Monarch | |
---|---|
Directed by | John Walsh |
Written by | John Walsh |
Produced by | John Walsh |
Starring | T. P. McKenna Jean Marsh James Coombes Peter Miles Peter Sowerbutts |
Cinematography | Ray Andrew |
Production company | |
Distributed by | FremantleMedia 3DD Productions |
Release date |
|
Running time | 89 minutes |
Country | United Kingdom |
Language | English |
Monarch is a British costume drama involving Henry VIII. It was written and directed by John Walsh and released in 2000 at the Mill Valley Film Festival. It was re-released in 2014 after the film negative, thought lost, was rediscovered.
Monarch is part fact, part fiction and unfolds around one night in the life of a hated king susceptible to assassination, and paranoid with the thought of his own mortality. The film is set in just one night when the injured Henry VIII arrives at a manor house closed for the season. Henry is without the power of his throne. He is vulnerable to those around him and to his own mental issues. He had left England financially and morally bankrupt; his collection of enemies became his only constant. A voiceover at the end claims that when Mary Tudor came to the throne, she had her father's remains exhumed and burned as a heretic. There is no evidence that this is true.[ citation needed ]
In an Irish Post interview, Walsh said “Often you can find out more about someone in a small time frame rather than you can if the two-hour film spans their whole life. Most bio-pics become little more than a montage of facts. If you confine a character to that time frame you can find out more about them.” [1]
It was shot on 35mm Kodak 5287 stock using Arriflex cameras. Principal photography commenced in October 1996 at Charlton House in south London, making it the only film about Henry VIII entirely shot in the borough where he was born: Greenwich. [2] [3] This Jacobean building served as the main location, with filming taking place inside and outside the house. The gardens were the backdrop for the opening title sequence. The Grand Salon and the Long Gallery featured heavily for the film's dramatic scenes with Henry VIII. The house's clock tower was also utilised as the hiding place for Will, the ground-keeper's son, who hid from men who break into the house. Although set at night much of the filming took place during the day; black drapes were hung outside of the building to create a night effect.
In an interview with newspaper The Greenwich Visitor (page 5), Walsh discussed how he wanted his depiction of Henry VIII to be more grounded and less like those portrayals from Hollywood. He also discussed the difficulty of filming on a location and how the film benefited from using 35mm Kodak film stock. [4]
In 2014 a remastered version of Monarch was released following discovery of the original film negative, previously thought lost. [5] [2] The remastered version premiered on 14 September 2014 at London's Tricycle Theatre. [6] [1] Walsh discussed the issues around finding the lost negatives for Monarch and other lost projects with BBC Radio 2's Janice Long. [7]
Restoration was completed at Premier. [8] The film scanning and restoration team worked closely with director John Walsh, re-mastering from the original 35mm colour camera negative after it was discovered in a vault almost 20 years after it was originally filmed. In an interview about the project for the BBC, John Walsh explained:
Every frame of film was scanned in high definition at Premier and had more than 10,000 particles removed by hand by the restoration team. A new sound mix was also created from the original elements in Premier's in-house audio department. In an article with The Weekender in November 2017 John discussed the importance restoration and preservation of older films to future-protect film such as Monarch:
The film received strong reviews on its re-release in 2014 which were in contrast with a poor review in 2000. In 2000 Dennis Harvey wrote in Variety that "Monarch plays out an OK premise to results at once turgid and ridiculous." and describes McKenna's performance as "hammy". [9] In 2014 the Radio Times film critic Jeremy Aspinall called it "a fascinating, haunting little gem, with a richly nuanced performance from McKenna". [10] The film's realistic approach was noted by the BBFC who certified it a 15 on the basis that it "contains strong bloody violence". [11]
Monarch was released for the first time on DVD on 7 April 2014 by FremantleMedia. It included extras on the making of the film and the restoration process. A high-definition version is also available to view on iTunes. [12]
DVD Compare said "The film features an extraordinary British cast, is well written, and is perfectly paced." [13] The Movie Waffler gave the film four stars for the main feature and four stars for the DVD extras, saying “McKenna is the beating heart of Monarch, part wounded bear, part Augustus Gloop petulance.” It adds “This menacingly pessimistic view of British history and government is an immensely entertaining gothic melodrama, the creepy details that Walsh weaves into the film.” [14]
Jane Seymour was Queen of England as the third wife of King Henry VIII from their marriage on 30 May 1536 until her death the next year. She became queen following the execution of Henry's second wife, Anne Boleyn, who was accused by King Henry VIII of adultery after failing to produce the male heir he so desperately desired. Jane, however, died of postnatal complications less than two weeks after the birth of her only child, the future King Edward VI. She was the only wife of Henry to receive a queen's funeral; and he was later buried alongside her remains in St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle.
Greenwich is an area in south-east London, England, within the ceremonial county of Greater London. It is situated 5.5 miles (8.9 km) east-south-east of Charing Cross.
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Charlton is an area of southeast London, England, in the Royal Borough of Greenwich. It is east of Greenwich and west of Woolwich, on the south bank of the River Thames, 7.2 miles (11.6 km) southeast of Charing Cross. An ancient parish in the county of Kent, it became part of the metropolitan area of London in 1855 and is home to Charlton Athletic F.C. and Charlton House.
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"In every film reference book published over the past four decades, the Danish-American monster-movie Reptilicus is listed as one film, and one film only. However, in spite of sharing an identical plot, identical sets and locations, a nearly identical cast and crew, as well as overlapping use of some shots, Reptilicus is in fact two distinct films, shot in separate languages by two directors, very much in the manner of the American/Spanish versions of Universal's 1931 Dracula."
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Donna Marie Theresa Air is an English actress, producer and philanthropist.
Digital cinematography is the process of capturing (recording) a motion picture using digital image sensors rather than through film stock. As digital technology has improved in recent years, this practice has become dominant. Since the 2000s, most movies across the world have been captured as well as distributed digitally.
Cray Valley Paper Mills Football Club is a football club currently based in Eltham, in the Royal Borough of Greenwich, England. They are currently members of the Isthmian League Premier Division and play at the Badgers Sports Ground.
Charlton House is a Jacobean building in Charlton, within the Royal Borough of Greenwich in south-east London. Originally it was a residence for a nobleman associated with the Stuart royal family. It later served as a wartime hospital, then a museum and library, and is now run by Royal Greenwich Heritage Trust.
Harold Baim (1914–1996) was a British film producer, director and writer. He was born in Leeds in 1914; he died in Reading, Berkshire in 1996.
Henry VIII and his reign have frequently been depicted in art, film, literature, music, opera, plays, and television.
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John Walsh is an English filmmaker and author. He is the founder of the film company Walsh Bros. Ltd. His film work on subjects such as social mobility and social justice has received two BAFTA nominations.
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