Henry V (1944)
…………………………………………………
Henry V Movie Review
Henry V is a 1944 epic historical film directed by and starring Laurence Olivier. It’s a very strong adaptation that is also technically inventive.
………………………………………………….
“Every subject’s duty is the king’s;
but every subject’s soul is his own“
………………………………………………….
………………………………………………….
In the midst of the Hundred Years’ War, the young King Henry V of England embarks on the conquest of France in 1415. This was the first big adaptation of this iconic historical piece by William Shakespeare. Although I preferred the Kenneth Branagh adaptation myself, I still have huge admiration for what Olivier did with this very unique approach.
The prime aspect differentiating this movie from other Shakespeare adaptations is the stagey approach to it. Basically, what Olivier did here is frame the entire picture as a play. Not only that, but he heavily tried to imbue the movie with immense historical accuracy and realism, which resulted in a film that attempted to bring us what it must have been like to watch a play at the Globe Theater back in 1600.
The resulting movie is truly a technical marvel. The biggest reason to see it is exactly for those technical aspects as they are all uniformly superb. The backdrops are just glorious, astonishingly colorful and timeless in quality. The scenery of the castle, the forest and the fields was particularly breathtaking to witness. The attention to detail in recreating these sets and costumes was truly admirable. The costume design is incredible with every person being dressed in a historically accurate manner.
………………………………………………….
………………………………………………….
Another highlight is the score by William Walton. He was rightfully Oscar-nominated for his incredible work here. Each tune is fittingly very archaic and in particular those lighter and more cheerful themes elevated the film to a more enjoyable overall tone. The cinematography is also fantastic and so is the directing from Olivier himself. He needs to be admired for everything that he did right here and for just how brilliantly creative his vision was.
If there is one issue that I had with this Henry V is the fact that Olivier did not stick with his format for the entirety of the film’s runtime. You see, somewhere around the midpoint the movie suddenly abandoned its stage framing in favor of realistic battle sequences that were more cinematic in quality and much more epic. Those action scenes were so well executed, but again I would have appreciated the film more had it stayed with its format through and through.
The dialogue is excellent obviously, but the story is not as engaging to follow nowadays due to its prolonged runtime and editing that left a lot to be desired. Too many scenes, especially those of the comedic variety should have been trimmed and the movie would have flowed much better. The more inspired and emotional moments also did not quite stick the landing here, certainly not as much as they did in the more effective Branagh version.
………………………………………………….
………………………………………………….
The acting is very strong across the board, but the characterization overall was only solid. The only truly memorable character and actor is the titular protagonist portrayed beautifully by Laurence Olivier himself. His dual role of actor and director was immensely accomplished in this production, which led to him being recognized with a special award from the Academy for that great work.
1944’s Henry V is an audio-visual marvel of storytelling. Laurence Olivier did an amazing dual job here as both actor and director, in particular excelling in the latter role. His decision to frame the movie as a real stage play as it must have been like back in 1600 was brilliant and this made the movie truly unique. I wished that he stuck with that format throughout the entire runtime, though, as he abandoned it in the second half. This version is also not as emotionally effective as the Branagh adaptation. But still, it’s an epic, timeless and gorgeous movie that is especially stunning in its breathtaking sets and colorful costumes.
My Rating – 4
Results
