"Tis but a snippet from the full discourse, to be found at the URL thusly posted above. For the more eclectic among my fellow Freepers.

"Once more into the breech...!"

FWIW, I found Branagh's film version of Henry V to be excellent.

Humorous story, though. When I rented the VHS of the movie several years ago, the little teenage dumb-blonde at the checkout said "Hm, 'Henry Five'. Were the first four pretty good?"

Oddly enough, I re-watched HENRY V starring Kenneth Brannaugh last night. For about the 100th time! I enjoy it-even if everyone else says,"What language are they speaking?" Anyway, pretty good DVD. Worth it just to hear Henry's "Band of Brothers" speech.

Bump

Well, after seeing all the memorials to the FDNY, the NYPD, and private citizens like
Rick Rescorla...
there are some men on the West Coast who were still abed when the WTC/Pentagon/Flight 93
disasters occurred...and think themselves a-cursed and hold their manhoods cheap...

I found Branagh's film version of Henry V to be excellent.

I agree 100%.

Bump

I recently watched, and watched again, and a third time, Henry V with Branagh. Loved it. If the plot and every other actor had been a disaster, Branagh would somehow have carried it. But the plot and the other actors were magnificent, and since it is based on history, I found it even more compelling. Had to have the captions on through the first two viewings, but still I loved it.

Haven't seen Olivier's version, but want to.

I checked out Branagh's opus at Internet Movie Data Base and discovered he'd been married to Emma Thompson, parting ways shortly before her screenplay (and starring role in) of Sense and Sensibility came out. I've always wondered how Thompson got the wherewithal to do that screenplay, for which she won an Oscar. Methinks her husband shaped her thinking vastly and set her onto it.

 British cultural memory = jingoistic history
 collective imagination  =  the real thing

Vive la France !    Et nous avons jamais
en réalité livré au Nazi l'Allemagne.

As long as we're talking "a little touch of Harry", here it is:

What's he that wishes so?
My cousin Westmoreland? No, my fair cousin:
If we are mark'd to die, we are enow
To do our country loss; and if to live,
The fewer men, the greater share of honour.
God's will! I pray thee, wish not one man more.
By Jove, I am not covetous for gold,
Nor care I who doth feed upon my cost;
It yearns me not if men my garments wear;
Such outward things dwell not in my desires:
But if it be a sin to covet honour,
I am the most offending soul alive.
No, faith, my coz, wish not a man from England:
God's peace! I would not lose so great an honour
As one man more, methinks, would share from me
For the best hope I have. O, do not wish one more!
Rather proclaim it, Westmoreland, through my host,
That he which hath no stomach to this fight,
Let him depart; his passport shall be made
And crowns for convoy put into his purse:
We would not die in that man's company
That fears his fellowship to die with us.
This day is called the feast of Crispian:
He that outlives this day, and comes safe home,
Will stand a tip-toe when the day is named,
And rouse him at the name of Crispian.
He that shall live this day, and see old age,
Will yearly on the vigil feast his neighbours,
And say 'To-morrow is Saint Crispian:'
Then will he strip his sleeve and show his scars.
And say 'These wounds I had on Crispin's day.'
Old men forget: yet all shall be forgot,
But he'll remember with advantages
What feats he did that day: then shall our names.
Familiar in his mouth as household words
Harry the king, Bedford and Exeter,
Warwick and Talbot, Salisbury and Gloucester,
Be in their flowing cups freshly remember'd.
This story shall the good man teach his son;
And Crispin Crispian shall ne'er go by,
From this day to the ending of the world,
But we in it shall be remember'd;
We few, we happy few, we band of brothers;
For he to-day that sheds his blood with me
Shall be my brother; be he ne'er so vile,
This day shall gentle his condition:
And gentlemen in England now a-bed
Shall think themselves accursed they were not here,
And hold their manhoods cheap whiles any speaks
That fought with us upon Saint Crispin's day.

Thank you...I felt the compulsion to type that out 'til I saw that another idiot did it for me!

Gawd that was a great speech!

And gentlemen in England now a-bed
Shall think themselves accursed they were not here,
And hold their manhoods cheap whiles any speaks
That fought with us upon Saint Crispin's day.

Of course they could always get a professorship at Princeton and lie.

Of course they could always get a professorship at Princeton and lie.

Or Mount Holyoke College (Professor Ellis, famed Vietnam War vet...NOT)

"Hm, 'Henry Five'. Were the first four pretty good?"

I think some comedian said that Sylvester Stallone was thinking about making Henry VI,
as he assumed that that Henry I-IV must have been pretty good based on the
fact that someone would bankroll the fifth film in the series.

Good post. Brings a much-needed refinement to what is so often an abrasive discourse. Nevertheless, a reminder that deeds of heroism are so often written in blood.

get a professorship at Princeton and lie With this they are on the way: "the museum is a triumph of historic objectivity."

I always thought that the essence of objectivity was to getting at a freeze-frame reality--IOW, very surreal. I suppose the goal of that surpaases objectivity.

deeds of heroism are so often written in blood

All good things come through hard work.

I always thought that the essence of objectivity was to getting at a freeze-frame reality--

Probably on another day and on another thread we can discuss whether or not there is such a thing as "True Objectivity" in the human psyche.