Henry V **** (1989, Kenneth Branagh, Derek Jacobi, Judi Dench, Emma Thompson) – Classic Movie Review 2092

Director Kenneth Branagh’s gritty 1989 film version of the play by William Shakespeare is a labour of love and a tour de force. Branagh, in his directorial debut, received Oscar nominations for Best Actor and Best Director.

Branagh writes the screenplay, directs and stars in this highly creditable, widely acclaimed version of one of Shakespeare’s best-loved plays. His Oscar-nominated performance as King Henry V is a youthful and vigorous one. And he has surrounded himself with the strongest of support casts, with Paul Scofield, Derek Jacobi, Ian Holm, Emma Thompson, Alec McCowen, Judi Dench, Robbie Coltrane, Brian Blessed and Christian Bale in supporting roles.

The story tells of the English king’s conquest of France after the French king insults him, culminating in the bloody Battle of Agincourt.

Even if it has the look of a filmed play made on a careful, lowish budget, the film is worthwhile, accessible and popular and makes for easy, enjoyable viewing. But there is the little problem of the competition from Laurence Olivier’s classic 1944 version of Henry V, which does not need a remake.

And, try as hard as he can, Branagh certainly does not improve on it, though he commendably does produce a different kind of achievement with a grittier and more realistic visual style than Olivier’s. He avoids Olivier’s stagey, stylised sets, and shoots his Battle of Agincourt in desperate, evil rain, mud and gore instead of Olivier’s heroic sunlit field.

Nominated for three Academy Awards, it won one Oscar for Best Costume Design (Phyllis Dalton). It won just a single Bafta award, for Best Direction. And it won Best Film at the Evening Standard British Film Awards.

Also in the cast are Derek Jacobi (Chorus), Simon Shepherd (Duke Humphrey of Gloucester), James Larkin (Duke John of Bedford), Brian Blessed (Duke Thomas Beaufort of Exeter), Richard Briers (as Bardolph, former friend of the King and lieutenant in his army), Robbie Coltrane (as Sir John Falstaff), James Simmons, Paul Gregory, Charles Kay (Archbishop of Canterbury), Alec McCowen (Bishop of Ely), Edward Jewesbury (Sir Thomas Erpingham), Ian Holm (Captain Fluellen), Michael Williams (as Williams, soldier in Henry’s army), Geoffrey Hutchings, Robert Stephens (as Pistol), Judi Dench (as innkeeper Mistress Quickly), Paul Scofield (as Charles VI of France), Harold Innocent, Emma Thompson (as Katharine, daughter of Charles VI), John Sessions (as Macmorris), Michael Maloney (as the Dauphin), Christian Bale (as Robin the Luggage-Boy) and Geraldine McEwan (as Alice, a Lady attending on Katharine). It would be valuable just for them, especially as many of them are no longer with us.

Produced by Bruce Sharman with the BBC and Branagh’s company Renaissance Films, it was made on a $9million budget. Principal photography took place from October to December 1988, with over half of it shot on sound stages at Shepperton Studios and many of the battle sequences on nearby fields.

The score is written by first-time film composer Patrick Doyle and performed by the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Simon Rattle. Doyle won the 1989 Ivor Novello Award for Best Film Theme for Non Nobis, Domine.

The film was praised and popular in America, where it grossed over $10 million in a small release.

Bafta-winning actress Geraldine McEwan died at 82 on January 30 2015 after treatment for a stroke.

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© Derek Winnert 2015 Classic Movie Review 2092

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