The Hollow Crown: Henry IV, Part II

[selenak]

Last time on "It's Hard Out There For A Lancaster": yes, they do previouslies instead of the "Rumours" chorus, which actually I admit I don't miss at all. This second part is generally less popular than the first, but in this version I felt it was actually the better one. Still suffers from Chimes at Midnight comparison as far as cinematography is

Comments

[kathyh]

Jeremy Irons, how so awesome? This is the first production where Henry IV doesn't feel like a minor guest star in the plays named after him

I know! He absolutely owned the role and made Henry genuinely tragic, a man of many good qualities overthrown by his guilt over his usurpation. There's also a rather good "Shakespeare Unbound" documentary about the play presented by Jeremy Irons, where he gets to row across the Thames and stride nobly over various locations as well as talk about the play *g*. It's worth watching if you get the chance (and Tom Hiddleston came over well too).

I've seen a lot of reaction that Falstaff is too dark and not sympathetic enough

I wasn't overkeen on Simon Russell Beale's Falstaff in part 1 because I saw Roger Allam do it at the Globe and he was electrifyingly good as the greater humour made the darkness darker, but I liked SRB much better in Part II (not sure like is quite the word). The touching and moving scenes with Doll and Shallow made Hal's renunciation that much harsher.

this is the last time he'll ever see Falstaff

I'd need to watch again but I don't think he ever quite made eye contact with Falstaff, in contrast to the earlier scene where he did look directly at him.

[selenak]

Alas my time is limited but I'll try to get back to Jeremy Irons nobly striding in the documentary later, as I believe it is on YouTube. But I'm seriously psyched about his performance. Never ever has Henry been the character I felt deepest for in those plays, but this time he so was. I've been scanning the newspaper reviews and note with satisfaction the feeling that Irons stole the two parter seems to be shared by the pros as well. :)

re: Roger Allam, as everyone brings him up I'm double sorry I never saw that particular Globe production.

re: eye contact, I plan on rewatching on Wednesday, and will pay attention to that.

[likeadeuce]

re: Roger Allam, as everyone brings him up I'm double sorry I never saw that particular Globe production.

It was filmed and there is a DVD version of both parts, though I don't know about availability where you are. The Internet likely has it. I've only seen the first part so far, but it's definitely an interesting compare/contrast to this one, as I recall really liking the Hal/Falstaff dynamic, but finding Henry relatively weak. It also really takes advantage of being a staged production, which I tend to think serves these particular plays better (a radical re-imagination like Chimes aside) than filming does -- as opposed to Richard II, which really benefited from the cinematic opening up.