King George VI and Queen Elizabeth (nee Bowes Lyon)

[grandduchessella]

They have a book out based on the movie--or did the book precede it? Either way, it has a cover with Colin Firth & Geoffrey Rush on it. I saw it in Barnes & Noble but couldn't find a listing on Amazon.

[Eric_Lowe]

I might get it for Christmas. 

[Princess of Cupertino]

I just saw "the King's speech". Utterly brilliant movie. Colin Firth looks nothing like King George VI yet completely convincing.

I do think Jennifer Ehle would have been a better Queen Mother than Helena Boem Carter. I guess they didn't want a P&P flash back.

[grandduchessella]

I found it on Amazon after all--I just can't type right, I guess.

The King's Speech: How One Man Saved the British Monarchy by Mark Logue and Peter Conradi

It is a movie tie-in, not a previously published book:

"The "quack" who saved a king... Featuring a star-studded cast of Academy Award® winners and nominees, The King's Speech won the 2010 Toronto International Film Festival People's Choice Award and is generating plenty of Oscar buzz. This official film tie-in is written by London Sunday Times journalist Peter Conradi and Mark Logue--grandson of Lionel Logue, one of the movie's central characters. It's the eve of World War II, and King Edward VIII has abdicated the throne of England to marry the woman he loves. Never has the nation needed a leader more. But the new monarch, George VI--father of today's Queen Elizabeth II--is painfully shy and cursed with a terrible stammer. How can he inspire confidence in his countrymen when he cannot even speak to them? Help arrives in speech therapist Logue, who not only is a commoner, but Australian to boot. Will he be able to give King George his voice? The King's Speech tells an inspiring tale of triumph over adversity and the unlikely friendship between a reluctant king and the charismatic subject who saved the throne. "

[Eric_Lowe]

Got it !!! Reading it already. Not a long book though...

[grandduchessella]

Movie tie-ins usually aren't. Glad you're enjoying it though. 

[Eric_Lowe]

I think they have enough letters for a longer book and nice sidelights on Queen Elizabeth (Queen Mum) & Queen Mary (whom both Logue & Bertie found "wonderful !").

[HerrKaiser]

The new film about George VI and his speech therapist is quite good. Colin Firth once again deliveres an A+ performance as does Geoffrey Rush. Well worth seeing.

The only aspects I felt could have been better were in casting the secondary characters. George's wife was more attractive in the film than in reality and for those of us who had followed her, it seemed a disconnect. In the opposite direction, Wallis was cast poorly, looking hard and cheap with a very ungraceful manner.

[Eddie_uk]

Wallis was cast poorly, looking hard and cheap with a very ungraceful manner.

I would have though that was fairly accurate! She tended to look very hard in photos but as one author pointed out being photographed with animals seemed to make her look softer.
And the Queen Mother was lovely looking at that time, she had a very happy disposition, not hard & cold like some I can think of!

Anyway I really must get round to watching it.

[HerrKaiser]

Wallis was cast poorly, looking hard and cheap with a very ungraceful manner.

I would have though that was fairly accurate!

Not really. Wallis was a gracious and engaging woman and hostess. She had a supreme aire of confidence and ease that was not hard or offensive or cheap, which was how her character was portrayed. But Hollywood has a greater desire to please the living Windsors and their fans than a dead woman whose marketing potential is limited.

[Eddie_uk]

Erm....ok......right....

[Kalafrana]

Herr Kaiser

I would have thought that Hollywood, as distinct from some British film makers, would seek to portray Mrs Simpson as a tragic and misunderstood figure, and therefore in a sympathetic fashion.

Where is your evidence that she was 'a gracious and engaging woman'?

Ann

[HerrKaiser]

There is a ton of literature (and a thread here on the forum) about Wallis, and her social skills/habits are well docuemented as being engaging and gracious. She was definitely not the loud-mouthed drunk as portrayed in the film.

Also, I don't see any reason why hollywood would seek to portray her as tragic, misunderstood, and sympathetic. The film was not about her and the characterization of her in the film elevated the sympathetic view of the film's hero and heroine--Bertie and Elizabeth. Not devastatingly so, but enough to misrepresent Wallis in a way I found unfair and unbecoming of honest film making. That said, it was not a major distraction from the core story; just an annoyance for those of us who don't like seeing her frequently thrown under the bus.

[Kalafrana]

I haven't seen the film will not comment on the specific portrayal. Mrs Simpson was clearly someone who cast a spell over some men. She may have been charming but she was definitely a wrong 'un.

Ann

[HerrKaiser]

I haven't seen the film will not comment on the specific portrayal. Mrs Simpson was clearly someone who cast a spell over some men. She may have been charming but she was definitely a wrong 'un.

Ann

Understand. But I must say that just by virtue of referring to her as "Mrs. Simpson", which many do in spite of the fact she hasn't been such in 75 years, one can see how the negative bias against her has perpetuated.