Fite: Olivier's Henry V vs. Branagh's

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Branagh's all the way. I really lurve the unique technique that Olivier does in slowly bringing us from the Globe into a film, but it often seems overlong and lost within the text. Branagh just has a punch and grit that makes it seem more urgent and human.

― Girolamo Savonarola, Wednesday, 16 July 2003 04:58 (twenty-two years ago)

Hmm...Branagh's is a little more immediate, but you can't beat the St Crispin's speech in Olivier's. Historical context counts for something too.

― rgeary (rgeary), Wednesday, 16 July 2003 06:18 (twenty-two years ago)

Both are worthy. Olivier's the better actor and Branagh the better director, I think. My main problem with both versions is that I'm not that fond of HV the play: it's dazzlingly written but Shakespeare's abrupt swerve into patriotic bombast (after the anti-militarism of HIV 1 and 2) never convinces me.

― Justyn Dillingham (Justyn Dillingham), Wednesday, 16 July 2003 10:18 (twenty-two years ago)

all films with Olivier are SHITE so it has to be Branagh.

― DV (dirtyvicar), Wednesday, 16 July 2003 12:35 (twenty-two years ago)

b-b-but what about CLASH OF THE TITANS?

― Justyn Dillingham (Justyn Dillingham), Thursday, 17 July 2003 05:47 (twenty-two years ago)

To say nothing of Marathon Man.

― Girolamo Savonarola, Thursday, 17 July 2003 06:01 (twenty-two years ago)

sorry, I forgot Clash of the Titans.

and while I've not seen Marathon Man, mentioning it reminds me of that great Laurence Olivier anecdote ("My dear boy, have you tried 'acting'?"), which goes a long way to rehabilitate him.

― DV (dirtyvicar), Friday, 18 July 2003 11:16 (twenty-two years ago)

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