Essay On Henry V: The Film Adaptations

Henry V, King is a historical drama by Shakespeare based on the chronicles of Edward Hall and Holinshed. The play commences with the lately ascended Henry bewildering clergy and courtiers by his virtue and diplomacy. The archbishop of Canterbury demonstrates, in the long ‘Salic Law’ speech in Act 1 Scene II, Henry’s right to the throne of France, and the dauphin’s flippant gift of tennis balls, provides him an abrupt ploy for conquest. Henry quite prolifically exposes the three spies, Cambridge, Grey and Scrope, and sets out for France; He encircles and captures Harfleur, and attains an absolute victory at Agincourt (1415). The last act is devoted to Henry’s courtship of Katherine of France. The whole play is based on the various intricate nature of headship. The coaxing speech given by Henry V in the play is significant in many respects. The speech is delivered at the siege of Harfleur, the French town where Henry's drillers have created a fissure in the exterior wall. Henry tries to motivate his warriors to enter the breach through his oratorical dexterity. There are excellent film adaptations of Shakespeare’s plays that make him the finest and most filmed dramatist of times immemorial. The present essay discusses the three noteworthy film versions of Henry V. The first version is Laurence Olivier’s The Chronicle History of King Henry the Fift with His Battlle Fought at Agincourt in France of the year 1944. The next version is Kenneth Branagh’s Henry V and the last and final version is Thea Sharrock’s Henry V casting Tom Hiddleston as Henry V. Kenneth Branagh’s version is hailed as the better version in the present essay when compared to the other two versions.
The first version of the play is Laurence Olivier’s The Chronicle History of King Henry the Fift with His Battlle Fought at Agincourt in France of the year 1944. The version is commendable as the actor cum director Laurence Olivier makes the film during the Second World War. This version marks the dawn of the Shakespearean play as a big budget movie. Olivier enacts the lead in the film that ultimately becomes a drive for the British militants during the World War II. Olivier quite brilliantly presents emotive speech taking every care not to disturb the fluid emotions of the spectators. However the essence of the scene is secured by the depiction of the chivalric hero astride a white horse wearing a blue and red English coat with lion’s embroidery imprint on it. When Henry’s eloquence gathers momentum, the camera takes an elevated position and the audience gets a bird’s view of the hero that rather portrays an emotional and solely idealistic version of the battle of Harfleur. The era has the limitations of techniques and other difficulties of the war. Despite of all the troubles and calamities, Olivier creates a decent film version of the play.
The second version is Kenneth Branagh’s Henry V, which is his debut directorial venture and he plays the titular character. When compared to the Oliver’s version the Branagh has many merits like the developments in the technicalities did provide immense help to him. He could quite naturally portray the realistic scenes with the rough imageries of war and the dingy light and sound effects. His soldiers look like real warriors with mud and blood stained attires in contrast to Olivier’s neatly dressed soldiers. Branagh invites all the power when he raises his sword and declares:
Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more; Or close the wall up with our English dead. In peace there's nothing so becomes a man As modest stillness and humility: (Henry V III.i.)
Branagh sitting on top of the White horse is shot by placing camera at a low angle. The entire scene stands apart from the movie and did receive well appreciation from a multitude of audience across the globe.
The last version is of Tom Hiddleston enacting the role of Henry V in the movie The Hollow Crown: Henry V directed by Thea Sharrock in the year 2012. The contemporary version has the subtleties and nuances of the modern man, which makes it different from the first two versions. The settings are on par with the current possibilities. There is clarity in rendition of dialogues and power that has the capability to move the audience. The adaptation is a certain opponent to the earlier versions of Kenneth Branagh and Laurence Olivier. Tom Hiddleston creates a visual treat as he makes a splendid makeover from Prince Hal to the England’s supreme ruler, Henry V.
These three versions are best in their own ways. But the Kennet Branagh version is realistic to the original text in official terms and in socio-political ones. In comparison to Olivier and Tom, Branagh’s reading is visually alluring. He successfully manages to retain Shakespeare’s original message and watches carefully not to deviate from the real path. Laura Torrado Mariñas highlights Mannheim’s vision: “Branagh creates a complex Henry for the 1990s, one who “radically divides our sympathies”, since he “focuses our eternal schizophrenia about wars and heroes” (The English History Play on Screen 121-145)