Plot: What’s it about?
The pressure of being in power can be immense and for King George III (Nigel Hawthorne), that pressure is even greater than most. He hasn’t had the best of luck in recent times, but his control is as stable as ever, although the same cannot be said of the man himself. It seems that his mind is taking some unexpected turns, headed straight down the path to madness. Out of the blue, he has started to hallucinate, become quite volatile, and even gets a little frisky with the ladies, very unusual behavior for him, to say the least. Those around him believe he has gone mad and seek to take away his throne, but his wife Charlotte (Helen Mirren) is convinced he can be cured. So while her son, The Prince of Wales (Rupert Everett) schemes to overtake power, Charlotte calls in a specialist to bring back her husband’s sanity, in the form of Dr. Willis (Ian Holm). But can Dr. Willis restore King George III to an acceptable mental state soon, or will his throne be seized before that happen and in any case, what will become of George?
It seems like period pieces have been stereotyped to no end, as stuffy, slow paced behemoths, which I admit, it often the case. But even so, some are quite enjoyable and every so often, an exception to the normal standards comes along, such as The Madness of King George. This movie has all the usual elements of period pieces, such as lush visuals, superb locations, and top notch production design, but it moves at a brisk pace and offers a lot of humor, very cool indeed, if you ask me. The whole affair is very well written and looks awesome, but the real driving force is the cast, especially Nigel Hawthorne. The film never fails to entertain and when coupled with the excellence of the production, this is a most impressive film indeed. I am let down that MGM didn’t put more effort into this disc however, as a cleaner transfer and perhaps a production featurette would have been most welcome indeed. But the movie is good enough to overcome the mediocre presentation and as such, it is still more than recommended.
The man who really carries this film is Nigel Hawthorne, who turns in one of the finest performances of the 1990s, as King George III. Hawthorne had done more than his share of dramatic work prior to this film and been quite acclaimed, but he also had shown his comedic side and of course, he blended the two to perfection in this picture. I am never let down by Hawthorne’s tour de force presence in this movie and while I am unsure if it ranks as his best effort, it is up there with the best of them, to be sure. You can also see Hawthorne in such films as Demolition Man, Gandhi, Memoirs of a Survivor, Amistad, The Winslow Boy, Firefox, and The Big Brass Ring. The cast also includes Helen Mirren (Caligula, Teaching Mrs. Tingle), Rupert Graves (A Room with a View, The Soldier’s Leap), Amanda Donohoe (I’m Losing You, Liar Liar), Ian Holm (The Fifth Element, The Sweet Hereafter), and Rupert Everett (An Ideal Husband, B. Monkey).
Video: How does it look?
The Madness of King George is presented in a 1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen transfer. This might not be the sharp, pristine visual treatment we had hoped for, but the included presentation good and never dips too low on the scale. The film uses a rather soft visual approach and in truth, I think this transfer might have taken it a little too far, if the previous editions were any indication of the intended look. Even so, the colors look bold and stand out, flesh tones seem natural throughout, and I saw no issues with contrast levels either. I did see more grain, debris, and nicks than I had expected, which caused me to lower the score a shade.
Audio: How does it sound?
This movie uses little in terms of dynamic sound and as such, the included 2.0 surround is more adequate. I wasn’t expecting much surround presence and I didn’t get much, although the musical score has been well mixed and is quite immersive here. Not much to discuss in terms of sound effects, but they sound as good as you could want, which is what counts in the end. The main force here is the dialogue, which comes across in crisp form and never suffers due to volume errors or the like. This disc also includes subtitles in Spanish and French, should you need them.
Supplements: What are the extras?
This disc includes the film’s theatrical trailer.
