenon swept the board by winning the Best Film and Best Picture awards as well as those for Best Actor for Colin Firth, Best Supporting Actor for Geoffrey Rush and Best Supporting Actress for Helena Bonham Carter.

It also won awards for Original Screenplay by David Seidler, Outstanding British Film and Best Score by French film composer Alexandre Desplat.

Next up is the main event, the Academy Awards on Sunday February 27th - in just 2 weeks time.

Queen Helena

Can Coilin Firth follow Helen Mirren by winning another Royal Oscar? Can The King's Speech go one better than 'The Queen' by walking away with the best picture award?

I mentioned here in my blog back in December of my excitement at what looked to be a great film. Never did I realise at the time just how well it would do, as I later blogged here and here.

Time will tell but in the meantine, this fantastic film is sweeping all before it.

Long Live The King!

The King's Speech Sweeps the Oscars (Nominations)

The nominations for the 83rd Academy Award were announced earlier and Britain leads the way.

The King's Speech has 12 nominations, including those for Best Picture and for Colin Firth as Best Actor. Helena Bonham Carter and Geoffrey Rush are also up in their Best Supporting Roles. I've seen the film and blogged a raving review here.

The 12 nominations earned are only 2 short of the all-time record of 14 held by All About Eve in 1950 and Titanic in 1997. 

The Western re-make True Grit is up for 10 Oscars, whilst The Social Network and Inception are up for 8 each.

Colin Firth will be favourite to win the Best Actor Award having won the Golden Globe last week though the competition for the Best Picture is fierce.

A Nod for Toy Story 3
I also noticed with great satisfaction that Toy Story 3 is also in the running for Best Picture. Never in the 83 year history of the Academy Awards has an animated film won the top prize but this is nevertheless only the 3rd time that one has even been nominated for it - the others were Beauty and the Beast (1991) and Up (2009).

I don't expect it to make history this year but it really is a technical masterpiece and it deserves to be comsidered with its real-life alternatives.

God Speed
But good luck to Colin Firth and co. Come February 27th, we'll hopefully have another Royal Oscar triumph to celebrate - following that of Helen Mirren as The Queen back in 2006.

'The King's Speech' - The Book Vs The Film (SPOILER WARNING!)

Well, I finally saw this film that I've been eagerly anticipating to watch since I read about it as blogged here.

The reviews from those who had seen it have all been fantastic so I knew I was letting myself in for a real treat.

So much so, that I couldn't resist buying 'The King's Speech' book when I happened to fall upon it in Aberystwyth's Waterstones last Thursday. It was written by Lionel Logue's grandson and gave an account of his life, including of course his time as Bertie's speech therapist. It was full of original source material from Lionel's extensive archive and so gave a fascinating insight into what was a truly unique relationship.

I only had 2 days to read the book before watching the film last night but it was worth it to give myself, as an historian, an accurate historical background to the blockbuster that I was about to watch.

The Film Vs The Book
The film didn't let me down and Colin Firth's performance in particular was superb. He is rightly being touted for a Best Actor Oscar for his performance and I hope he gets it.

The casting all round was excellent with Helena Bonham Carter playing a very convincing Queen Elizabeth. Michael Gambon looked and acted every inch the patriarchal George V whilst Guy Pearce at times looked so strikingly like his alter ego King Edward VIII that it was almost spooky. I've always liked Timothy Spall and he gave a Churchillian performance as the soon-to-be Prime Minister.

Ramona Marquez (better known from the BBC1 hit programme, Outnumbered), and Freya Wilson were adorable as the Princesses Margaret and Elizabeth whilst Derek Jacobi played a convincing Archbishop Cosmo Lang.

Fact or Fiction?
There were some historical anomalies in the film such is the way of film-making. Particularly was the fact that Bertie and Logue only met in 1934 in the film whereas they actually met back in the mid '20s after his shambolic performance at Wembley. It's also greatly unlikely that they had the 'spat' that was played out in the film during the abdication crisis. By the book's accounts, by 1936, they were already very close having had a 10 year association by that time. But by tightening the chronology, the film makers added extra drama and suspense to the plot as is their wont.

There were other minor historical issues such as Churchill's apparent criticism of Edward VIII at the climax to the abdication crisis when in fact he was one of his greatest supporters.

But there were some lovely true to form references such as George V's statement that David would ruin himself within a year and also the fact that Bertie delivered his speeches standing up instead of sitting down because that made him feel more comfortale. Also having done so the fact that he then went to have an obligatory photo of him sitting at his table to make it look as if he gave his speeches from his desk like his father did when in fact he didn't. By his side throughout as was the case in real life as illustrated in the book, was Logue (who would remain lifelong friends with Bertie until they died in 1953 and 1952 respectively).

The moments between Bertie and his children were particularly tender and lent themselves to the descriptions that were in the book of a loving father and a close family unit.

It would have been nice to have seen the film move on throughout the war years to 1945 and not just conclude in 1939 but then that's just me.

A Superb Muscial Score

So taking the pickyness out of it, the film itself is without a doubt a run-away success. What topped it off for me was the music score. That and the choice of classical music during the film was great. The choice of Mozart's Eine Kleine Nachtmusik during Bertie's first session with Logue was an excellent choice. But the film came to a wonderful conclusion for me with Bertie's war-time speech in September 1939 with the haunting sound of the 2nd movement to Beethoven's 7th Symphony in the background. It has always been one of my favourite pieces of classical music and it was ideal for the moment. Bravo!

So go and see the film for a cinematic feast and read the book as well for the full historical context to what really was a fascinating relationship that changed one family's life and in doing so, played a significant contribution to the future of our country.

PS - For an Oscars update, please read by blog posts from January 25th here and February 28th here.

The King's Speech

I like a good film and I enjoy the whole cinematic experience - I have ever since I was a child.

Having said that, I don't go to the cinema half as much as I should. Mostly that's down to a lack of time as my work commitments take over but also because I often find there's little on that I want to watch.

I've always liked 'real-life' stories - particulary if they are actually based in reality. There are rarely that many about so I'm not often found chomping at the bit waiting to go to the cinema with excitement.

King George VI
Well, for once, I am. January 7th is the day when British cinemas shall be shown the dramatisation of a true and incredible story - that of King George VI and his battle to overcome a debilitating stammer.

'Bertie', as he was known to his family, was in this historian's opinion one of the most under-rated monarchs of modern British times. He only reigned for 15 years but in that time he led, alongside Churchill, his country through the ravages of war. He did so despite his condition and despite the fact that he had never expected to carry the mantle of Kingship. As Duke of York, he should never have had to have dealt with the pressure of being King but his brother's abdication (my father incidently was born during King Edward VIII's short reign of Jan-Dec 1936) to marry the divorced American love of his life shook the monarchy to its foundation and put on the throne a man who detested public speaking.

This film looks to explore and delve into these issues and it should be an absolute treat.

I found The Queen, starring Oscar Winning Helen Mirren to be absolutely absorbing and I have no doubt that her father's story will be the same. It is already being critically acclaimed and has been nominated for 7 Golden Globes. Colin Firth's acting in the lead role has been widely approved and with the likes of Helena Bonham Carter, Derek Jacobi and Timothy Spall in the line-up also, the production just oozes confidence and class.

Here is a snippet...



It seems to show signs of being another 'The Madness of King George' which excelled under the wonderful leadership of Nigel Hawthorne.

I can't wait!