The Chronicle History of King Henry the Fift (1944) - film review

London, 1600.  At the Globe Theatre, players are performing Shakespeare’s Henry V to a packed house.  The play opens in 1415.  The young King Henry has proven himself a worthy successor to his father and has succeeded in uniting the English nation.  He now turns his attention to France, which he believes is rightfully his.  Provoked by the French Dauphin, Henry leads his army to Southampton, and then onto France.  Having taken the fortress at Harfleur after a protracted siege, Henry takes his forces to Calais.  On the way, they are intercepted by the French army, on a plain near Agincourt, and a bloody battle ensues. Although weary and vastly outnumbered by the French, Henry’s army triumphs.  He cements his country’s union with France by taking Katherine of Valois as his wife.

The definitive screen adaptation of the most patriotic of Shakespeare’s great historical plays.  Of the three Shakespeare films that Laurence Olivier directed, his Henry V is the most inspired and the most visually arresting, a spectacle of pageant and poetry that brought the Bard to an appreciative mass audience and galvanised the morale of the British in the darkest days of WWII.  This is a timeless masterwork of cinematic genius, Shakespeare’s immortal text beautifully complemented by some extraordinary design and camerawork, its greatness underlined by Olivier’s enthralling bravura performance.

Made at the height of WWII, the film was intended as wartime propaganda.  Part-funded by the British government, its release coincided with the invasion of Normandy in 1944 and provided a much-needed boost to the British people at a time of great uncertainty and fear.  Laurence Olivier was serving in the Royal Navy when he was given leave to appear in Anthony Asquith’s film The Demi-Paradise (1943).  On the back of this, he was persuaded to take the lead in an adaptation of Henry V, and ended up directing the film, at the suggestion of producer Filippo Del Giudice.  It was Olivier who hired the great English composer William Walton to compose the film’s score, which is a masterpiece in its own right.

What is most striking about this production of Henry V is the way in which the story is presented, gradually segueing from a stage performance (at the Globe theatre in London, where Shakespeare’s plays were originally performed) to a realistic setting, passing through several intermediate phases of decreasing stylisation.  It is as if the spectator, watching a stage play, finds himself drawn into a kind of virtual reality.  As he becomes more involved in what he sees, the layers of artifice are stripped away and he imagines himself actually standing on the sidelines of one of history’s great battles. 

Olivier would subsequently direct two other notable film adaptations of Shakespeare plays, Hamlet (1948) and Richard III (1955).  Although both of these films are highly regarded and great technical achievements, neither possesses the inspired touch and magnificence that Olivier brought to his unique interpretation of Henry V.  This is a wonderful creation that succeeded in making Shakespeare relevant to a contemporary audience, a rare and noble feat. 

And who can ever forget Olivier’s rousing rendition of the St Crispen’s Day speech, possibly the greatest call to arms in English literature?  "We few, we happy few, we band of brothers; For he to-day that sheds his blood with me Shall be my brother..."   This is as perfect a rendering of a Shakespeare play as you can expect to find outside the hallowed precincts of the R.S.C., and a true cinematic jewel.

© filmsdefrance.com 2009

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