Battle of Agincourt Videos

At least two movies and one documentary currently available on video portray the battle. There are likely more documentaries but information about such titles is difficult to obtain.

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Movies

While there are no movies specifically about the battle, two well-known Henry V films include dramatic recreations of the conflict. A search of the Internet Movie Database will reveal numerous movie and television treatments of the play.

Henry V, directed by Kenneth Branagh, 1989
Branagh burst upon the film scene with his excellent adaptation of Shakespeare's play. The tone of the film is sober and warfare is realistically depicted. There are gripping scenes of massed flights of arrows but not the sort of detail that sheds light on the course of the battle. Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times wrote a detailed review of Branagh's film.

Henry V, directed by Laurence Olivier, 1944
Like Branagh, Olivier made his breakthrough to larger audiences with his film of the play. The movie was shot during World War II at a time of intense British patriotism. The depiction of war is more heroic and glorious. Curiously, Olivier portrays as comedy the Act I scenes in which Henry is discussing his claim on the French throne through various bloodlines. The film has been released on both tape and disc. The laser disc of Olivier's Henry V is available from The Voyager Company. Vern Perry of the Orange County Register reviewed the laser disc.


Documentaries

There are likely many documentaries about battles during the Hundred Years War but such videos are difficult to find. For example, The Scholar's Bookshelf (110 Melrich Road, Cranbury, NJ 08512) publishes a quarterly Military History catalog that includes some videocassettes. In early 1997, their catalog listed "The History of Warfare Series" with one title given simply as "Agincourt."


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Copyright 1997 Walter K. Daniel
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Last updated 15 September 1999
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