Cheap Henry V - Criterion Collection (DVD) (Laurence Olivier, Robert Newton) (Laurence Olivier) Price

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Customer Reviews of Henry V - Criterion Collection

Interesting but Propagandistic
This is described often as the first successful screen version of a Shakespeare play. I'd have to disagree, there is a Max Reinhardt version of A Midsummer Night's Dream antedating Henry V and at least as good. This version of Henry V was produced during WWII and was intended as a morale booster. The screenplay is an edited version of Henry V with portions that show Henry's ruthlessness excised. These include his orders to execute English traitors, the famous speech before Harfleur in which he threatens to kill all the inhabitants of the town, and this orders to kill French prisoners after the battle of Agincourt. While one-sided, this is a successful production. Henry is portrayed by the young and glamorous Olivier in a tremendously attractive performance. The play is staged theatrically and in full Technicolor glory. The other actors are very good. This version is definitely worth seeing though the more recent Kenneth Branagh version is much closer to the original play. If you're going to see or own one version, use the Branagh version. If you enjoy differing versions of Shakespeare, then seeing this version is a reasonable use of time.

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Pro Henry
Sir Laurence Olivier's 1945 version of Henry V was not the first attempt to bring Shakespeare to the screen, but it was the first to be successful. Up to that point, filmmakers had tried to translate the Bard to film, but failed to achieve any success. Sir Laurence was given the task to create a film that would be pro war and pro England in order to bolster the spirits of the people during World War II. While his version of Henry V is far from a faithful adaptation, it captures the essence of the play and was a tremendous critical and commercial success. It showed Sir Laurence's tremendous talent not only as an actor but as a writer and director. The film is a visual marvel, shot in glorious Technicolor, it opens with the play being performed on stage at the Globe Theater circa 1600 and then dissolves into the actual battlefields of Agincourt. Through the years the film has come to be derided as just a piece of wartime English propaganda. The film definitely was made to serve that type of purpose, but to simply classify in that vein is take away from the masterful job of producing a visually stunning and well crafted film that was very much on the cutting edge of filmmaking in 1945. In fact, the Academy gave Sir Laurence an honorary Oscar for his achievements in creating the film in addition to nominating him for Best Actor and the film for Best Picture.

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Visually splendid
I've seen this movie only once, and what thrilled me was the design -- the colors, the costumes, the amazing sets. The cavalry charge, done in a single tracking shot that lasts about a minute, is alone worth the price of admission. And I'm a guy who is most interested in plot.

The plot, unfortunately, stinks. The propaganda plays are not Shakespeare's best, and Henry V is not the best of the propaganda plays. Forget the politics, and the really embarassing courtship scene (maybe just turn the sound off), and watch.

Another reviewer complained that Olivier feminized the title role. I think this is likely a misunderstanding -- in the "play" part of the movie, Henry is an actor wearing stage makeup.