I came across this film after seeing it advertised at a film festival. I missed it as it was sold out. I caught up with the film later and found out it had been lost for a while and the director John Walsh was giving the inside story on what happened.As a film maker myself I was fascinated by this story of the making of this low budget costume drama and the story of the film too. Set in a wintry night an injured King Henry VIII comes to what appears to be an abandoned or at least closed up house. What happens next is an indie Agatha Christie style story. The shooting style and performances are somewhat unique to this film and really work in the stormy night context. Stand out performances from TP McKenna ad Henry VIII and Jean Marsh as one or more of his former wives.What film maker John Walsh did with a tony amount of money and little more than a two week shoot is impressive. A costume drama that has something to say about the current state of things.

This is masterful filmmaking by director John Walsh. It's beautifully shot, wonderfully acted and built around a moment of suspense Hitchcock would have been proud of. But Walsh's greatest masterstroke is his choice of subject matter. On the surface, King Henry VIII seems like a gossipy story that has been the most retold one of the 20th Century.But as the drama ­develops, the enormity of the ­situation hits you. The monarch had long ceased to wield political power, there was something very shaky about the monarchy. In this stylish film, King Henry VIII (TP McKenna) is an arrogant and dangerous but also vulnerable and susceptible to the tricks played by his own mind. Thanks in part to the ghost Queens played by Jean Marsh.This is on a very small intimate scale, but the claustrophobic sets, haunting music and refined direction make this one of the most tense costume dramas I have seen.

Some reviews here say if you are not a fan of costume drama this is one for you. I am a fan of costume drama, so I wasn't quite sure what to expect here. I think I have seen all of the various Henry VIII iterations too, "Anne of a Thousand Days", "A Man for All Seasons" etc… What this film does is give us a snap shot of Henry in one stormy night. A high risk strategy in some ways, given the fact the cast is as sparse as the house that they stay in. The real success here is the performance and script. John Walsh's debut feature is a confident piece with plenty to say. In fact he is doing a Wolf Hall here, but more than ten years before Hilary Mantel.TP McKenna is a wonderful Henry as is certainly on par with Richard Burton and Robert Shaw's versions. Here we see a different side to Henry. By the end of this film I was even starting to think that other costume dramas had perhaps got it wrong and simply cut out a monstrous dictator-like figure for dramatic convenience. The film is a big departure to Henry VIII previous cinema outings and with a rather unusual role for Jean Marsh 'appearing' as she does, I was certainly left feeling the film had made an impact in a subtle and haunting way. It may not be everyone's cup of tea, but at least John Walsh has had something to say here and this has not been a costume parade as befalls many BBC period dramas of late.

For all is money and bed room antics, The Tudors is not a patch on low budget feature Monarch. Why? Because I found out more about Henry VIII form this hidden gem of a movie than I did with four series of the soap opera with Jonathan Rhys Meyers. I'm a big fan of The Tudors. It has a Game of Thrones take on history. But as an avid follower of British Monarchy, this film Monarch gives me more food for thought. That said it is everything The Tudors isn't: low budget; all set in one location; during one night; a cast that all seem well passed middle age. Despite that it works well as a companion piece. Big TV mini-series have the scope and budget to make the spectacle as real as possible for the viewer, but for most of the cast there is little progression in their characters from one series to the next. I would say take a look at Monarch and see if you agree with the reviews here that the film is like a little time capsule and has captured a new view of Henry VIII, undeniably the most written, talked and filmed about Monarchs of all time. The late Irish actor TP McKenna plays Henry here and turns in a first rate performance. The film was the brain child of the now well- known social and political film maker, John Walsh. I want to see more dramas from him.