The Chronicle History of King Henry the Fifth with His Battell Fought at Agincourt in France (1944)'s comments

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Siskoid

I should preface by saying that I am not particularly a fan of Olivier's acting, but I do find the films he's directed creative and interesting. His Henry V is, in fact, a revelation. Filmed in 1944 in gorgeous Technicolor, it surprises by spending the first half hour as an Elizabethan play, complete with flubs, a rowdy audience and actors winking at it, then takes us into highly stylized scenes that look torn out of Medieval paintings, and then into realistic battle scenes before pulling us out again. Not only does this make the boring parts of the play (i.e. discussions of Salic law etc.) incredibly exciting (that giant model of 1600 London is just amazing) and outright FUNNY (love the bishops), but it also makes the film do what the Chorus asks his audience to do, i.e. imagine the world on stage. Film historian Bruce Eder's commentary track is scripted right down to the exclamations, but it never gets tedious because he's got so much to talk about, from the real history, to Shakespeare to the film itself.

8 years 7 months ago

TheInfanta

I much prefer Branagh's Henry V but this film still has its good points and it's an interesting piece of wartime propaganda. I especially liked the set designs, there are moments when the scenes look exactly like medieval paintings.

11 years ago

dkaymc777

Having seen Brannagh's Henry V MANY times, I was only watching this for personal literary reasons. And I did not expect to enjoy it. A previous commentor mentioned the humor and I agree. The bishops were quite funny, and WS has written a brilliant dialogue between Harry and Katherine. I love that scene and it was no less entertaining than Brannagh's.

4 years 6 months ago