Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SATURDAY, April 7, 1990                   TAG: 9004070290
SECTION: EXTRA                    PAGE: E-4   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: CHRIS GLADDEN STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

`HENRY V' IS A GRAND ADAPTATION OF SHAKESPEARE'S WORK

No doubt he would have loved a slow pan of hundreds of knights in battle regalia and the clash of sword and shield in slow motion.

Kenneth Branagh's rich and flavorful "Henry V" is a grand addition to screen adaptations of works by the Bard.

It's tempting to compare the precocity of Branagh, not yet out of his 20s, to that of the young Orson Welles at the time of "Citizen Kane."

Branagh directed the movie, adapted the screenplay from Shakespeare and delivered a fiercely compelling performance as the young king. It won him an Academy Award nomination for best actor this year.

The film opens with Derek Jacobi acting as the chorus and launching the story from a contemporary stage. Then the camera takes us through two large doors and into Henry's 15th-century castle. No longer is he the Prince Hal of "Henry IV" who indulged in tavern revelries with a band of larcenous rascals led by his friend Falstaff.

Now he's Henry V - called Harry by his followers - and his loyalty to old comrades is outweighed by the obligations of his title. Henry deserts his beloved drinking companion Falstaff, who dies in this play, and - tears in his eyes - hangs one of his old friends for looting a church during a military campaign.

Clearly he is not the "shallow, giddy, humorless" boy that the French Dauphin disdainfully calls him. Rather, he's a shrewd, tenacious ruler just beginning to sense the powerful effect of his charisma and determination on his subjects.

When the Archduke of Canterbury convinces Henry that the French crown is rightfully his, the king makes plans to invade France. Once Henry's mind is made up, there's little stopping him. He takes his bedraggled army across the English Channel where a much superior and well-equipped force awaits him. After one successful but debilitating campaign, Henry marches his troops to Calais but the French - smelling blood and sensing victory - intercept him at Agincourt.

Through pluck and tactical shrewdness, Henry leads his men to victory, inflicting 10,000 deaths on the French and suffering only a handful among his own men. On any level, this play is a patriotic celebration of the kind of English underdog tenacity that emerged at Dunkirk centuries after Shakespeare wrote the play.

But Branagh doesn't glorify war. The pre-battle apprehensions and doubts, the hardships of the soldier and the awful carnage that resulted on the muddy fields of Agincourt are depicted in vivid detail.

Without exception, the cast is first rate even down to the minor performances. Paul Scofield is the French king; Ian Holm, a captain in Henry's army; Brian Blessed his loyal Exeter; Judi Dench, the tavern hostess; Robbie Coltrane, Falstaff; and Emma Thompson, the French princess destined to be Henry's queen.

But it's Branagh who shoulders the movie much as Henry shoulders the burdensome responsibilities of his crown. Branagh perceptively portrays a young man who is just beginning to flex the qualities that make a great king.

And by his tenacity in bringing this movie so robustly to the screen, he may be flexing the qualities that make a great film maker. `Henry V' A Samuel Goldwyn release at the Grandin Theatre(345-6177). Unrated but very violent. Two hours and 18 minutes.