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n/aLaurence Olivier goes once more unto the breach in Henry V, a digitally remastered reissue of his adaptation of Shakespeare's history play. Shot while Britain was still fighting the Axis, its rabble-rousing celebration of an ancient English victory proved timely. Olivier plays the titular king as he leads his army into France to fight the Battle of Agincourt and stirs the troops with thundering speeches ("We few, we happy few, we band of brothers"). Turning Shakespeare into wartime propaganda, the film's proud patriotism for En-ger-land still strikes a chord.
Beginning with a stunning aerial shot over London circa 1600, Olivier makes fascinating use of his camera and Technicolor palette (painstakingly restored in this handsome print). Zooming in on The Globe Theatre on the banks of the Thames, the debut director begins by recreating Shakespeare's England. It puts us among the boisterous Elizabethan audience as they heckle the players on stage, reminding us of Shakespeare's populist appeal. Slowly it opens outwards, bigger sets and location battle scenes, taking Shakespeare's verse beyond the theatre and into the real world.
"ACTION-PACKED, STIRRING AND BANG UP TO DATE"
As the star, Olivier consolidates his reputation as one of Britain's finest actors, transforming the wayward Prince Hal of Henry IV Parts I and II into a man and a king who "imitates the actions of a tiger". As a director, he papers over the play's anti-war grumblings, turning it instead into a tub-thumping battle cry. It's fair to say the film has dated; some of the garish, Toy Town sets give it a dreamlike, pantomime look. Kenneth Brannagh's 1989 version transformed all that into a muddy, muscular and frankly less jingoistic affair, but Olivier's triumph still remains. By presenting this play as action-packed, stirring and (most of all) bang up-to-date, he helped post-war audiences reconnect with The Bard.
Henry V is out in the UK on 10th August 2007.
