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The Madness of King George Customer Reviews (1 - 3 of 15 Reviews)

The delirious and dying fall!
The painful illness of his Majesty Georges III and the voracious power 's appetite backstage support this refined and sumptuous production. Helen Mirren particularly shines with her sophisticated presence as the queen. The rest of the cast is splendid and so the smart dialogues, burdened with black humor and the magisterial direction of Nycholas Hytner conform with Vatel the best pictures about Royalty decay in the nineties.

An impeccable exercise of superb good taste and the historical repercussions on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean.



The king is tortured by bumbling doctors? and its fun!!!
I saw this movie on a business trip in London when it first showed in the theaters and again recently on DVD. I enjoyed it very much both times and I recommend this DVD.

While I read a great deal of history, I don't read enough on this period to comment on the accuracy, but this book certainly FELT accurate. The costumes, scenery, bumbling doctors, scheming politicians and scrambling servants set a historical mood that's half the fun in this very enjoyable movie.

Of course, the screenplay is written for a modern audience, so we would, naturally, see irony in the bumbling doctors. Particularly ironic is one doctor's protestation that a doctor's work is of careful observation and should not be swayed by the color of the King's urine.

The scenes of Prime Minister Pitt in Parliament defending his king certainly reminded me of watching Tony Blair in action on CSPAN. I was also left with the impression that it's a lot more fun to be in British Parliament than in U.S. Congress.

One may expect to dislike the King, but in the end, one can't help but feel great sympathy for the man and not just because of the maltreatment he receives from his doctor's.

Overall, the movie was as enjoyable as I remembered it. Unfortunately, other than the trailer, the DVD did not give us any extras to enjoy.

Good Old Farmer George
One star has to be docked for Rupert Everett as the Prince of Wales: he simply isn't fat enough. Couldn't they find someone fatter? If he wasn't so fat in 1788, why does his father keep calling him fat? Hawthorne is wonderful, and Helen Mirren, on the evidence of recent films I've seen her in, is surely the greatest actress now living. I saw this play on the stage in London, with Hawthorne as George III, and the film leaves me a little uneasy. It seems to have been heavily tweaked for the American market, which is a form of cowardly pandering. However, what I suspect is a pretty accurate historical portrait of the king still holds up. George was a fundamentally sound, solid, down-to-earth, well-loved character. But can any king remain totally sane, regardless of whatever lurking physical ailment he may have? What about Presidents? Or film directors? Compare the sanity and wit of this film with Mad Mel's demented, fanatical and screamingly dishonest picture of "The Patriot", so-called. Instead, Bennett's script takes an ultra-cynical view of politics and royalty in general: the sense of unease grows when considering the caricaturish stereotyping of almost everyone else in the film. Ian Holm is rather a strange actor: he is always mesmerizing to watch, but also always turns in a somewhat similar performance. Were the contemporary allusions really necessary? Is Bennett a closet Republican? He's a sly little chappie, that Alan Bennett. Clever, though.

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