That was an excellent one.

Simply A Masterpiece

Tells a fascinating and unsettling true story, and does so well, without pretending to have all the answers.

This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

Before Kenneth Branagh there was...Laurence Olivier. Good adaptation of the Shakespeare play. Starts rather oddly, and dourly, by showing making the movie about the play being performed in 1600. Initially put me off, but after a while the unnecessary play-within-a-movie scenario disappears, and you have just a movie, as it should be.Once it gets rolling, it is great. Olivier, in his directorial debut, shows a deft hand at direction. The battle scenes are well- staged and very vivid. Pacing is good.Olivier is superb in the lead role. It is no wonder that he is regarded as the greatest Shakespearean actor, if not one of the greatest actors of all time. The gravitas and feeling he brings to the role are immense. You would think that he IS a king, mouthing the words for the first time, rather than reciting Shakespeare's complex dialogue.Good supporting cast.If I had to choose between the 1989 Kenneth Branagh version and this 1944 version, I would go with Branagh's version, by a smidgen. The 1989 version is edgier, moves more quickly and freely, and doesn't have the clunky start. Also, as you would imagine, the production values are better in the 1989 version (no model castles etc). For Shakespearean acting at its finest, however, you can never go past (Sir) Laurence Olivier.

Otherwise known by the snappier title "Henry V", the director Laurence Olivier did a phenomenal job in bringing the play to the big screen in what became the first truly successful Shakespearean film. I loved his decision to frame the early part of the film as a play being performed in the Globe Theatre in 1600 as it was extremely innovative and clever. There are frequent interjections and laughs from the audience and it even begins to rain! It's also the closest that I'll ever get to seeing Olivier on stage. After setting sail for Southampton, however, the film becomes more realistic and less stylised. I think that this was perhaps another good decision as it could have gotten old if the theatre setting was retained for the entire film. The film also looks fantastic in glorious Technicolor.One of the best actors of his generation and to have ever lived, Olivier's performance as Henry V was up to the same standard as his directing. The great ones make it look so easy. He assembled a fantastic supporting cast, particularly Max Adrian, Esmond Knight, Harcourt Williams, Robert Newton, Freda Jackson and Nicholas Hannen. However, the only person in the film that I thought gave a bad performance was Niall MacGinnis as Macmorris. I liked him in other films but here he was so bad and over the top that I actually felt embarrassed for him as he was so thoroughly outacted by Knight and John Laurie in the one scene in which he has dialogue. Renée Asherson, who died last October only three weeks before the film's 70th anniversary, replaced Olivier's then wife Vivien Leigh in the role of Princess Katherine, whose major scene at the end of the film with Henry is very sweet and well acted by both her and Olivier even if it owes little to history. I wish that I had some French though as a few parts of the film were lost on me, I'm afraid. With Asherson's death, George Cole is the film's last surviving cast member.The film was intended as wartime propaganda and was partially funded by the British government. As such, it's quite funny that much of the film was shot in the Powerscourt Estate in County Wicklow in the neutral Irish Free State. Unsurprisingly, several parts of the play which portrayed Henry in a negative light were omitted, most notably the scenes in which he orders the murder of the French prisoners. Speaking of the French, they were clearly intended to stand-in for the Nazis in this version. I imagine that Churchill fancied himself as Henry V! Given that the film was released in 1944, its depiction of an invasion of France could hardly have been more topical. While it may be propaganda, it's first and foremost an extremely accomplished, well directed and acted film which brought the Bard to the silver screen in the way that no other film had before.

I had seen the Kenneth Branagh remake prior to this original, but I can see why this is considered a film to put in the book 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die, from producer and debuting director Lord Sir Laurence Olivier. Based on the play by William Shakespeare, the film starts in London's Globe Theatre with the story of the film being seen as a play, with King Henry V of England (Oscar nominated Olivier) hearing that his country face war against France. Then after thirty minutes it goes into the epic cinematic mode where the youthful monarch proves his ability as a skillful leader and soldier for his army going to Agincourt. Henry and the French court try to bring peace, and he woos Princess Katharine (Renée Asherson) as he was betrothed to her anyway as part of the peace agreement, and all is settled in the end, going back to the play set-up. Also starring Robert Newton as Ancient Pistol, Leslie Banks as Chorus, Esmond Knight as Fluellen, Leo Genn as The Constable of France, Ralph Truman as Mountjoy - The French Herald, Harcourt Williams as King Charles VI of France, Ivy St. Helier as Alice, Ernest Thesiger as Duke of Berri - French Ambassador, Max Adrian as The Dauphin, Francis Lister as Duke of Orleans, Valentine Dyall as Duke of Burgundy, Russell Thorndike as Duke of Bourbon, Michael Shepley as Gower, John Laurie as Jamy, Niall MacGinnis as Macmorris, Felix Aylmer as Archbishop of Canterbury, Nicholas Hannen as Duke of Exeter, Robert Helpmann as Bishop of Ely, Freda Jackson as Mistress Quickly, Jimmy Hanley as Williams and George Robey as Sir John Falstaff. Both the direction and the leading performance by Olivier are very good, the idea of opening in the play format is quite clever, and the battle sequence is a good bit of spectacle for the slightly confusing dialogue, a colourful classic historical drama. It was nominated the Oscars for Best Art Direction-Interior Decoration, Best Music for William Walton, the Honorary Award for outstanding achievement as actor, producer and director for Olivier, and Best Picture. Very good!

This is the best of any of Shakespeare's works rendered on film. Olivier deftly weaves the play, which begins as a stage production, played at the Globe Theatre with nervous actors, miscues, an audience, food vendors, a rain storm, and all that probably accompanied any Shakespeare play when it was contemporary, into a dramatic film.The play literally turns to "real life", as the actors and locales change before our eyes into the photo-play. All that is technique, but good as it is, the "play's the thing" as Shakepear's work comes to life before our eyes. Great production values. Great story line (thanks to W.S.). Great presentation all-around.This 1944 version is far superior to the mud and gore version produced later in the late 1980's.