AFor the most part. All of the dialogue from the film is taken verbatim from the play, all of the characters in the film come directly from the play and all of the events in the film come directly from the play. Most of the differences which do exist between the play and the film are relatively minor in the grand scheme of things, and, by and large, the play and the film are essentially one and the same.Almost all of the differences in the film involve omissions concerning material found in the play, but two small scenes actually represent additions to the film; the two flashback scenes. In both of these scenes, Henry (Kenneth Branagh) thinks back to his time as a companion of Falstaff (Robbie Coltrane), Nym (Geoffrey Hutchings), Bardolph (Richard Briers), Pistol (Robert Stephens) and Mistress Quickly (Judi Dench). In the first scene, he remembers a conversation he had with Falstaff, where Falstaff acknowledges that Henry may forget his all of his other companions, but he should not forget Falstaff himself ("No, my good Lord, banish Peto, banish Bardolph, banish Poins: but for sweet Jack Falstaff, kind Jack Falstaff, true Jack Falstaff, valiant Jack Falstaff, and therefore more valiant, being as he is old Jack Falstaff, banish not him thy Harry's company, banish him not thy Harry's company; banish plump Jack, and banish all the World"). In the second scene, he remembers a drinking game between Bardolph and Falstaff, where Bardolph turns to him and says, "Do not thou, when thou art a king, hang a thief". Neither of these scenes occur in the play, but are instead both taken from Henry IV, Part 1. Additionally, the line "Do not thou, when thou art a king, hang a thief" was spoken in that play not by Bardolph, but by Falstaff. However, by having this flashback scene occur just as Henry orders the hanging of Bardolph, changing the speaker of the line creates a strong thematic resonance.Another minor difference between the play and the film concerns the French herald, Montjoy (Christopher Ravenscroft), who is given far more lines in the film than the character has in the play. Many of the lines he speaks in the film where originally spoken by unnamed characters. For example, in the play, the report of the numbers of dead is brought to Henry by an unnamed English herald, whereas in the film, it is brought to him by Montjoy.Another difference is in terms of the removal of material. Lines have been cut from numerous speeches throughout the film so as to shorten the running time, and inconsequential conversations and scenes have been truncated.There is one difference between the play and the film however, which attracted some attention when the film was released. One scene from the play was altered entirely in the film, and as it presents Henry in a somewhat unflattering light, critics pointed out that the film was more of an idealisation of the character than the play. The altered scenes concerned the French murder of their English prisoners. In the film, Fluellen (Ian Holm) tells Henry that the French have murdered the prisoners, and he and Henry and ruminate on how monstrous such an action is. However, in the play, it is Henry who orders the murder of his French prisoners, not the French who order the murder of the English prisoners, due to a French raid on the King's tent, which was guarded only with young boys. Fluellen and Gower (played by Danny Webb in the film) then discuss the raid, and the King's order. Fluellen says of the raid "'tis expressly against the Law of Arms, 'tis as arrant a piece of knavery mark you now, as can be offered in your conscience now, is it not?", to which Gower responds "the King most worthily hath caus'd every soldier to cut his prisoners throat. O 'tis a gallant King". This is changed in the film, thus presenting Henry in a more enlightened fashion; when he hears of the English troops being killed, he responds only with horror, there is no hint of him doing the same thing in retaliation, whereas in the play, he shows himself to be capable of the same level of inhuman viciousness against the "Law of Arms".
AFor detailed information about the amounts and types of (a) sex and nudity, (b) violence and gore, (c) profanity, (d) alcohol, drugs, and smoking, and (e) frightening and intense scenes in this movie, consult the IMDb Parents Guide for this movie. The Parents Guide for Henry V can be found here.
AThe opening speech of the play, delivered by the Chorus is:
O for a muse of fire, that would ascend
The brightest heaven of invention:
A kingdom for a stage, princes to act,
And monarchs to behold the swelling scene.
Then should the warlike Harry, like himself,
Assume the port of Mars, and at his heels
Leashed in like hounds, should Famine, Sword, and Fire
Crouch for employment. But pardon, gentles all,
The flat unrais'd spirits that hath dared,
On this unworthy scaffold, to bring forth
So great an object. Can this cock-pit hold
The vast fields of France? Or may we cram
Within this wooden O the very casques
That did affright the air at Agincourt?
O pardon: since a crook'd figure may
Attest in little place a million,
And let us, ciphers to this great account,
On your imaginary forces work.
Suppose within the girdle of these walls
Are now confined two mighty monarchies,
Whose high uprear'd and abutting fronts
The perilous narrow ocean parts asunder.
Piece out our imperfections with your thoughts:
Into a thousand parts divide one man,
And make imaginary puissance.
Think, when we talk of horses, that you see them,
Printing their proud hoofs i'th' receiving earth;
For 'tis your thoughts that now must deck our kings,
Carry them here and there, jumping o'er times,
Turning th'accomplishment of many years
Into an hourglass - for the which supply,
Admit me Chorus to this history,
Who Prologue-like your humble patience pray
Gently to hear, kindly to judge our play.
The basic meaning of this speech is that the Chorus is lamenting how the stage cannot possibly hope to truly represent all that is to be depicted in the narrative, and therefore, the audience must imagine much of the action for themselves. He returns to this point during the siege of Harfleur, again asking the audience to imagine what is described, as it is cannot be shown directly. When the play begins, the Chorus acknowledges that he is quite literally standing on a stage where actors are about to start performing. Obviously, such an opening is a deeply self-reflexive device, breaking the skein of make-belief found in all narrative; the audience is presented with an actor on a stage, acknowledging that he is an actor on a stage and telling them that they are about to watch a group of actors performing on a stage. As such, the opening speech alludes to the very artistic medium itself, and this is the important point for the opening of the film. The film begins on a film set because it is a film; it has the same meaning as the opening speech in the play, but because it is a different medium, there is simply a change of location.