Colin Firth stammers to a certain Oscar nomination in this tale of the triumph of George VI
By Anthony Stoeckert
WALKING out of The King’s Speech, I couldn’t help but think that the story of Edward VIII could make for a great movie.
Here’s a guy who eschewed the formality of the royal family, was a womanizer and eventually abdicated the throne in order to marry a twice-divorced American. He was also a likely fascist sympathizer who would have buddied up with Hitler to avoid another world war. According to Wikipedia, some historians have even theorized that Hitler planned to reinstate him as king in the hope of creating a fascist England.
What a story, and yet the makers of The King’s Speech are focused on Edward’s brother, George VI, using his stammer to turn a good royal into a Rocky-like figure.
It’s not easy to make an underdog out of a king, but Colin Firth does it as George VI in a role that couldn’t be more obvious Oscar bait if it were dangling from a hook. When we first see him, he’s still the Duke of York and unable to utter a word during the Empire Exhibition at Wembley Stadium. His silence is returned by uncomfortable, even angry, stares from his subjects.
And just the luck, radio, that modern marvel of old, means royal types have to address the people more often. So the Duke goes to great lengths to cure his stammer, including smoking (doctors tell him it clears the lungs) and shoving marbles into his mouth. Nothing works until his dutiful wife Elizabeth (Helena Bonham Carter) takes desperate measures by meeting with a speech therapist named Lionel Logue (Geoffrey Rush).
Why is this desperate? Because it involves Elizabeth closing an elevator door herself to meet Logue in his shoddy offices, with their stripped walls and dirty sofa. And, most shocking of all, Logue is Australian!
There’s something intrinsically entertaining about a student learning from a teacher, at least in the movies. That’s especially true here, when a commoner like Logue insists on calling the Duke by his family nickname because the Duke’s stutter can’t be cured unless they’re equals. During their first session, Logue makes the Duke wear headphones playing loud music and records him reading from Hamlet. Of course, the Duke thinks the exercise is silly and quits. But he and his wife later listen to the record on which he recites the “to be or not to be” soliloquy perfectly.
At this point I couldn’t help but wonder why the Duke just doesn’t go along with whatever Logue tells him. His stutter has tortured him his whole life and after one session, he’s reciting Shakespeare for crying out loud. But he stubbornly continues to refuse to discuss his personal life and his childhood, where Logue believes the root of his problem lies.
The King’s Speech is a good movie, but one that is over-praised because it’s oh so proper and has respected actors speaking with English accents. David Seidler’s screenplay is by the numbers. Firth starts off as the Duke of the York, avoiding public speaking as much as he can, and carrying on as the good son of the beloved George V. The Duke’s brother, David, is heir to the throne, but he doesn’t take the royal life seriously. And he’s in love with Wallis Simpson (Eve Best), an American unfamiliar with royal protocol.
As David searches for the right bottle of wine, the good brother begs him to understand the gravity of his situation; their father is ill and war is on the horizon. Desperate to protect the royal line, he suggests David and Wallis keep their fling a secret and never marry.
Eventually love conquers, and the Duke becomes an unexpected king, George VI. But there is that stuttering problem and if he doesn’t give strong speeches, England could be perceived as weak just as Hitler is coming to power.
It’s predictable, but entertaining. Firth maintains his stiff upper lip, but clearly struggles physically and emotionally with his speech impediment. Combine that with a British accent and his loss last year for A Single Man and you’ve got your Oscar frontrunner.
As properly stiff as Firth is, Rush is a ball of refined enthusiasm. He’s a family man who dreams of becoming a Shakespearean actor. When he auditions for a community production of Richard III, he knows all the lines and recites them cleanly, but the passion isn’t there.
There’s plenty of snappy give-and-take between his highness and his lowness. When Logue tells the Duke not to light a cigarette, the Duke tells him his doctors suggest he smoke. “They’re idiots,” Logue says. “They’ve all knighted,” the Duke says in defense, to which Logue replies, “Well that makes it official.”
The King’s Speech has a compelling story but it slows down in the third act when one more bit of drama is forced in. It involves a falling out between student and pupil and a ho-hum revelation about Logue.
Then it’s on to the big fight, I mean the scene where George VI gives his vital first radio speech as king. He won’t be the heavyweight champion, but with God on his side, or at least his speech therapist, he’ll help England win World War II. It’s just that simple.
Rated R for some language. 118 minutes.

