Detail of miniature of Henry, Prince of Wales, offering or receiving a book. The kneeling man is perhaps John Mowbray, 2nd Duke of Norfolk. Taken from Thomas Hoccleve, Regement of Princes, Arundel 38, f. 37. Held and digitised by the British Library.
English King Henry V (reigned 1413-22) is legendary for his military successes despite his short reign and was immortalized by Shakespeare (and thus frequently portrayed on screen). He started his military exploits while still a teenager, and once he came to the throne he revived the English claims to French territory that then played out in many battles of the Hundred Years War. He captured most of northern France, including Paris and Normandy; the resulting treaty named him heir to the French throne.
Henry V married Catherine of Valois, daughter of the French king. They had one child, the future Henry VI. Henry died young (around 36ish according to my math) of illness, leaving his infant child the new king of England.
As always, there are a few productions featuring King Henry V that I can’t track down images for:
- Matheson Lang in Royal Cavalcade (1935)
- Martin Clunes in The Nearly Complete and Utter History of Everything (1999)
Otherwise, let’s do this!
Laurence Olivier in Henry V (1944)
The classic (Olivier!) in the classic (Shakespeare!).
Dan O’Herlihy in The Black Shield of Falworth (1954)
An American historical adventure feature film. “Peasant Myles Falworth is trained for knighthood and is groomed by various nobles to defeat the evil Earl of Alban who’s plotting to usurp King Henry IV’s throne,” per IMDB.
Robert Hardy in An Age of Kings (1960)
BBC Shakespeare adaptation series.
Lars Lind in Henrik IV (1964)
A Danish? TV adaptation of the Shakespeare play.
Keith Baxter in Chimes at Midnight (1965)
An Orson Welles comedy using Shakespeare characters, particularly Falstaff. The film centers on his relationship with Henry while Prince of Wales.
David Gwillim in Henry IV and Henry V (1979)
Yet More Shakespeare. Part of the BBC Shakespeare series.
Kenneth Branagh in Henry V (1989)
The other classic (Branagh!) in the classic (Shakespeare!).
Michael Pennington in The Wars of the Roses (1989)
A filmed (TV) series of Shakespeare plays from the English Shakespeare Company.
Jonathan Firth in Henry IV (1995)
You’re going to be shocked, but more! BBC! TV! Shakespeare! And yup, he’s the younger brother of Colin Firth!
Tom Hiddleston in The Hollow Crown (2012)
Don’t keel over when I say BBC! TV! Shakespeare!
Timothée Chalamet in The King (2019)
Yep, it’s Shakespeare, but only vaguely and for the big screen.
Who is YOUR on-screen Henry V?
Well, that Olivier photo that you said looked 16th century was supposed to be a performance at the Globe Theater… the actual Henry scenes are framed by scenes of the play.
I love the Branagh even more.
It’s Olivier. Has to be. His Henry was my absolute A1 romantic hero when I was a small girl and he is still wonderful in the role, outdated though his whole style of acting now is.
But – you’re saying “This feels more 16th century than 13th?” Eh??? Does this mean you have never SEEN it? Really? If so: Get thee to YouTube, go!
It was an amazingly innovative production; the beginning is set in a (very-well-researched-for-its-day) Globe Theatre in 1600 where Shakespeare’s newest play is being premiered: in these scenes Olivier is the lead actor of the Lord Chamberlain’s Men. Then the action dissolves into Henry’s own day, but the backdrops fluctuate between gritty realism (a grungy Tudor tavern, a sodden Flemish battlefield, etc.) and whimsical sets and mattes based EXTREMELY accurately on the Très Riches Heures du Duc de Berry, which were created within a year or so of the actual battle of Agincourt. If you know those wonderful images, you’ll keep spotting scenes and random details from them – lots of fun! The costume designer was Roger Furse, who did a lovely job – and somehow managed to make the elite costumes look seriously lavish, despite this being a wartime production.
And there’s a splendid gag right at the end . . .
I’ve only seen clips! Now I must see this film….thank you ;-)
I refuse to pick, they can all turn tiger when you’re not careful and I don’t plan to be chewed up! 😉
On an equally-serious note, I was watching Sir Kenneth Branagh’s BELFAST recently and it suddenly stuck me that the film would make an excellent companion piece to DERRY GIRLS – the film does an excellent job of introducing the situation on the ground at the start of the tv show (As well as showing the other side of the Sectarian divide) and the only thing making it implausible for characters from the one to show up in the other is that the film is set twenty-odd years before the TV show.
…
Now I’m wondering how Erin’s Ma and her social circle would have made of Billy’s Dad.
What they said about Olivier. It starts and ends in the Globe, but then becomes more stylised period, then “authentic”, then back to stylised. Think Tres Riches Heures.
The Branagh film is very much “in conversation with” the Olivier – if you watch the two St Crispin’s Day speeches side by side you’ll see what I mean. I prefer it because it sanitises war less – but the Olivier was done in 1944, and all about a small country taking on an overpowering enemy by invading Normany, and winning, while Branagh, post-Falklands, was much more of the “War is sh1t” school. Both films are packed with other stars of their era, and definitely worth watching.
So powerful is Shakespeare’s influence that I don’t think anyone has tried to do any kind of bard-free biopic.
Why do the two images of Michael Pennington evoke Richard II more than Henry V? They could both be from the abdication scene, holding the crown on one side, and the broken looking glass.
The Michael Pennington production was a sweep of Shakespeare’s histories, starting with a Victorian Richard II and ending with a modern-dress, extremely anarchic Richard III. Pennington, the artistic director of the English Shakespeare Company, played several roles.
My favorite Shakespeare play and fascinating monarch apart from fiction. Although the real Henry bears little resemblance to his fictional counterpart, especially the stories of his riotous youth.
Henry V (1989) is my favorite version of the play. Olivier’s Henry V has a lot to love about it, especially for its evocation of Medieval manuscripts and easily the best armour. Michael Pennington’s version is worthwhile for his performance alone, although it really, really leans into the “foppish, ineffectual” French trope to comic effect. Branagh’s film wisely made them more menacing.
The Chimes at Midnight is possibly the greatest Shakespeare film ever made. Brilliant from the word go.
As for Tom Hiddleston and The Hollow Crown: I quite liked his Prince Hal but his Henry V is a milquetoast rehash of Branagh. Also: what the shit is he wearing?! What’s with the long hair and goatee?
The less said about the matted asshair sandwich that is The King (2019) the better. “Let’s make it more ‘authentic’ while having no functional idea what politics, battle, armour, or material culture basically look like.”
Just a note, Henry V reigned from the late 14th to early 15th century :) not 13th
Reigned 1413 to 1422. Born in 1386, so his life crosses the century, but his reign doesn’t.
I’m voting with my eyes on this one. It is MCM after all. So—-TOM HIDDLESTON!!!!!!!!!!
The 1964 production is not Danish but Swedish, and apparently Lars Lind is listed as “Henry, prince of Wales”. So the nice photo is of Lars, but another dude named Erik Hell supposedly played the title role.
Elizabethans considered Henry V to be the ideal king in English history.