Cinema: Masterpiece

(4 of 6)

Past & Present. And here poem and film link the great past to the great present. It is unlikely that anything on the subject has been written to excel Shakespeare's short study, in Henry V, of men stranded on the verge of death and disaster. The man who made this movie made it midway in England's most terrible war, within the shadows of Dunkirk. In appearance and in most of what they say, the three soldiers with whom Henry talks on the eve of Agincourt might just as well be soldiers of World War II. No film of that war has yet said what they say so honestly or so well.

Here again Olivier helped out Shakespeare. Shakespeare gave to a cynical soldier the great speech: But if the cause be not good, etc. Olivier puts it in the mouth of a slow-minded country boy (Brian Nissen). The boy's complete lack of cynicism, his youth, his eyes bright with sleepless danger, the peasant patience of his delivery, and his Devon repetition of the tolled word die as doy, lift this wonderful expression of common humanity caught in human war level with the greatness of the King.

Henry V is one of the great experiences in the history of motion pictures. It is not, to be sure, the greatest: the creation of new dramatic poetry is more important than the recreation of old. For such new poetry, movies offer the richest opportunity since Shakespeare's time, and some of them have made inspired use of the chance. But Henry V is a major achievement—this perfect marriage of great dramatic poetry with the greatest contemporary medium for expressing it.

Where Credit Is Due. Producer-Director Olivier is very earnest in his desire to share the honors of his production with those who helped him.

His friend Dallas Bower, a producer for BBC, was responsible for the idea of the production.

The Royal Navy had given Olivier leave to make Demi-Paradise (Adventure for Two) in the interest of Anglo-Russian relations, and extended it so that he could make Henry V "in the interests," says Olivier, "of Anglo-British relations."

Producer Filippo Del Giudice (who promoted Noei Coward's In Which We Serve on an original £15,000 shoestring) furnished some, and raised more.t of the £472,000 (a little under $2,000,000) which Henry V cost.