The Hollow Crown: Henry IV, Part I

[selenak]

In which Lary Mary Crawley makes out with Alan a Dale while Loki gets chewed out by Rodrigo Borgia and gets his hands on Martha Costello. In other words, the BBC continue their Histories with a stellar cast. Less cinematically in this turn, or maybe that's just my impression because any film version of Henry IV competes with the late great Orson

Comments

[likeadeuce]

Okay, have seen the second half now and can comment on the battle -- I thought the staging was quite interesting, and I see this Falstaff as more despicable/cowardly (as opposed to just pragmatic/out to save his own skin) than he's usually portrayed. Having him actually watch Percy getting ready to kill Hal and not -- go out and jump on him or something -- and then try to take credit for it is a bit beyond the pale. (Not necessarily a bad thing -- Falstaff IS cowardly, it's just a question of how much). And I agree the dynamic with the two of them and John is quite nicely done. I think overall this is a more buffoonish and more contemptible Falstaff than I'm used to seeing and it will be interesting to see that plays into part 2 -- where, on the one hand, Falstaff's despicable behavior is more overt in the text, but on the other, we need to have some sympathy for him or the whole play doesn't work. I'm quite curious where they go with it.

I'm going to have to rewatch, at least, the Hal & Henry scenes in Part I -- for nuance as well as bitch-slapping.

[selenak]

Hm, I would agree with you on "more cowardly", but not on "more buffoonish". I thought this Falstaff was more serious than the ones I'm familiar with; the scene where he walks around the table with "wasn't I once" etc gave me the impression of F aware of his own decay (not just physical decay), for example. And he also holds more his own and is less a victim in the roleplay scene.

[likeadeuce]

True -- he's more buffoonish in the battle scene, but not necessarily in the tavern.