Summary 
A black-and-white episode in a made-for-television production of a cycle of Shakespeare's the War of the Roses history plays. Like previous installments, the fourth and final part of the Henry IV plays is a straight-forward and traditional telling, well-spoken and acted with speed and clarity. More a filmed stage play than a cinematic endeavor, but with multiple cameras and musical scoring. Interesting and dramatic but lacking in visual excitement.
Production
Directed by Michael Hayes. An Age of Kings Episode 6. 1:15. BBC Television. Original Air Date July 7th, 1960.
Cast
Tom Fleming (Henry IV), William Squire (Shallow/Epilogue), John Warner (Silence), Gordon Gostelow (Bardolph), Dane Howell (Page), Frank Pettingell (Falstaff), Patrick Garland (John of Lancaster), Julian Glover (Westmoreland), Edgar Wreford (Archbishop), Noel Johnson (Mowbray), Robert Hardy (Hal), Geoffrey Bayldon (Lord Chief Justice), George A. Cooper (Pistol).
Analysis
Michael Hayes begins the fourth and final part of the Henry IV plays - with the subtitle Uneasy Lies the Head - with Tom Fleming's wan Henry IV slowly shuffling toward a council chamber to chiming bells. Fleming's Henry, bedraggled and dark-eyed, goes to the window and speaks to God, his face drawn and his voice hoarse: "happy low, lie down, uneasy lies the head that wears a crown." 3.1 from Henry IV Part Two starts the episode, with the weak Henry wearing a nightshirt and robe, shot in close-up, leaning heavily over his throne and bemoaning the eight years that have passed since he has taken the crown.
Hayes then cuts to a comical country 3.2, signified by stage trees, light music, and the sound effect of bird chirps. Hayes pans down to Shallow and Silence, two elderly men in gray hair and beards, recalling their youth - "the days that I have seen" - before panning back as Bardolph arrives. Gordon Gostelow's Bardolph is nicely underplayed - quite unlike the over-the-top Shallow and Silence and especially the gratingly hambone Pistol - the dissipated Corporal big-nosed and one-eyed. Silence brings a serving tray with a pitcher and several cups, and Bardolph drains all but one of them before Shallow steps in to protect the tray, but when Pettingell's burly Falstaff arrives, he eschews the cup and drinks right from the pitcher. Falstaff's review of the absurdly named soldiers - Mouldy, Shadow, Wart, Feeble, and Bullcalf - provides comic relief that feels interruptive of the larger story, although Falstaff concludes the inspection with the memorably reminiscent, "we have heard the chimes at midnight, Master Shallow." After the bumbling old Shallow attempts to demonstrate his weapons prowess with a big rifle and it discharges in a loud burst of smoke, Pettingell's Falstaff sits to pull on his gloves and directly address the audience, ridiculing Shallow as "lecherous as a monkey." In a slow close-up, Falstaff wheezes and coughs, like Henry his health failing, but willing to "let time shape" his fate via friendship with the next King.
Hayes excises 4.1 and cuts to Hal's brother, John of Lancaster, leading a band of soldiers in 4.2 parley with the rebels in the woods. Hayes' camera pans down to the Archbishop and Mowbray as Lancaster acknowledges that "griefs will be with speed redressed" and offers a toast, but after "peace is rendered" summarily has the rebels arrested for treason. A towering Westmoreland seizes the rebel leaders and John whiplashes his drink across their faces, sputtering that he had only promised "redress" and barking orders to "guard these traitors to the block of death."
Hayes then cuts deep into 4.3, excising Falstaff's "capture" of a prisoner to counterpoint John's treachery with Falstaff's cowardice, as fat Sir Jack lurks in the background before emerging: "when everything is ended, then you come." After the Prince exits to attend his ailing father, Pettingell's Falstaff turns again to Hayes' camera and removes his hat. He lovingly pats a container of liquor, insulting Hal's courage as being rendered from a bottle of sack, and makes boorish claims - "if I had a thousand sons I would teach them...to addict themselves to sack" - before music plays ands he drinks to end the scene.
Hayes' 4.4 and 4.5 represent the heart of the episode and are among the finest in the entire series. A shot of the crown pans slowly up to reveal Henry in a sickbed within the Jerusalem Chamber, clad in a nightshirt and terminally ill. Fleming's gaunt Henry inquires among his other sons as to Hal's whereabouts, but Hayes cuts the angry railing against Hal and his company. When Westmoreland enters in full armor to kneel with the news of the crushed rebellion, Fleming's Henry shows gratitude - "thou art a summer bird" - but lapses into an apoplectic fit then breathes in shallow rasps. The princes carry him from the chamber, but he cries out for his crown to be kept nearby. Robert Hardy's Hal, slowly becoming kinglike, then enters 4.5 to dutifully but sincerely disparage the crown - "o polished perturbation" - then kiss Henry's forehead and check if the King still breathes. Hal starts to rush out in panic ("my father!") but manfully returns to kneel on the other side of the King ("this sleep is sound indeed") and begin to weep. Hardy's Hal slowly puts the crown atop his own head, closing his eyes in close-up before addressing the camera, crossing himself and kneeling to bow and pray. When Fleming's Henry, tears streaming down his cheeks, awakens and fails to find the crown, he expresses both disdain ("I weary thee") and withering outrage ("Harry the Fifth is crowned!"), and Hayes moves in for a close-up of the rapidly transforming Hal, who trembles with tears in his eyes. Fleming's Henry, convincingly rasping and feeble, forgives the heir apparent, gasping for breath even while clutching the crown, and he offers sage advice - "busy giddy minds with foreign quarrels" - before Prince John returns to kneel beside him. Fleming's Henry passes in spellbinding moments, dramatic but not overplayed, his mouth agape and eyes wide as he spasms in close-up, his breath choked. Dramatic single notes play as he recalls the ironic prophesy that he would die in Jerusalem, then after a rasping sigh goes still and silent. Hardy's Hal, now a kingly elder brother, closes his father's eyes with a gentle hand.
Hayes excises 5.1 for a well-staged 5.2, with Warwick walking somberly from the King's chamber to inform the Lord Chief Justice that the King does "exceeding well" now that his troubles have passed. A somber procession emerges from the long shot, moving slowly toward Hayes' camera, the advisors comforting John. They all drop to a knee ("God save...your majesty") as Hardy's Hal finally appears in the background. He seems rigid but regal, coming forward to graciously touch his brothers' hands and revealing newfound - or well-concealed - wisdom in his words to the Chief Justice, who fears reprisal for the "great indignities you laid upon me": Hal smiles and bids the Justice to stand, saying, "you shall be as the father to my youth."
Hayes diminishes the poignancy of the preceding scenes with a disconcertingly scatological 5.3, as Pettingell's Falstaff dallies with his wayward crew - Shallow breaking wind, Silence singing and whistling drunkenly on a swing, the page wearing a clownish mask - before receiving word from the buffoonish Pistol of the passing of the King. Pettingell's Falstaff blows a raspberry at mention of "Harry the Fourth" and when he asks if the King is dead, Pistol's disrespectful response - "as nail in door" - prompts disconcerting glee ("I am fortune's steward!") as well as lip-smacking revenge ("woe to my lord, the Chief Justice!"). Hayes also excises 5.3 to hasten the comeuppance of Falstaff in 5.4, the rejection certainly less melancholy and more well-deserved given Hayes' heavy emphasis on Falstaff's low-life qualities rather than on his wit, humor and camaraderie. Among the milling townspeople at the coronation parade in London, Pettingell's strutting Falstaff leads his entourage to the front as the crowd cheers the appearance of the newly anointed Henry V. Hardy's Hal, now wearing crown and robe, appears to a cymbal crash, and amid rising music advises the Lord Chief Justice to speak to Falstaff. The long-calculated rejection of Falstaff, his friends, and his way of life - "I know thee not, old man" - is crushingly cold, as is the new King's disclaimer, "presume not that I am the thing I was." Pettingell's Falstaff, shocked and agape, looking up at the King, staggers and puts his face in his hands, then sags as if dying. He is led away by Bardolph and Pistol, and his final hope is spoken in a rattling gasp - "I shall be sent for in private to him" - that is dashed when they are all ordered to be sent to the Fleet. Even the Lord Chief Justice holds his hand to his mouth in shock at the harshness of the rejection.
After the King's brother John comments on the banishment of Falstaff and the likelihood of war with France, the credits roll, the camera shot focused on actor William Squire, who labors at removing his heavy make-up and wig. Quite cleverly, when the credits finish, Squire smiles and assumes the role of the Epilogue - "one word more, I beseech you" - in seeking a prayer from the audience for the new King.