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 first part of Henry V 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.
Design
Directed by Michael Hayes. An Age of Kings Episode 7. 1:00. BBC Television. Original Air Date 21 July 1960.
Cast
William Squire (Chorus), Robert Hardy (Henry V), Noel Johnson (Exeter), Julian Glover (Westmoreland), Cyril Luckham (Archbishop), Gordon Gostelow (Bardolph), David Andrews (Nym), George A. Cooper (Pistol), Angela Baddeley (Mistress Quickly), Thomas Harley (Boy), Patrick Garland (Bedford), Alan Rowe (King of France), John Warner (Dauphin), Judi Dench (Katherine), Yvonne Coulette (Alice), Kenneth Farrington (Fluellen), Robert Lang (Montjoy).
Analysis
Michael Hayes begins the first part of Henry V - subtitled Signs of War - with the smiling Chorus backstage within a theater performing space - "o for a muse of fire" - his arms stretched wide before he descends into an interior hallway. The apologetic Chorus - "pardon, gentles all" - emerges onto a stage, hands on hips, asking the audience to "make imaginary puissance." The seventh episode of the BBC's An Age of Kings covers the first three acts of Shakespeare's Henry V, but excises the 1.1 behind-the-scenes plotting of the Archbishop to embroil England in a self-serving war with France. Hayes cuts to 1.2 as Henry V enters and slowly sits within a crowded council chamber, careful of his robes and in the uncomfortable silence apparently unaccustomed to protocol. The omission of 1.1 then the holy Archbishop blessing Henry - who crosses himself - and carefully explaining why the King can make claims against France lend Hardy's Henry some righteousness for what would otherwise be an ill-advised campaign. Hayes' camera provides close-ups of both Henry and the Archbishop, the latter distributing documents as visual aids and accepting responsibility - "the sin upon my head, dread sovereign" - for the war. When Hardy's Henry summons the messengers from the Dauphin, he shows both a strident passion regarding the justness of the war ("or lay these bones in an unworthy urn") as well as smiling humility - "we are no tyrant, but a Christian king" - then calculated anger at the insult of the tun of treasure tennis balls: "all the courts of France shall be disturbed." He smiles, then stands, his words growing sharper ("I am coming on to venge me as I may") until he is pointing his finger and promising, "I will dazzle all the eyes of France," before storming out.
Hayes begins the second act with the Chorus spinning to face the camera in mid close-up - "all the youth of England are on fire" - then turning to show the three traitors, each in close-up, as they put their hands together in a show of unity. In a very theatrical shot, the Chorus moves forward then into rising light, the lights darkening in the background upon the traitors, and Hayes segues to the tavern with a shot of the hanging Boar's Head shingle for a brief 2.1 - Bardolph strewing flower petals over the newly wed Pistol and Nell - with the conflict between Nym and Pistol interrupted by news of a terminally ill off-screen Falstaff. The Chorus narrates the 2.2 confrontation with the traitors at Southampton, the scene signified with seaside sound effects and load-bearing sailors walking down ramps. Hayes' camera finds the traitors from a low angle, panning around to capture the approach of Hardy's wary Henry ("know I know your worthiness"). The King gives the treason Biblical significance, crossing himself - "I will weep for thee" - even as he sends them to their death in dramatic close-up. 2.4 features six Boar's Head tavern-dwellers gathered together to mourn Falstaff, and Nell's teary-eyed reminiscence - "he's in Arthur's bosom" - is among the most dramatically moving scenes in the entire series. The men rise to prepare to march to war - "shall we shog?" - and they each in turn kiss Nell farewell, except of course Nym, who is pushed away by Pistol.
Hayes' depiction of the French court plays onscreen as redundant, with 2.4, 3.5 and the concluding 3.7 repetitive in tone. The camera pans away from a full-screen map of France 2.4 to show five nobles gathered around the King of France, and they differ whether England is "so idly kinged" or "terrible in constant resolution." After Henry's ambassadors, in full armor and very formal, offer "scorn and defiance, slight regard, contempt," for the Dauphin, Hayes pans the court, including Judi Dench as an alarmed Katherine. In 3.3 the nobles continue their argument, at first vowing to "bar Harry England" then to "bring him our prisoner," oddly stomping their feet in a show of unity, and by 3.7 they are flamboyantly over-confident - "will it never be morning?" - praising their armor and their horses.
The Chorus, in presence at the rear of the French court, opens act three with a smile and a gesture - "our swift scene flies" - setting the scene at the siege of Harfleur from a slow close-up. Hayes, after a double exposed 3.1 image of cannons being lit and soldiers waving spears, presents Hardy's Henry as an impassioned leader - "once more unto the breach!" - in helmet and chain-mail on a wooden platform, swinging his sword and gesturing to the camera ("dishonor not your mothers!") to exhort his troops "like greyhounds in the slips." The soldiers turn to look at the camera as well, and erupt in cheers at "God for Harry, England, and Saint George" to climb the background ladders. But Hayes severely limits the bloodthirsty nature of Henry's threats to the people of Harfleur, instead capturing him from a high angle point-of-view shot 3.3 - "I will not leave the half-achieved Harfleur" - as the unseen Governor capitulates to Henry's dogged perseverance rather in fear of the textual threats against children, women, and old men. Hayes reverses the shot as the gates open and the soldiers march in to thumping drumbeats, with Hardy's Henry pointedly insisting, "use mercy to them all." Hayes splits the scene with an image of the Boy talking to himself about the unworthiness of his masters - "they will steal anything and call it purchase" - then the efforts at digging the mines by all the nationalities under Henry's rule: Fluellen the Welshman, Jamy the Scot, the Englishman Gower, and the Irish MacMorris, at first arguing but finally laughing together and clapping one another on the back.
In another strong scene in perhaps the finest episode of the series thus far, Dench's Katherine jokes 3.4 with Alice, both women in veiled head-dresses. Speaking French, Dench's bejeweled Princess struggles with anatomy - de hand, de fingers, de mails, de ilbow - giggling at "le coun" for de foot. The episode reaches its conclusion with Henry's men gathered 3.6 near Agincourt, Fluellen treating a fellow soldier's head wound, as Hardy's now dirty-faced Henry resolutely agrees that his old tavern-mate Bardolph should be hung for thievery: "we will have all such offenders so cut off." Hayes emphasizes Henry's honor toward the French - "the gentlest gamester is the soonest winner" - moreso than his friendship for Bardolph, who is not shown on camera. When Montjoy appears to again demand surrender, Hardy's earthy Hal stand with hands on hips, then wipes his nose and laughs at the French claims - "we could have rebuked him at Harfleur" - before striding close to the herald, his arms out and his men right behind him, for a threat-like promise: "if we be hindered, we shall your tawny ground with your red blood discolor." Hayes then concludes the episode with the French court notions to "have their heads crushed like rotten apples" as the camera pans to an Agin Court road sign.