A patriotic booster, Laurence Olivier's directorial debut and star turn as Henry V result in a sharply realized and resonant take on Shakespeare's deeply British warrior king.
A patriotic booster, Laurence Olivier's directorial debut and star turn as Henry V result in a sharply realized and resonant take on Shakespeare's deeply British warrior king.
Laurence Olivier's adaptation of Henry V is one of the finest Shakespeare films ever made, full of rousing action, beautiful colors, and passionate performances. Henry V is the story of the newly crowned king of England, who fights the French for possession of Normandy. Olivier's direction is inventive, beginning the film as if it were a performance at the Globe Theatre, and having it slowly expand so the final battle scenes take place in realistic settings. Released in 1944 during the height of
World War II, Henry V didn't receive an American release until 1946, upon which Olivier won a special Academy Award for "his outstanding achievement as actor, producer and director in bringing Henry V to the screen." ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, Rovi
One can pick plenty of bones with Laurence Olivier's direction of the Shakespeare play, but this 1945 film is still a powerful production from many standpoints.
Experimental in its approach to adapating Shakespeare to the big screen, Laurence Olivier's film is an innovative, stunningly looking, well-acted work.
The dashing Olivier gives an exceptional performance, whether galvanizing his troops with his soaring oratory, or realizing on the eve of combat the king's profound isolation.
If it has power now, it's for Larry's commanding soldier-king and for his audacious sub-Brechtian adapatation, which scythes the text to reveal the heart - notably in the extraordinary, moving, pre-battle 'A little touch of Harry' exposing cold fear's co
That the film should get made at all was an extraordinary achievement, but Olivier, in his directing debut, also gave us the first large-scale radical movie re-interpretation of Shakespeare long before others.
Not at all what I expected. The use to the theater stage and "Mr. Roger's Neighborhood"-esque production design in fascinating.Can defiantly see it's influence on Wes Anderson and Monty Python.
Olivier,the brave little toaster.Megalomaniac beyond good and evil,a person who pushed Shakespeare to the limits,and in his personal Henry V vision tarnishes the philosophy of the play.He probably knows we're in the movies so in spite of the rejuvenating colors and the chirping atmosphere,we are aware of the
Shakespearean pathos somewhere in that clamor of fight.
September 6, 2008
Dimitris Springer
Super Reviewer
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