''Henry V'' is a 1944 British

Technicolor Technicolor is a series of Color motion picture film, color motion picture processes, the first version dating back to 1916, and followed by improved versions over several decades. Definitive Technicolor movies using three black and white films ...

epic

film adaptation A film adaptation is the transfer of a work or story, in whole or in part, to a feature film. Although often considered a type of derivative work, film adaptation has been conceptualized recently by academic scholars such as Robert Stam as a dia ...

William Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...

's play of the same title. The on-screen title is ''The Chronicle History of King Henry the Fifth with His Battell Fought at Agincourt in France'' (derived from the title of the 1600

quarto Quarto (abbreviated Qto, 4to or 4º) is the format of a book or pamphlet produced from full sheets printed with eight pages of text, four to a side, then folded twice to produce four leaves. The leaves are then trimmed along the folds to produc ...

edition of the play, though changing the spelling from "Agin Court"). It stars

Laurence Olivier Laurence Kerr Olivier, Baron Olivier (; 22 May 1907 – 11 July 1989) was an English actor and director who, along with his contemporaries Ralph Richardson and John Gielgud, was one of a trio of male actors who dominated the Theatre of the U ...

, who also directed. The play was adapted for the screen by Olivier,

Dallas Bower Dallas Bower (25 July 1907 – 18 October 1999) was a British director and producer active during the early development of mass media communication. Throughout his career Bower’s work spanned radio plays, television shows, propaganda shorts, ani ...

, and

Alan Dent Alan Holmes Dent (7 January 1905 – 19 December 1978) was a Scottish journalist, editor and writer. Early life Alan Dent was born in Maybole, Ayrshire, Scotland, of English parents. He lost his mother when he was two years old. He was edu ...

. The score is by

William Walton Sir William Turner Walton (29 March 19028 March 1983) was an English composer. During a sixty-year career, he wrote music in several classical genres and styles, from film scores to opera. His best-known works include ''Façade'', the cantat ...

. The film was made near the end of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

and was intended as a morale booster for Britain. Consequently, it was partly funded by the British government. The film was originally "dedicated to the 'Commandos and Airborne Troops of Great Britain the spirit of whose ancestors it has been humbly attempted to recapture. The film won Olivier an

Academy Honorary Award The Academy Honorary Award – instituted in 1950 for the 23rd Academy Awards (previously called the Special Award, which was first presented at the 1st Academy Awards in 1929) – is given annually by the Board of Governors of the Academy of Moti ...

for "his Outstanding achievement as actor, producer and director in bringing Henry V to the screen."

Plot

(The action moves from a performance of the play, ''

Henry V Henry V may refer to: People * Henry V, Duke of Bavaria (died 1026) * Henry V, Holy Roman Emperor (1081/86–1125) * Henry V, Duke of Carinthia (died 1161) * Henry V, Count Palatine of the Rhine (c. 1173–1227) * Henry V, Count of Luxembourg (121 ...

'', in 1600, transitioning to the

Battle of Agincourt The Battle of Agincourt ( ; french: Azincourt ) was an English victory in the Hundred Years' War. It took place on 25 October 1415 (Saint Crispin's Day) near Azincourt, in northern France. The unexpected English victory against the numerica ...

in 1415, then back to the play.) A panorama of London in 1600 is shown and then the viewpoint travels to the Globe Theatre where the audience is being seated. The Chorus enters and implores the audience to use their imagination to visualise the setting of the play. Then is seen, up on a balcony, two clergymen, the

Archbishop of Canterbury The archbishop of Canterbury is the senior bishop and a principal leader of the Church of England, the ceremonial head of the worldwide Anglican Communion and the diocesan bishop of the Diocese of Canterbury. The current archbishop is Justi ...

and the Bishop of Ely, discussing the current affairs of state. Henry then enters, and discusses with his nobles the state of France. A gift is delivered to Henry from the French Dauphin. The gift turns out to be tennis balls, a jibe at Henry's youth and inexperience. Offended, Henry sends the French ambassador away, and prepares to claim the French throne, a throne that he believes is rightfully his. Then characters from Shakespeare's ''Henry IV'' plays,

Corporal Nym Corporal Nym is a fictional character who appears in two Shakespeare plays, ''The Merry Wives of Windsor'' and ''Henry V''. He later appears in spin-off works by other writers. Nym is a soldier and criminal follower of Sir John Falstaff and a fr ...

, Bardolph, and Pistol, are shown. These characters resolve to join Henry's army; however, before they do, Falstaff, another returning character, and one of the King's former mentors, dies. At this point, the action moves to Southampton and out of the Globe. At Southampton, the fleet embarks, and lands in France, beginning a campaign that tears through France to

Harfleur Harfleur () is a commune in the Seine-Maritime department in the Normandy region of northern France. It was the principal seaport in north-western France for six centuries, until Le Havre was built about five kilometres (three miles) downstrea ...

, to which Henry's forces lay siege. At the siege, Henry delivers his first rousing speech to his troops: "Once more... unto the breach! Dear friends, once more!" The troops charge on Harfleur, and take it as their own. The troops then march to Agincourt, meeting the French forces. The night before the impending battle, Henry wanders around the camp in disguise, to find out what the men think of him. The next day, before the battle, Henry delivers his famous

Saint Crispin's Day Saint Crispin's Day, or the Feast of Saint Crispin, falls on 25 October and is the feast day of the Christian saints Crispin and Crispinian, twins who were martyred c. 286. They are both the patron saints of cobblers, leather workers, tanners, ...

speech. The action transitions from the Globe to the fields of the

in 1415. The English archers let forth a volley of arrows that cuts deeply into the French numbers. The French, weighed down by their heavy armour, are caught in the fresh mud of the field, and are bogged down, which gives the English troops ample opportunity to ride out and fight them on equal terms. The French Dauphin, seeing this disadvantage, watches as several bodyguards and noblemen including the

Constable of France The Constable of France (french: Connétable de France, from Latin for 'count of the stables') was lieutenant to the King of France, the first of the original five Great Officers of the Crown (along with seneschal, chamberlain, butler, and ...

ride toward the English camp and kill all the boys and squires, prompting a tearful Fluellen to cry that "this is expressly against the law of arms". Henry is angered by this and rides out to meet the French Constable, whom he defeats in personal combat. The battle is won. Henry comes to discuss peace and then woos the Princess Katherine. His success means that France is now under the control of England, as the French King, Charles VI, adopts Henry as his successor. In the final moments, the viewpoint returns to the Globe Theatre and the play, where the actors take their bows.

Cast

Production

Winston Churchill Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (30 November 187424 January 1965) was a British statesman, soldier, and writer who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom twice, from 1940 to 1945 Winston Churchill in the Second World War, dur ...

instructed Olivier to fashion the film as morale-boosting propaganda for British troops fighting World War II. The making and release of the film coincided with the

Allied An alliance is a relationship among people, groups, or states that have joined together for mutual benefit or to achieve some common purpose, whether or not explicit agreement has been worked out among them. Members of an alliance are called ...

invasion of Normandy Operation Overlord was the codename for the Battle of Normandy, the Allied operation that launched the successful invasion of German-occupied Western Europe during World War II. The operation was launched on 6 June 1944 (D-Day) with the Norm ...

and push into France. An early preview trailer of the film showed contemporary London just before cutting to the film's aerial footage of London in 1600. The film was meant to cost £350,000 but ended up costing nearly £500,000.''Realism and Tinsel: Cinema and Society in Britain 1939–48''
by Robert Murphy p 55

Setting

Much of the film's impact comes from the vivid

cinematography (using the only Technicolor camera in England at the time), spectacular period costumes and a unique blend of stylized settings, miniatures and location shooting. The film begins with a handbill floating out of the sky setting the date—the first of May, 1600–and the occasion. This dissolves into a tremendously detailed miniature model of London, with boats moving on the Thames. The camera pulls away from the Tower, gleaming white in the sun, and moves past London Bridge (crowded with buildings) to aim across the river at the densely packed city studded with churches, stretching into the distance, until St. Paul's (as it was then) can be seen. The camera pauses for a beat and then moves back to zoom in on one of the two round theatres, where a man is raising a flag inscribed The

Globe Playhouse Robert Thaddeus Taylor (1925–2006) was an American producer, director and founder of the Shakespeare Society of America. Taylor Robert Thaddeus Taylor was born August 29, 1925, in Wendell, Idaho. Known as Thad Taylor, he was a founder of the ...

, showing that a performance is imminent. Then we go into the theatre for a vivid recreation of a production of the play as performed at that time, complete with hecklers and an annoying rain shower. The Chorus (a single actor) invokes the audience's imaginations, and when the action in the play moves to Southampton, we enter the world of the Trés Riches Heures of the Duc de Berry, a late medieval

Book of Hours The book of hours is a Christian devotional book used to pray the canonical hours. The use of a book of hours was especially popular in the Middle Ages and as a result, they are the most common type of surviving medieval illuminated manuscrip ...

. (The Duke actually appears among the nobles with the King of France.) The setting becomes more natural in the dark night before Agincourt, when Henry goes into the sleeping camp to see how it goes with his men. The

takes place in a realistic setting (filmed in Ireland), in natural fields and forests, and dialogue is delivered from the backs of restive chargers. The troops singing

Non Nobis ''Non nobis'' is the incipit and conventional title of a short Latin Christian hymn used as a prayer of thanksgiving and expression of humility. The Latin text is from the Vulgate translation of the Book of Psalms, Psalm 113:9 in Vulgate / Gre ...

and

Te Deum The "Te Deum" (, ; from its incipit, , ) is a Latin Christian hymn traditionally ascribed to AD 387 authorship, but with antecedents that place it much earlier. It is central to the Ambrosian hymnal, which spread throughout the Latin Ch ...

at Henry's bidding march toward a painted rendition of the château, which fades out and fades in to the same image, blanketed in deep snow. The next set is a near-perfect rendition of the often-reproduced February page from the Trés Riches Heures, with Pistol taking the place of the man warming himself in the cottage (but with greater modesty). We next see the negotiations for the

Treaty of Troyes The Treaty of Troyes was an agreement that King Henry V of England and his heirs would inherit the French throne upon the death of King Charles VI of France. It was formally signed in the French city of Troyes on 21 May 1420 in the aftermath of ...

, and the setting is used to great effect to clarify and increase the impact of the Duke of Burgundy's speech about the sorry state of France. The camera moves out through a window to pan over a painting of the neglected countryside, specifically illustrating each line of the speech and pausing on the neglected children before panning back up to the château. Henry's courtship of Princess Katherine weaves through a lacework of Gothic arches and is followed by their marriage, which cuts abruptly to the Globe and the two actors (a boy playing Katherine) similarly standing in front of their thrones, with the audience applauding. After Chorus speaks his epilogue, the camera pulls back so we can see the flag being taken down and returns again to the model. Then the credits roll by, but before the picture ends we return to the model one last time—shot of the Tower of London gleaming white on the banks of the Thames.

Screenplay

Olivier intentionally left out some of Henry's harsher actions as Shakespeare portrayed them – such as his remorseless beheading of the three

Southampton Plot The Southampton Plot was a conspiracy to depose King Henry V of England, revealed in 1415 just as the king was about to sail on campaign to France as part of the Hundred Years' War. The plan was to replace him with Edmund Mortimer, 5th Earl of M ...

traitors:

Richard of Conisburgh, 3rd Earl of Cambridge Richard of Conisbrough, 3rd Earl of Cambridge (20 July 1385 – 5 August 1415) was the second son of Edmund of Langley, 1st Duke of York, and Isabella of Castile, Duchess of York. He was beheaded for his part in the Southampton Plot, a conspiracy ...

;

Henry Scrope, 3rd Baron Scrope of Masham Henry Scrope, 3rd Baron Scrope of Masham KG, also known in older sources as Lord Scrope (c. 1373 – 5 August 1415) was a favourite of Henry V, who performed many diplomatic missions. He was beheaded for his involvement in the notional Southam ...

; and Sir Thomas Grey; his threat to unleash his troops to rape and pillage Harfleur if the city refused to surrender; the cutting of the throats of French prisoners during the battle at Agincourt; as well as his refusal to stop the hanging of his old friend Bardolph for looting. The Chorus’ last speech contains a melancholy reference to what came after and is not in the film: :Henry the Sixth, in infant bands crown'd King :Of France and England, did this king succeed; :Whose state so many had the managing, :That they lost France and made his England bleed:

Casting

Hundreds of locals were hired as extras for the Agincourt battle scenes filmed in neutral Ireland in 1943. The production company paid an additional pound to anyone who brought his own horse. Olivier agreed not to appear in another film for 18 months to reduce any detraction from the promotion of ''Henry V''. In return, he was paid £15,000, tax-free (about £460,000 in today's money).

Esmond Knight Esmond Penington Knight (4 May 1906 – 23 February 1987) was an English actor. He had a successful stage and film career before World War II. For much of his later career Knight was half-blind. He had been badly wounded in 1941 while on active ...

, who plays the patriotic

Welsh Welsh may refer to: Related to Wales * Welsh, referring or related to Wales * Welsh language, a Brittonic Celtic language spoken in Wales * Welsh people People * Welsh (surname) * Sometimes used as a synonym for the ancient Britons (Celtic peop ...

soldier

Fluellen Fluellen is a fictional character in the play ''Henry V'' by William Shakespeare. Fluellen is a Welsh Captain, a leader of a contingent of troops in the small army of King Henry V of England while on campaign in France during the Hundred Years' ...

was a wounded veteran of the war. He had been badly injured in 1941 while on active service on board when she was attacked by the , and remained totally blind for two years. He had only just regained some sight in his right eye.

Filming

Foreign Correspondents Visit British Film Studios, Denham, Buckinghamshire, England, UK, 1943 D16277

The film was shot on location at the

Powerscourt Estate Powerscourt Estate ( ga, Eastát Chúirt an Phaoraigh), located in Enniskerry, County Wicklow, Ireland, is a large country estate which is noted for its house and landscaped gardens, today occupying . The house, originally a 13th-century cast ...

Enniskerry Enniskerry (historically ''Annaskerry'', from ) is a village in County Wicklow, Ireland. The population was 1,889 at the 2016 census. Location The village is situated on the Glencullen River in the foothills of the Wicklow Mountains in the ea ...

County Wicklow County Wicklow ( ; ga, Contae Chill Mhantáin ) is a county in Ireland. The last of the traditional 32 counties, having been formed as late as 1606, it is part of the Eastern and Midland Region and the province of Leinster. It is bordered by t ...

, Ireland. The interior sets were constructed at the

Denham Studios Denham Film Studios was a British film production studio operating from 1936 to 1952, founded by Alexander Korda. Notable films made at Denham include ''Brief Encounter'' and David Lean's ''Great Expectations''. From the 1950s to the 1970s th ...

in Buckinghamshire, England. They were based on illustrations from the

Très Riches Heures du Duc de Berry The Très Riches Heures du Duc de Berry (; en, The Very Rich Hours of the Duke of Berry) or Très Riches Heures, is the most famous and possibly the best surviving example of manuscript illumination in the late phase of the International Goth ...

the illustrator of which is also a character in the play. The film, which was photographed in three-strip

, was hailed by critics for its ebulliently colourful sets and costumes, as well as for Olivier's masterful direction and acting. Pauline Kael called the movie "a triumph of color, music, spectacle and soaring heroic poetry". James Agee reported, in ''Time'' magazine's 8 April 1946 issue, that a remarkable 75 percent of the color footage shot was used in the final release. In 2007, the film was digitally restored to High Definition format and re-released. As part of the BBC Summer of British Film series in 2007, it was shown at selected cinemas across the UK.

Film music

The score by

is considered a classic film score, and excerpts from it, such as the orchestral '' Suite from Henry V'', have been performed in concert.

Reception

According to

Turner Classic Movies Turner Classic Movies (TCM) is an American movie channel, movie-oriented pay television, pay-TV television network, network owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. Launched in 1994, Turner Classic Movies is headquartered at Turner's Techwood broadcasti ...

's Frank Miller, Olivier's ''Henry V'' was the first Shakespeare film to receive "both critical and popular acclaim." The British critics gave it a lukewarm welcome but word of mouth took care of that, and the film broke all records by running for 11 months in London. In 1946, a cagey release strategy in the United States was undoubtedly helped by the "ecstatic" reviews from U.S. critics, "hailing it as one of the screen's first great works of art and the most impressive directing debut since Orson Welles' ''Citizen Kane'' (1941)." Miller adds that "Olivier won Best Actor awards from the New York Film Critics Circle and the National Review, also capturing the latter's Best Picture award and coming within a few votes of beating ''The Best Years of Our Lives'' (1946) for the New York Film Critics Award in that category." The film was highly acclaimed around the world. James Agee, who reviewed it separately for three publications, called it "one of the cinema's great works of art".

Box office

According to ''Kinematograph Weekly'' the 'biggest winner' at the box office in 1945 Britain was ''The Seventh Veil'', with "runners up" being (in release order), ''Madonna of the Seven Moons'', ''Old Acquaintance'', ''Frenchman's Creek'', ''Mrs Parkington'', ''Arsenic and Old Lace'', ''Meet Me in St Louis'', ''A Song to Remember'', ''Since You Went Away'', ''Here Come the Waves'', ''Tonight and Every Night'', ''Hollywood Canteen'', ''They Were Sisters'', ''The Princess and the Pirate'', ''The Adventures of Susan'', ''National Velvet'', ''Mrs Skefflington'', ''I Live in Grosvenor Square'', ''Nob Hill'', ''Perfect Strangers'', ''Valley of Decision'', ''Conflict'' and ''Duffy's Tavern''. British "runners up" were ''They Were Sisters'', ''I Live in Grosvenor Square'', ''Perfect Strangers'', ''Madonna of the Seven Moons'', ''Waterloo Road'', ''Blithe Spirit'', ''The Way to the Stars'', ''I'll Be Your Sweetheart'', ''Dead of Night'', ''Waltz Time'' and ''Henry V''. Previous efforts to put Shakespeare on the screen included Mary Pickford's 1929 ''

The Taming of the Shrew ''The Taming of the Shrew'' is a comedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written between 1590 and 1592. The play begins with a framing device, often referred to as the induction, in which a mischievous nobleman tricks a drunken ...

;''

Max Reinhardt Max Reinhardt (; born Maximilian Goldmann; 9 September 1873 – 30 October 1943) was an Austrian-born Theatre director, theatre and film director, theater manager, intendant, and theatrical producer. With his innovative stage productions, he i ...

's 1935 ''

A Midsummer Night's Dream ''A Midsummer Night's Dream'' is a comedy written by William Shakespeare 1595 or 1596. The play is set in Athens, and consists of several subplots that revolve around the marriage of Theseus and Hippolyta. One subplot involves a conflict amon ...

'' for Warner Bros; a British film adaptation of ''

As You Like It ''As You Like It'' is a pastoral comedy by William Shakespeare believed to have been written in 1599 and first published in the First Folio in 1623. The play's first performance is uncertain, though a performance at Wilton House in 1603 has b ...

'' starring Olivier and

Elisabeth Bergner Elisabeth Bergner (22 August 1897 – 12 May 1986) was an Austrian-British actress. Primarily a stage actress, her career flourished in Berlin and Paris before she moved to London to work in films. Her signature role was Gemma Jones in '' Esca ...

and scored by

; and MGM's 1936 ''

Romeo and Juliet ''Romeo and Juliet'' is a Shakespearean tragedy, tragedy written by William Shakespeare early in his career about the romance between two Italian youths from feuding families. It was among Shakespeare's most popular plays during his lifetim ...

'', directed by

George Cukor George Dewey Cukor (; July 7, 1899 – January 24, 1983) was an American film director and film producer. He mainly concentrated on comedies and literary adaptations. His career flourished at RKO when David O. Selznick, the studio's Head of ...

and starring

Norma Shearer Edith Norma Shearer (August 11, 1902June 12, 1983) was a Canadian-American actress who was active on film from 1919 through 1942. Shearer often played spunky, sexually liberated ingénues. She appeared in adaptations of Noël Coward, Eugene O'N ...

and

Leslie Howard Leslie Howard Steiner (3 April 18931 June 1943) was an English actor, director and producer.Obituary ''Variety'', 9 June 1943. He wrote many stories and articles for ''The New York Times'', ''The New Yorker'', and '' Vanity Fair'' and was one ...

. They had all misfired. According to TCM.com "After screening ''Romeo and Juliet'' (1936), Olivier realized that the standard Hollywood camera style, which included moving in for a close-up at climactic moments, didn't work for Shakespeare. In one scene, the close up had forced Norma Shearer to whisper one of her most passionate lines. Instead, he decided to film long speeches starting in close up and then moving the camera back as the actor's intensity grew. He also decided to treat the soliloquies not as direct addresses to the audience, but as interior monologues". The film earned over $1 million in rentals in the US. However, due to its high production cost and Entertainment Tax it did not go into profit for Rank until 1949. It earned United Artists a profit of $1.62 million. In 2007, ''Military History'' magazine listed this production 75th among "The 100 Greatest War Movies"."The 100 Greatest War Movies" special issue, page 31.

Academy Awards

References

Bibliography

* ''The Great British Films'', Jerry Vermilye, 1978, Citadel Press, * Sargeant, Amy. ''British Cinema: a Critical History''. London: BFI Publishing, 2005.

External links

* *
''Henry V''
an essay by Bruce Eder at

The Criterion Collection The Criterion Collection, Inc. (or simply Criterion) is an American home-video distribution company that focuses on licensing, restoring and distributing "important classic and contemporary films." Criterion serves film and media scholars, cinep ...

Literature on Henry V
{{DEFAULTSORT:Henry V (1944 Film) 1944 films 1944 drama films British drama films Films directed by Laurence Olivier 1944 directorial debut films Films shot at Denham Film Studios British epic films Films based on Henry V (play) Two Cities Films films Films set in the 1410s Films set in the 1600s Films set in London Films scored by William Walton Hundred Years' War films Films shot in County Wicklow 1940s English-language films 1940s British films