Prince Regent

The YouTube algorithm delivered this series to me last week. While the reign of George IV may not be remembered as one of the high points in the history of British monarchy, this vain, gluttonous, intelligent man lived at a consequential time. Just take a look at his contemporaries - Byron, Keats, Shelley, Jenner, Faraday, George Sand, Turner, Napoleon - the list is much longer.

Virtue has its good points, but its presentation on screen can be a bit boring. Nothing boring here about the behavior of our Prince Regent. Even if the passage of time has softened attitudes toward his many vices, those vices still make for an involving several nights in front of the tv screen.

The episode scripts are strong. Actors Peter Egan, Nigel Davenport, Frances White - they portray quite a family. By itself Susannah York's performance as Maria Fitzherbert makes the series worth watching. Although the video is nearly a half century old and consequently a little blurry, "Prince Regent" has held up well.

The creators of this series were obviously not the first to spot the dramatic possibilities for George IV. Interestingly, the series does not mention the king's odd friendship with George Bryan "Beau" Brummell. This aspect of the story is presented in several films, among them a personal favorite, MGM's "Beau Brummell" (1954) with Peter Ustinov as George and Stewart Granger as the legendary clothes horse of the Regency era.

Although it has all the limitations of its age, being made in the late seventies, this is a good series. Peter Egan conveys all the charm mixed with over-weening vanity and egotism of the central role, and there is good support especially from Nigel Davenport as a tortured but noble George III and Dinah Stabb as the wild Princess Caroline. Although most settings are indoors with very little external filming, it is fairly appropriate for the story of this lover of art and buildings. With eight episodes there is room for decent treatment of key episodes - although there is relatively little on the period after George became a (very undistinguished) king.

I always thought that it was a travesty that Nigel Hawthorne's The Madness of King George lost the Academy Award to Tom Hanks's Forrest Gump in 1994, but now I know the real travesty: Nigel Davenport wasn't honored with any accolade or nomination for 1979's Prince Regent. Davenport was asked to do far more and he did it far better, for a longer duration, and fifteen years earlier. He endured leeches on his face, wept and screamed in agony when doctors tried to cure him, and climbed into a piano before wetting himself. The second Nigel should have smelled the coffee and realized he didn't stand a chance.

As the title character, Peter Egan was so believable, I felt someone had gone back in time and filmed the real prince. He was regal, privileged, and clearly had grown up inside a little bubble. Self indulgent, self centered, and yet he had deep feelings and managed to still be likable. In one scene, he collapses in tears, and we see that he's a man in grief, not just a prince.

Masterfully written, impeccably acted, and with some of the greatest makeup effects of the decade, Prince Regent is not to be missed. It has a bit of a slow start in the first half hour, but the rest of the eight hours make up for it. Even though we all generally know what happens (poor Nigel is indeed mad and does not reign forever) the plot moves swiftly and holds our interest. It has raised the bar of historical pieces so high, the next one I watch will undoubtedly find itself under censure.

DLM Warning: If you suffer from vertigo or dizzy spells, like my mom does, this movie might not be your friend. At the very end of the first episode, the carriage takes a tumble and the camera tilts for a few seconds, and that will make you sick. In other words, "Don't Look, Mom!"