Best Speech in a Movie: Henry V

Today is Saint Crispin's Day. 596 years ago today, one of the most important battles in the history of the world occurred with the French defeat by the combined forces of the British and Welsh at the Battle of Agincourt.

What's he that wishes so?
My cousin Westmoreland? No, my fair cousin;
If we are mark'd to die, we are enow
To do our country loss; and if to live,
The fewer men, the greater share of honour.
God's will! I pray thee, wish not one man more.
By Jove, I am not covetous for gold,
Nor care I who doth feed upon my cost;
It yearns me not if men my garments wear;
Such outward things dwell not in my desires.
But if it be a sin to covet honour,
I am the most offending soul alive.
No, faith, my coz, wish not a man from England.
God's peace! I would not lose so great an honour
As one man more methinks would share from me
For the best hope I have. O, do not wish one more!
Rather proclaim it, Westmoreland, through my host,
That he which hath no stomach to this fight,
Let him depart; his passport shall be made,
And crowns for convoy put into his purse;
We would not die in that man's company
That fears his fellowship to die with us.
This day is call'd the feast of Crispian.
He that outlives this day, and comes safe home,
Will stand a tip-toe when this day is nam'd,
And rouse him at the name of Crispian.
He that shall live this day, and see old age,
Will yearly on the vigil feast his neighbours,
And say 'To-morrow is Saint Crispian.'
Then will he strip his sleeve and show his scars,
And say 'These wounds I had on Crispian's day.'
Old men forget; yet all shall be forgot,
But he'll remember, with advantages,
What feats he did that day. Then shall our names,
Familiar in his mouth as household words-
Harry the King, Bedford and Exeter,
Warwick and Talbot, Salisbury and Gloucester-
Be in their flowing cups freshly rememb'red.
This story shall the good man teach his son;
And Crispin Crispian shall ne'er go by,
From this day to the ending of the world,
But we in it shall be remembered-
We few, we happy few, we band of brothers;
For he to-day that sheds his blood with me
Shall be my brother; be he ne'er so vile,
This day shall gentle his condition;
And gentlemen in England now-a-bed
Shall think themselves accurs'd they were not here,
And hold their manhoods cheap whiles any speaks
That fought with us upon Saint Crispin's day.

Shakespeare Series: Laurie and Atkinson

Hugh Laurie and Rowan Atkinson in a Hamlet Shakespeare sketch:

Funny stuff, apparently from Hysteria 2!

Shakespeare Series: Romeo + Juliet

1996

Staring: Leonardo DiCaprio, Claire Danes, John Leguizamo, Harold Perrineau, Pete Postlethwaite, Paul Sorvino, Brian Dennehy, Paul Rudd,
Director: Baz Luhrmann

How do you make a disaster of one of Shakespeare’s best works? It’s hard to imagine, but if something is made that looks like this train wreck, you’ve done it.

An unoriginal reworking of the story, in this case it is set as a modern day American gang story, it stays far too “true” to the original play to a point of absurdity. Instead of actually adapting it like the amazing West Side Story – review pending – they stuck far too close to the original play to “update” it so much. Perhaps they were going for the uniqueness of having it set “today” with people speaking the original lines and instead of toting bladed weapons – they walk around with “Swords” and “Dagger” guns. It seems very clever, until you realize how corny it is. On stage you can set these plays in any time period – its part of the fun unique way of doing it on stage.

I’ve seen “Two Gentlemen of Verona” as “Two Gentlemen of Verona Beach” – and it worked. A film adaptation would most likely be a disaster. Hey, wait a minute Romeo + Juliet was set in Verona Beach as well – and it didn’t work on the big screen. The thing that makes it work in that case is the limitations of the stage – you can’t dilute the story visually very much.

The first time I watched it I realized that the film would not work was towards the beginning – a fight at a gas station seemed to have been filmed by a maniac on a mixture of speed and cocaine. Bullets ricochet off of indescript objects, and cut back to them often in the fight. This is all in between John Leguizamo’s extremely fanatical “laughter” – which I suppose was supposed to set the mood of his character. Instead it just made the scene look like it was filled by a complete amateur who was trying to cut a 5 minute scene with 2 minutes of footage. It’s mostly downhill from there.

Verdict: **/*****

Shakespeare Series: Henry V - 1989

Staring: Kenneth Branagh, Derek Jacobi, Brian Blessed, Paul Scofield, Emma Thompson, Robbie Coltrane, Judi Dench, Ian Holm, Christian Bale
Directed by: Kenneth Branagh

This is it. One of, if not, the best Shakespeare adaptations ever made. Sure Zeffirelli’s Romeo and Juliet is great (there’s no doubting that as I already stated) but compared to this it barely holds a candle to this.

Another Kenneth Branagh directed/staring film, instead of the way Hamlet is created as an entirely new world, he keeps this story almost as a historically accurate film (as far as a Shakespeare play can actually be historically accurate). You could almost imagine that the cameras were *at* the battle of Battle of Agincourt. The cast, like Hamlet, is not wasted.

This story might actually be unknown to many of you out there so you’re forgiven (I kid…). It’d be more interesting to just read it, see a production of it at a theater, or just see the darn movie. Just for those who might think it’s “boring” there’s a fantastic battle towards the end. And for some of you more jingoistic people – the French don’t do so good.

According to Wikipedia, the English soldier who begins singing Non Nobis Domine at the end of the Battle of Agincourt is the film's composer, Patrick Doyle. The music that Patrick Doyle created for this film was utterly amazing. It is unfortunate that this man is not as well known as many other composers. Many who remember trailers from 15-20 years ago might recognize that some portions of this score were used in many of them.

Henry V won the Academy Award for Best Costume Design. The film was also nominated Branagh for Best Actor in a Leading Role and Best Director.

Verdict: *****/*****

Shakespeare Series: Romeo and Juliet - 1968

Staring: Leonard Whiting, Olivia Hussey
Director: Franco Zeffirelli

The ultimate version of the tragic love story, the 1968 version has just about everything correct in it that other versions of the tale may lack. Some consider this the “definitive” version of the work – and I almost can’t disagree. You'll see my take on the 1996 ghastly work, Romeo + Juliet.

Not familiar with the plot of Romeo and Juliet? My God…

I think one of the strong points about the film is that the principal cast members – specifically Leonard Whiting (Romeo) and Olivia Hussey (Juliet) were actually young. So young in fact that Zeffirelli had to get special permission for a scene where 15 year old Hussey is topless (only for a brief moment). According to IMDb, Hussey wasn't legally allowed to attend the London premier of the movie as it contained nudity because she was under the age of 18. Bummer.

Imagine this though: Paul McCartney was originally asked to play the part of Romeo. Yikes.

Zeffirelli went on to direct Mel Gibson’s Hamlet.

Verdict: **** ½ /*****

Shakespeare Series: Hamlet - 1996

Staring: Kenneth Branagh, Derek Jacobi, Julie Christie, Kate Winslet, Billy Crystal, Robin Williams, Charlton Heston, Jack Lemmon, Rufus Sewell, Brian Blessed, Richard Attenborough, Judi Dench

Director: Kenneth Branagh

Writers: William Shakespeare, Kenneth Branagh

Again, I don’t think I need to spend time with a plot summary for this or any other Shakespeare film, so long as it covers the story almost to a T.

This film of epic length is certainly not a film to miss, that is, if you can stomach the 242 minute running time. That’s right the film is over four hours long. Completely unabridged – it apparently (according to Wikipedia) only adds a single word: 'Attack!'. This is truly an almost completely faithful adaptation of the play, no joke.

The striking thing about this film is the design and feel of both the sets and the dress. Very Edwardian. Oh, so you don’t know what I mean by that, hum? For the illiterate or uninformed, the Edwardian period covered the reign of English King Edward VII (which is funny because he was pretty much a German) between 1901 and 1910. So anyway, before I lose both you and myself in this, the architecture is very Art Nouveau (Which is my second favorite design type behind Art Deco), and surprisingly it is not distracting!

The almost all-star cast (Williams excluded of course, I kid… I kid) is definitely not wasted, and is only a slight distraction when watching. Shouts of “I can’t believe it’s HIM!” could come out of your mouth when a character is introduced.

Shockingly this film has yet to be released on DVD – so no luck people, you’ll have to catch it on VHS like all the old fashioned people (a real film buff should have one because there are still many gems that haven’t been released).

Verdict: **** ½ /*****

Shakespeare Series: Cat Head Theater

Continuing the Shakespeare theme:

Cat Head Theater presents: Hamlet

Funny stuff.

Shakespeare Series: Throne of Blood

1957
Staring: Toshirô Mifune, Isuzu Yamada,
Director: Akira Kurosawa

Because I can assume that not all of you are deadbeats and that most of you have at least seen or read Macbeth, I won't get into the details. However, after second thought I'll provide some backround as this one has changed around things ever so slightly. Washizu (Mifune) is Macbeth. Asaji (Yamada) is Lady Macbeth. Macduff doesn't appear and Washizu's fate is the same, yet very different than Macbeth's (you'll understand).

I actually read an unintentionally funny “review” which claimed – in jest no doubt – that Throne of Blood was actually not really Shakespeare.

Are they kidding? I certainly hope that behind it all that they didn’t believe a word of it. Throne of Blood is undoubtedly a Shakespeare adaptation. There is no precedent to measure when an actual adaptation quits being an adaptation (this of course is within logical limits as you can’t just claim that a film is or isn’t on a whim). There are no set standards to what are necessary or unnecessary changes – look at all the unnecessary changes that occurred in such films as Return of the King. Would someone claim that The Shining isn’t an adaptation of the book of the same title? Overall, the essence of Throne of Blood is untouched when it comes to Macbeth.

The interpretation of the film is certainly different than the play. Where Kurosawa succeeded in making a very slick and visually symbolic film, it was almost entirely devoid of what made the play really great – they psychological attentiveness to practically all the characters. Other than a fleeting moment, pretty much all the characters seemed resigned to their fates, or at least what they believed their fate really was.

With that said, as I mentioned before, the film was visually stunning. Practically every scene was filled with symbolism and details that will take at least one more viewing before I catch it all.

Verdict: *** ½ /*****