Movie · 1944 · History, Drama, War · 2h 17m · English
Curator score: 5.6/10 (15K ratings)
Overview
In 1415, in the midst of the Hundred Years' War, the young King Henry V of England embarks on the conquest of France.
Ratings
Curator score: 5.6/10
IMDb: 7.0/10
Letterboxd: 3.50/5
Rotten Tomatoes: 100%
TMDB: 6.7/10
Director
Laurence Olivier
Production
Two Cities Films
Cast
Laurence Olivier, Renée Asherson, Ralph Truman, Ernest Thesiger, Frederick Cooper, Robert Helpmann, Leslie Banks, Felix Aylmer, Robert Newton, Freda Jackson, George Cole, Leo Genn, Russell Thorndike, Harcourt Williams, Esmond Knight, Michael Shepley, John Laurie, Niall MacGinnis, Jimmy Hanley, Valentine Dyall
Where to watch
Max
Curator Review
Verdict
A stately, inventive Shakespeare adaptation that turns stagecraft into cinema while doubling as wartime morale-boosting spectacle. Its pageantry, rhetoric, and battle sequences still carry force, especially if you enjoy classical performance style and the history of film form.
Best for
Shakespeare fans
Viewers interested in wartime cinema and propaganda
Classic British cinema enthusiasts
People who enjoy theatrical, stylized filmmaking
Fans of historical epics with strong rhetoric
Skip if
You prefer naturalistic acting and modern pacing
You dislike stage-bound dialogue-heavy films
You want historically gritty realism over pageantry
You are not in the mood for old-fashioned performance styles
Overview
Laurence Olivier’s Henry V is both a grand historical drama and a sly lesson in how cinema can absorb theater without losing its own identity. It begins in the world of the stage, then gradually opens into a more expansive visual language, making the film as much about adaptation as about conquest. That formal playfulness is what keeps it lively decades later.
Worth noting
The wartime context is impossible to miss, and the film’s patriotic charge is part of its appeal and its limitation. It is stirring, polished, and often rousing, but also clearly shaped to inspire a 1940s audience. If you respond to eloquent speeches, ceremonial spectacle, and the thrill of seeing Shakespeare rendered with color and movement, it lands strongly.
Bottom line
For viewers who want realism or psychological intimacy, it may feel remote. But as a landmark of classical British cinema, and as an unusually self-aware Shakespeare film, it remains a rewarding watch.
Top Letterboxd reviews
Mary Conti (4★) · 155 likes
**Part of the Best Picture Project**
Whether it was done on purpose or not, it is quite fascinating how Lawrence Olivier managed to turn a Shakespeare play not only into a piece of propaganda, but a commentary on the difference between theater and cinema.
The film begins as a play, as we watch a performance of Henry V at the Globe theater. It then slowly begins to peel back those sets and come into the cinematic landscape, and the acting… more
Paul Elliott (4.5★) · 87 likes
This Technicolor adaptation of William Shakespeare's history play engages with several layers of stylisation and was the first film which achieved in prevailing simultaneously in being Shakespearean and completely cinematic. It’s directed by Laurence Olivier, who is authoritative in the principal part of the king and expresses strong emotions and sentiments while conveying an enormous amount of glorious and enthusiastic prose.
The film opens as a performance at the Globe Theater in 1600 before the activities onstage transition to the… more
Justin Peterson (3.5★) · 60 likes
Criterion Collection Spine #41
Henry stepped out on stage, he said he was ready to kick ass, he kicked some French ass, and he brought home the motherfucking bacon! .... I am not used to my Shakespearean plays being so victorious!
"We charge you in the name of God, take heed how you awake our sleeping sword of war."
If you have seen Henry V you will surely know I am fluffing up the snooze fest that is the first… more
Jake Alda Coffey (2.5★) · 60 likes
My main takeaway from this is that Henry V had a terrible haircut.
Ben Hibburd (2★) · 48 likes
The film starts with a stage-play of the stage-play, then turns into a cinematic rendition of the play, only to turn back into a play - Henry V is the original Inception.