HENRY V

UK, 1944, 137 minutes, Colour.
Laurence Olivier, Robert Newton, Leslie Banks, Esmond Knight, Renee Asherson, George Robey, Leo Genn, Ernest Thesiger, Ralph Truman, Harcourt Williams, Max Adrian, Valentine Dyall, Felix Aylmer, John Laurie, Roy Emerton.
Directed by Laurence Olivier.

Henry V is a stirring Shakespearian film. Produced at the end of World War Two, it was a patriotic piece for the English in the experience of the war-and the '40s.

The film is mainly the work of Laurence Olivier: adapting Shakespeare's text with Alan Dent, directing, acting (and receiving an Oscar nomination). The film was also nominated for Best Picture and for William Walton's excellent score. The colour photography si beautiful. The opening half hour, set in a re-creation of the Elizabethan Globe Theatre is a tour-de-force of dramatic filming.

There is an excellent cast ranging from Robert Newton as Pistol to Leslie Banks as the Prologue and Leo Genn as one of the French officers. A star cast including Felix Aylmer and Robert Helpmann as the Bishops brings Shakespeare to life. Olivier, of course, as Henry V has the best speeches and delivers them with gusto.

The film shows the possibilities for transferring the Shakespearian text effectively to the screen. Olivier was to do the same with Hamlet and with Richard III.

1. The popularity of Shakespeare's classic? Olivier making it a classic film? A classic performance? An entertaining version of Shakespeare?

2. Henry V as Olivier's film - insight, artistry, interpretation? Staging? Interiors? Battlefield and exteriors?

3. The cinematic style: the opening and ending in the Globe Theatre? The situating of the Globe in Elizabethan London? The physical structure of the Globe, theatrical atmosphere, seeing the audience, its range? The activity in the audience, on stage and behind stage? Costume changes, squabbles etc.? The levels of the stage for action, the balcony? The delivery of the poetry, style and rhetoric? The timing of the lines for the audience? Sound effects? The emphasis on laughter and delight? The rain and its effect on audience and cast? A tour-de-force of performance?

4. The prologue and the emphasis on the wooden '0'? The appeal to imagination for Shakespearian audience?

5. The quality of the text, the poetry and its articulation? Serious themes and politics? The war and Prance? The battle sequences? The French? Comedy and the Falstaff story? Pistol? The vigils before the battle? Shakespeare's poetic gifts appreciated by Olivier?

6. The text and themes: the kingdom of England, English patriotism, politics and power, traditions and the domination of Prance, the role of the church, military expeditions, Hal and his past life, his transition to kingship, his authority?

7. Britain in 1945 and the background of war and peace? Patriotism?

8. The visuals: the transition from the theatre to the port, the ship, the fields of Prance, the French court, the battles? The strategy and visuals of the battles? Sweep, slaughter and aftermath?

9. The atmosphere of William Walton's score and the variations for themes and scenes?

10. The portrait of Henry: the background as the rowdy Prince Hal, his experience with the lower life in London, Falstaff and the change? The pathos of Falstaff's death and his longing for his friend Hal? The power and authority, a king and his speeches, the decision about the expedition, patriotism? His mixing with the ordinary soldiers? The drama of the vigil? With his advisers, the nobles, the conduct of the battle? His wooing of Katherine? His achievement as a monarch?

11. The background of the English and French nobility, their influence, presence at battles? The role of the church?

12. Falstaff and Doll Tearsheet? Pistol and Co? Rowdy comedy? Cowards? The ordinary soldiers and their views on war and slaughter?

13. The portrait of the French, the King and his arrogance, the Dauphin and his ineffectiveness? The leaders and their presumption? Carelessness? The emphasis on style? The aftermath of their defeat?

14. The French court, Katherine and her French style, her lady in waiting? Romantic dreams? Henry's wooing? The marriage?

15. Basic themes of Shakespeare - politics, monarchies, wars? Heroism? With the serious and the comic touch?