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HENRY V
Laurence Olivier, UK, 1944
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The spirit that drove this production of Henry V to completion translates
directly onto screen into an exciting epic.
1944: one of the darkest periods in British history, when the country
was close to breaking point with the continued onslaught of World
War II. As part of a relentless propaganda effort to buoy the national
spirit, the government commissioned Laurence Olivier to produce a
film that would rally all that saw it.
Henry V was an ideal Shakespeare play for adaptation. In it, a young
King Henry invades France, but despite amassing thousands of troops,
progress is not easy against a well-equipped French army. The tide
begins to turn at the crucial Battle of Agincourt, where the superior
skill of the English longbows and a better defensive position secures
an important victory.
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.
The action opens in the Globe Theatre, but as the camera closes in,
this space expands into the infinite scope that film can offer. Many
of the sets are painted backdrops, but these melt away entirely for
the superb battle scenes that were shot in Ireland, using thousands
of Irish regular soldiers as extras.
Olivier pared down the play into a simpler script that a wide audience
could enjoy, but retained the all-important essence of the piece.
As director, co-screenwriter, and lead actor, his responsibilities
on this production were great, but he answered his call to boost the
war effort with flair and creativity, turning a limited budget and
tough wartime conditions into a Technicolor epic that proved a massive
hit.
Almar Haflidason
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