Henry V (1944) (original) (raw)
The Chronicle History of King Henry the Fifth with His Battell Fought at Agincourt in France
Directed by Laurence Olivier
Synopsis
In 1415, in the midst of the Hundred Years' War, the young King Henry V of England embarks on the conquest of France.
Cast
Popular reviews
**Part of the Best Picture Project**
Whether it was done on purpose or not, it is quite fascinating how Lawrence Olivier managed to turn a Shakespeare play not only into a piece of propaganda, but a commentary on the difference between theater and cinema.
The film begins as a play, as we watch a performance of Henry V at the Globe theater. It then slowly begins to peel back those sets and come into the cinematic landscape, and the acting that was once fake, then becomes grand and epic.
The argument here in the propaganda is that the people fighting will obviously be remembered more than the backdoor politics that led to them, but it also seems to parallel how Olivier seems to feel about cinema as well. Cinema is grand and epic. Theater is small and unrealistic. Nobody remembers a single performance of a play. Everyone remembers film.
A very interesting take on the Shakespeare play.
This Technicolor adaptation of William Shakespeare's history play engages with several layers of stylisation and was the first film which achieved in prevailing simultaneously in being Shakespearean and completely cinematic. It’s directed by Laurence Olivier, who is authoritative in the principal part of the king and expresses strong emotions and sentiments while conveying an enormous amount of glorious and enthusiastic prose.
The film opens as a performance at the Globe Theater in 1600 before the activities onstage transition to the regions of northern France in 1415; with Henry presiding over his soldiers to triumph at The Battle of Agincourt in the time of the One Hundred Years' War. It's a stirring and exciting interpretation of the play and was released to co-occur with the Allied incursion into Normandy in the D-Day landings. It's a harmoniously galvanising film with a stimulating musical score by William Walton.
Criterion Collection Spine #41
Henry stepped out on stage, he said he was ready to kick ass, he kicked some French ass, and he brought home the motherfucking bacon! .... I am not used to my Shakespearean plays being so victorious!
"We charge you in the name of God, take heed how you awake our sleeping sword of war."
If you have seen Henry V you will surely know I am fluffing up the snooze fest that is the first half of this Laurence Olivier adaption. When it comes to Shakespeare it is best to know the story going in, but in this case I knew zip about old Henry V .... so let's see how that went....
"Self-love, my…
My main takeaway from this is that Henry V had a terrible haircut.
The film starts with a stage-play of the stage-play, then turns into a cinematic rendition of the play, only to turn back into a play - Henry V is the original Inception.
Winston Churchill asked Olivier for a patriotic wartime Henry V and he delivered. It's the invasion of Normandy, as Henry calls upon his men "Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more; Or close the wall up with our English dead.", While the enemy insults them, "If the English had any apprehension, they would run away," and that "You may as well say, that’s a valiant flea that dare eat his breakfast on the lip of a lion." But the last word on the subject is Henry V and his St. Crispin's day speech, and I'm sure you've heard the phrase Band of Brothers? That's Shakespeare:
We few, we happy few, we band of brothers; For he to-day that…
we open our eyes to toys in a toyshop, men in silly dress-up in a make-believe land etching out the story of a lonesome bard. bright, warm pastel colours are the love language of this retelling of the past, and elongated speeches are the swords and shields (as much as knights here are willing to draw swords at the slightest sign of conflict, there's almost always a cause to use verbal rapiers instead and stick it to the opponent where it hurts). a neverending war between theatre and film, two incarnations of the same drive to express and tell stories, nears its climax as the characters inside the narrative, too, go clash swords. the battlefield, however beautiful to look at…
☆_"Crispin Crispian shall ne’er go by,_ From this day to the ending of the world, But we in it shall be rememberèd; _We few, we happy few, we band of brothers!"_☆
Laurence Olivier brings the Bard to the big screen in the vibrant and epic Henry V from 1944, a not-so-subtle rendition made to rouse the British during wartime that also takes interesting creative turns while generally staying true to the original play.
Generally regarded as the first commercially successful film adaptation of a William Shakespeare play -- Olivier would follow this in 1948 with the much-lauded Hamlet that has since seen more muted acclaim by contemporary critics -- Henry V is not the most well-known production of Shakespeare (though…
You could honestly program this with Rohmer's PERCIVAL. What an outlandishly experimental film, even if its cinematic avant-garde-ness seems to be a byproduct of Olivier letting go of its theatricality only under great duress.
I must admit I didn't see coming the whole opening and final shot. It was very immersive and surreal.
Laurence Olivier has had some bad days at work, but thanks to works like this you can see he was indeed a thespian. It feels a bit too theatrical, though that makes all the sense of the world, not only because its based on a play, but like its established on the film itself, we're kinda watching a "live" version of a play.
The story, I mean, its Shakespeare... so it was pretty interesting and filled with some nice action and great dialogues. Personally I feel this one has the best, most genuine, less poetic dialogue from all the films I've…
This was a struggling experience. So fascinating in turns, yet the stage play atmosphere of it was a big turn-off. I'm not a theater man. What they attempted didn't compute well on screen, regardless of how much flashy color they threw in there. That they seemingly couldn't decide on doing it play-style or go adventure mode only made it more confusing. I can't deny them trying something completely different compared to contemporary trends was intriguing and quite a few of it's scenes did have me, but overall it felt like a mess. And I'm pretty sure it's because what they were doing just went straight over my head.
****Henry V (1944)** 🇬🇧
1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die #928/1001
Nachdem ich in den letzten Tagen einige Shakespeare-Verfilmungen gesehen habe, fand ich besonders interessant, wie anders Laurence Olivier hier an das Material rangeht als etwa Orson Welles später in Chimes at Midnight oder Othello.
Laut dem Buch 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die galt der Film damals sogar als patriotische Kriegspropaganda für Großbritannien. Gleichzeitig wird dort hervorgehoben, wie clever Olivier Theater und Kino verbindet. Der Film beginnt bewusst künstlich im Globe Theatre, bevor er sich immer weiter in „filmischen Raum“ öffnet.
Erst Bühne und Shakespeare-Pathos, dann plötzlich riesige Bilder, Farben und erstaunlich dynamische Schlachtszenen. Sieht schon ziemlich einmalig aus wie hier die Bühnen gemalt sind.…