Monarch (film)

Monarch is a British costume drama involving Henry VIII witten and directed by John Walsh. It was released in 2000 at the Mill Valley Film Festival. It was re-released in 2014 after the film negative was recovered after it was thought to have been lost.[1]

Monarch

Original British Cinema Poster
Directed by John Walsh
Produced by John Walsh
Written by John Walsh
Starring T. P. McKenna
Jean Marsh
James Coombes
Peter Miles
Cinematography Ray Andrew
Production
company
Distributed by FremantleMedia 3DD Productions
Running time
 89 minutes
Country United Kingdom
Language English

Plot

Monarch unfolds around 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. The film is set in just one night. In an interview John 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.”[2]

Cast

T. P. McKenna plays Henry VIII, while Jean Marsh plays an amalgamation of his ex-wives. Monarch unfolds one night in the year of Henry's death, 1547.

Re-release

In 2014 a remastered version of Monarch was released.[3] The original negative for the film had been lost and was the subject of various newspaper reports.[4] This subsequently led to cinema showings starting at the Tricycle Theatre in London.[5][6] He discussed the issues around finding the lost negatives for Monarch and other lost projects with BBC Radio 2 Janice Long.[7]

Restoration

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 recently discovered in a vault almost 20 years after it was originally filmed. In an interview about the project for the BBC,[9] John Walsh explained: "When we located the project we found more than we bargained for with over 52 cans of various footage from film trims, cutting copies and work prints. We didn't know if the original camera negative would be amongst all of this haul. After a close examination we were delighted to find all of the original camera negative was there and in good shape for its age." 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.

Acceptance

The film received strong reviews on its re-release in 2014 more so than on its initial one in 2000. In 2014 the BBC 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] DVD Compared said "The film features an extraordinary British cast, is well written, and is perfectly paced.".[12] The film received positive reviews, with a score of 8.1 on IMDb.

Home media

Monarch was issued for the first time on DVD 7 April 2014 by FremantleMedia. It included extras on the making of the film and the restoration process.

References

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