Premiere Of "A King's Story"

Press, Volume CVII, Issue 31380, 27 May 1967, Page 20

Premiere Of " A King's Story"

(N.Z.P.A.-Reuter—CopurigM) NEW YORK, May 25. An applauding crowd of about 200 people broke through police barriers in New York last night to welcome the Duke and Duchess of Windsor to the American premiere of the film “A King’s Story.” The Duke and Duchess smiled and waved as they arrived to see the documentary on the Duke’s abdication of the throne. Before taking their seats the couple were asked by television reporters whether they found the experience of reliving the past, for the film, difficult. The Duchess agreed it was

difficult but the Duke replied: “It was very enjoyable and very interesting to do. I enjoyed it very much.” The picture, based on the Duke’s 1951 memoirs, covers his life from childhood through to the crisis which led to his abdication on December 10, 1936, to marry Mrs Wallis Simpson after 11 months on the Throne. It consists of newsreel and private film supplemented by modern colour film and shots of the Duke and Duchess speaking from their French villa. The film closes with the Duke rereading his abdication statement The “New York Times” film critic, Vincent Canby, wrote that the picture "seems at times to be working at cross purposes with itself.” “It is loaded with nostalgia for an institution that no long-

er seems exactly sacrosanct, and occasionally dramatises—sometimes in the Duke’s own words—the incredible vacuity of the lives of Royal personages." Canby added: “The Duke incidentally performs like an old pro, especially in the moving reading of his abdication speech, which is the climax of the picture,”

He said the camera was "not too kind" to the Duchess.

The film successfully recalled an t!ra and put into context a crisis “that once seemed as momentous, and now is just a footnote to history.” The “Daily News” said the film was “well worth seeing and no doubt will revive memories.” It said the romantic story was handled with restraint, “underplaying the fact that it is, after all, the story of the Royal rebel of his day . ..”