Henry V (1944 film)

Henry V is a 1944 British Technicolor film adaptation of William Shakespeares play of the same name. The onscreen title is The Chronicle History of King Henry the Fift with His Battell Fought at Agincourt in France the title of the 0 quarto edition of the play. It stars Laurence Olivier, who also directed. The play was adapted for the screen by Olivier, Dallas Bower, and Alan Dent. The score is by William Walton.

We see a panorama of London in 0 and travel to the Globe Theatre where the audience is being seated. The Chorus Leslie Banks enters and implores the audience to use their imagination to visualise the setting of the play. We then see, up on a balcony, two clergymen, The Archbishop of Canterbury Felix Aylmer, and the Bishop of Ely Robert Helpmann discussing the current affairs of state. Henry Laurence Olivier then enters, and discusses with his nobles the state of France. A gift is delivered to Henry from the French Dauphin. The gift turns out to be tennis balls, a jibe at Henrys youth and inexperience. Offended, Henry sends the French ambassador away, and prepares to claim the French throne, a throne that he believes is rightfully his.We then see characters from Shakespeares Henry IV plays Corporal Nym Frederick Cooper, Bardolph Roy Emerton, and Pistol Robert Newton. These characters resolve to join Henrys army, however, before they do, Falstaff George Robey, another returning character, and one of the Kings former mentors, dies. At this point, the film gradually ceases to be located in the Globe Theatre instead the scenes are performed in stylised film sets reminiscent of a medieval Book of Hours. ........

Source: Wikipedia