The King’s Speech and 1930s London

Costumes from The King’s Speech

I’m one of those people who invariably finds that the book version of a story better than the screenplay version (notable exceptions being the BBC’s Pride & Prejudice, and Peter Jackson’s The Fellowship of the Ring), so it is with some surprise that I write the following.

While writing scenes that are set in 1930s London, where Portia exists, I find it helpful to watch movies set in that time period, to get ‘into the mood’ if you know what I mean. One of those movies is The King’s Speech which I bought on DVD for specifically this purpose.

Not only are the costumes great fodder for the ‘ole imagination, but as The Guardian astutely points out, the sets really transport you to depression-era England. Also, I love that Lancaster House (the setting for Case Book 5: Box 850) is used as Buckingham Palace in the movie. I picked Lancaster House as a setting for probably the same reasons – that the castle is as impressive as the Royal home – as described in an earlier post called Scouting Locations.

What imagination-boosting tricks do you use to write? Movies? Music? Travel?

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