Shakespeare can be interpreted in several different ways; every person who reads it can interpret it differently. Certain decisions on where an adaptation is set or which lines are to be said furthers a director’s vision of a film. The major way for a director to set his own vision is to place it in the right genre. This is where Kenneth Branagh’s version differs from Laurence Olivier’s film: the scope, the genre, of Branagh’s film is more of an epic than Olivier’s film due to the use of its music by Patrick Doyle and the sets by Tim Harvey, not because of the battles.
The music in the two adaptations, the non-diegetic or asynchronous sound for the score, is completely different in the two adaptations. Olivier kept the adaptation in the Elizabethan era and so the music is more along the line of that time. In the first scene, he even keeps the portrayals on an Elizabethan stage and so the music is synchronous music, or diegetic music, because there is an actual group of musicians playing the music (OxfordGreats 2:46). When Branagh set out to create his epic adaptation, he uses Patrick Doyle’s music to reflect the grand scale of the film, the patriotism that King Harry symbolizes, and the bloody battles that are fought. He places the film in its historical time, including no synchronous music in his adaptation, only asynchronous music, or the orchestral score, that one would think an epic would have rather than Elizabethan-type music.
There is one specific scene that the music is used to further each of the films’ respective goals: the battle of Harfleur. During the battle of Harlfeur in Branagh’s film, the music swells and crescendos into a powerful score. (Branagh 43:33-45:20) The battle is very subdued in the Olivier film, calling for calmer music and more mellow rather than a large, brassy feel. “Once more onto the breech, dear friends, once more,/Or Close the wall with our English dead.” (Norton 3.1.1-2) This speech in Olivier’s film is said outside of the battle and there is very little music to hear. It is completely vacant of all music to compliment Olivier’s speech (OxfordGreats 44:17). What little music is played is more mellow than grand. However, Doyle’s music gives more of a sense of power and prestige than that of Olivier. It is quicker and louder because Branagh keeps the men right outside of the gates, making the music louder and more menacing and more urgent than that of Olivier’s film.
A major way that Olivier’s music for his film is different from that of Branagh’s film is the absence of a main theme. Patrick Doyle’s music uses the line from the end of the battle where King Harry shouts out “Let there be sung Non Nobis and Te Deum.” (Norton 4.8.117) From this line, Doyle composes his theme, “Non Nobis Domine” which all other musical themes of the film derive from. (Branagh 1:55:01) It plays during the battle of Agincourt and parts play in the siege of Harfleur. It follows the action wherever it goes, which is one aspect needed for an epic, one that Olivier does not have; a theme that connects the entire film together, musically (i.e. the music from Gladiator, Braveheart, The Lord of the Rings). Olivier uses fairly generic music that only is used to manipulate the emotions of the audience at the time, rather than as a two hour operatic score like Doyle’s. Other themes that Doyle composes can be heard in the scenes with Catherine, such as the first scene that we see her (Branagh 51:40). These add more depth to the score, for both emotion and for a grander scale, again something that Olivier’s film is without.
The other main aspect of an epic is grand set pieces and large locations landscapes. Tim Harvey designed some amazing sets, one in particular is the set of King Harry’s hall from the first few scenes (Branagh 5:36). Olivier blocked these scenes in the Globe, so the set could not take shape in a grand hall as Branagh did (OxfordGreats 4:15). The set for the great hall in Branagh’s Henry V is actually quite small, but using minimalistic lighting, he makes it huge. The chiaroscuro lighting mixes the shadows and the bright sun coming in through the windows and doors and tiny candles scattered across the hall and the use of cinematography and camera placement expand the set twice in size.
And where it is most obvious that Olivier’s sets for Harfleur and Agincourt are exactly that, a set, Branagh’s sets are filmed on location, using a forest during the events around the battle of Agincourt. For instance, Branagh has Derek Jacobi, who played Chorus, delivering his lines on the beach in Southampton, creating a majestic shot of the sea and the cliffs of southern England (Branagh 22:32-23:44). Because Olivier all but discarded the plot element with the three traitors, he instantly had King Harry get on the ships and used a model to represent the fleet (OxfordGreats 37:28). Branagh’s is more elegant and more realistic than Olivier’s film through the use of live landscapes.
Not by the fact that the fight scenes and action are more dominant, but through the music of Patrick Doyle and the sets of Tim Harvey, Kenneth Branagh’s version of Henry V is more of an epic than that of Laurence Olivier’s adaptation. Branagh uses non-digenetic sounds and score to better effect and appeal than Olivier. His set pieces and the lighting of those sets and his location sets are better designed and more realistic and grander than that of Olivier’s film. Branagh’s is more gritty and is most definitely more of an action film, but in terms of an epic in the likes of Gladiator, this film is more along those lines to in part to the work of these two men.
Work Cited
Kenneth Branagh, dir. Henry V. Perf. Kenneth Branagh, Robbie Coltrane, Judi Dench, Ian Holm, Derek Jacobi and Emma Thompson. MGM Home Entertainment, 1989. Film.
OxfordGreats. “Henry V (1944) – Laurence Olivier.” Youtube.com. Youtube. 31 Dec. 2011. Web. 29 Jan. 2012.
Shakespeare, William. “Henry V.” The Norton Shakespeare. Eds. Greenblatt, Stephen, Walter Cohen, Jean E. Howard, and Katharine Eisaman Maus. New York: W. W. Norton, 2008. 1481-1548. Print.
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