I thankst thee from the deepest fathoms of my soul, good sir. Why the common man in this day and age is left tragically ignorant of thy almighty greatness, I myself know not. Regardless, I thank thee, good William Shakespeare!
@@mitchellneu "Ay, but ȝe muste þenke Kynge Henrye and hys men wiþ-alle, for ne hadde þey deliveren us fro deþe and ffrensch swerdes and given us vyctorie, þe Englysshe woulde be dede at Agincourt feld." - Signed, an anonymous soldier who served at Agincourt
technicalmark, the poster of this video, literally made his account on May 3rd, 2009, posted this video, and hasn’t commented or posted since. what an absolute hero
@John West Sr, You seem to be the one who doesn't understand? The herald wanted to know if Henry would negotiate the ransom, and Henry's response was that no, he wouldn't. That's the "No" the original commenter was referring to.
There's a pub in Ashover, Derbyshire that is said to have been built on or from a house that was built be a man who returned from the battle of Agincourt. Unsurprisingly, it is called, 'The Crispin'. A glass is still raised on St Crispin's Day.
But there isn't a St. Crispin's day. In fact, there already wasn't in the time of Shakespeare. It's one of the many ironies of the speech that give layers to Harry's character. What a mind Shakespeare had
One of the best speeches ever delivered in fiction. Every line oozes in comradery, passion and patriotism. It's difficult to listen to this and not get chills, regardless of whether your English or not.
Im not English but still it gives me chills. I also like how he humbly recognizes that they are very few and there is realy chance ob defeat but "the fewer we are the greater the share od honour"
In the early 1980's (1984 ?) my wife and I had a short layover in the UK during a business trip to France. We visited Stratford on Avon and the Royal Shakespeare Company Avon theater. We had no tickets and said we see whatever matinee we could get in. They had a cancelation for what ended up being front row seats for Henry V with Kenneth Branagh and David Blessed (both here seen). Besides the amazing performances the sets were amazing with rain machines (we got wet) and a horse on stage (for this speech). Neither us nor most people outside England at the time knew who those actors were but their names were embossed in our memories from then on. What a lucky accident.
Kenneth Branagh is such a great actor -- he can make Shakespeare understandable, no easy task. I had the honor to be in a scene with him in "The Gingerbread Man."
No, not "the gay porn movie," you would seem to know more about that than I would ... Hey, just teasin'. ...This picture was a flop, but Ken, as always, was great.
No, I had a brief scene in a small bit -- I was the leather-jacketed thug sitting in the police station as Ken ran out the door, screaming at whoever he was arguing with.
May 2024 - still one of the greatest moments in Ken Branagh’s storied career and Shakespeare on film. I first watched this version of Henry V when I was 20 years old; I a, now 53! . This speech absolutely fueled my desire to read and understand Shakespeare and to study English history. Patrick Doyle’s amazing soundtrack is so amazing and a big reason this scene is so good! Today, the bard, Branagh and Doyle are all “freshly remembered!”
The dislikes are from the soldiers who listened to the speech then decided to make a claim for travel expenses and asked for their passports back from HR.
Those soldiers who survived in fact had to find their own way back to England under their own steam and never received backpay for the time they had been fighting. Exactly the same thing happened after Bonaparte was defeated when Wellington came home to be the hero of the land and most of the returning common soldiers came back to live lives of destitution on the streets again with no pay.
It's kinda funny, I know, but sometimes, on really rough days, this speech just... helps. Like, "If Henry V can stand in the face of 5-1 odds against and tell his soldiers to get out there and be heroes, I can make it through this day."
There's always a rhyme, a flow to the Bard's prose that has been unequalled in the English language. It's as if it was slam a few hundred years before the term was coined…
I loved ever line , except the end, the end of a military speech is the clarion call , the hooah? . The drawn out cadence works good with the background music though. I prefer a sharper cadence with slight interrogative sprinkled. It’s such a poignant summation , literally 3 words and the whole message is there. Don’t draw it out , get it out and let the men finish.
Especially impressive when you realize that he adapted the play for the screen, produced, directed, and starred in that film - all before the age of 30. Interesting fact: at 2:26, the kid in the lower left corner is a VERY young Christian Bale. He was 12 or 13 at the time of filming.
The even more impressive thing is that the speech is written in iambic pentameter. How Shakespeare manage to pour so much profound substance and feeling into his sentences, within a rigid 10 syllable per line structure is simply mind boggling. Nabokov said about Shakespeare: "His verbal poetic texture is the greatest the world has ever known. It is the metaphor that is the thing. A genius." I couldn't agree more. Shakespeare's writings haunt me. Utterly phenomenal.
Shakespeare was more blessed a writer than any man of this world. Who's words echo from the greats of antiquity yet enhanced by his outrageous talent and inner power.
Great bit of acting in this scene by Christopher Ravenscroft as Montjoy. His face changes subtly from arrogance to respect, and the way he takes his hat off is like an exclamation point to the change. And he does it with minimal camera time while sitting on a restless horse.
+Bill Fish Thank you for pointing out so brilliantly, and succinctly, the small things Ravenscroft did that made his appearance in this scene so impactful.
The removal of the hat was a supremely heartfelt salute to King Henry and his host. The herald was letting Henry and everyone in his host, who at that time he was sure were about to be wiped out, but remained courageous and disciplined, had earned his deepest respect.
@@eifionjones559 Only because he died prematurely at 35, and of disease. Henry V would have most likely won the crown of France had he managed to stay alive.
It is the small details, like how his comrade offers his hand in support as he stepped up to a higher vantage. He did not need the help and did not ask for it but his brother in arms offers it freely. A nice touch.
Yes- I have a difficult day ahead, after not much sleep last night. Hot strong coffee and Henry's speech before Agincourt and look out world, here I come.
This speech is the greatest motivational speech ever and I find it amazing that in a Hollywood that remakes the same movie over and over, there is no better version of this speech out there
The power of Shakespeare's words and Branagh's delivery has tears in my eyes at- "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;" To immediately roaring with English pride at - "And gentlemen in England now a-bed Shall think themselves accurs'd they were not here, And hold their manhoods cheap whiles any speaks That fought with us upon Saint Crispin's day." That's power.
@@MsKathleenb-- Same here. I'm almost as old as Sir Thomas Erpingham was at Agincourt (58), but my sword-swinging days are nearly past, but many a time I listened to this to fire myself up!
In 2012 I was in a very dark place. This clip got me through. I'd play it when feeling low. I was drinking more than I should but have not touched a drop since 2021. Thank you technnicalmark. Thank you.
Gee, I love the internet. I'm old and I'll never get to the West End again but I can sit here and compare Olivier, Burton and Branagh doing the St.Crispin speech and loving every minute of it. I have no idea who you tech wizards are or why you do it but thank you so much, you sort of band of brothers.
Our generations wouldn't have anything to study or to find inspirational if the previous generations hadn't written them all down for us to read and learn about. So, even though you didn't write this, in a way...thank you.
I'm old as well and share your sentiments, dereiter64. And thank you, Altrunchen, for your kind remarks. One tends these days to think of the present generation twittering away or entering on Facebook all the nothing they know, preening to the applause of their vacuous co-adulators. To have all the best in culture at one's fingertips is more gratifying than you will ever know.
It's a Shakespearean re-imagining of what Henry V actually said to his (exhausted, hungry and disease-ridden) troops the night before the battle. The actual text of the speech is not historically recorded, but the broad strokes were much nastier and tougher: Henry reinforced that he was gravely serious about this battle and addressed each of his two main contingents separately. First, he told the noble knights (some 1,500) that chivalry was dead, that he'd sooner die in battle than be ransomed by the French, and that he'd personally kill any man (no matter his rank) who tried to flee or surrender. Nobody was going home unless they won, and the only thing that would produce victory against a larger French force was ironclad will to win that he believed (correctly) the French lacked. Then he addressed his main force (7,000 peasant longbowmen), telling them the French had boasted they would amputate the fingers of any bowman they captured alive; this piece of creative fiction was intended to fire THEM up, since it was difficult to inspire men who were normally not taken alive at all (as they had no ransom value). Evidently the thought of being ritually robbed of the fingers they'd spent literally their entire lives winning their bread on and then left alive as a burden was MORE insulting to them than simply being killed out of hand. He ended it by ordering every man to spend the night in silent prayer and mental preparation, with the punishment being amputation. Evidently it all worked, as the Knights (with Henry and his bodyguards fighting in the thickest part) held the line against 4x their number of equals until the archers could shoot their quivers empty. These totally unarmored peasants, not at all intended for hand-to-hand combat, then screamed bloody murder and descended (full Barbarian style) into the fray with their heavy lead mallets and misericorde daggers, finishing off any of the heavily-armored French nobility who'd been battered into the mud. Even after they'd narrowly dispatched the French vanguard, their reserve forces could have then attacked and annihilated the English. So Henry stood all the captives up and executed them brutally in cold blood in front of the reserves. The reserves went home. So did the English. Victory. The whole thing from soup to nuts was an exercise in effective brutality by a master of battlefield leadership. I'd have followed a Warrior King like that into the bowels of Hell.
@@eifionjones559 He didn't lose the war. He died of dysentery and sadly his son was a relatively weak king in war terms. With no leader in the same mould as Henry V it allowed the French to regain their lost territories and eventually win the war. So it wasn't Henry who lost the war, it was the English army who carried on after he had died who lost the war, minus true leadership.
Henry V spoke Middle English; he would have sounded nothing like this if he did give the speech at all. As @@UCsiZ57y7PpcZqQVii_hNjagpointed out, this is a Shakespearean re-imagining of what he really said. If the speech were actually recorded, it would sound nothing like Modern English or Early-Modern English.
Perhaps the most rousing speech in the English language, fictional or not. It’s not surprising that Churchill who arguably gave the finest actual speech’s e.g. Blood, toil, tears and sweat and We shall fight them on the beach’s knew many of Shakespeare plays word for word.
Yeah, I noticed a few other notable British actors faces there too. Brian Blessed - no less. I mean how can you loose when you've got him on your team! hahhah After all, he's only wrestled with The Dalai Lama for goodness sake, among other great deeds.
Bale will make a great Henry V, especially if the character is reinterpreted away from Shakespeare nano4778 . He has that mix of toughness and class, ruthlessness and vulnerability that can make the king more relatable to modern audiences and is close to the historical personage
Twas not the bow that heralded nigh the death of Frenchmen on that day, It was indeed the water sopped ground upon which they charged that did the deed. The stalwart bowmen nair did move against the charge, but stood their ground convinced they won the day.
the great part of this scene is that the bowmen haven't strung their bows yet, considering it rained the night prior and they didn't want wet drawstrings, it's great attention to detail. it's a shame we didn't see anyone warming up their bows by stretching it.
@Mark Weaver the oldest bow is found in Somerset (more Celts than English) and dates back to over 2 and a half thousand years ago, over a thousand years before "England" existed as a name and in every battle from Crecy to agincourt they were used by the Welsh archers (the time at their highest use) so call it what you want but it's the Welsh who used them while fighting for the English armies, oh and I hope you realise Henry and all his family is Welsh too, the (arguably) greatest English monarchy so not so much a dream as historical fact.
Amazing. To my knowledge Shakespeare never served a day in the military in his life, but he "got it." What a genius he was! And Kenny Branagh NAILED that speech! He even beat Olivier's version, and that's saying something!
Does anybody else love the cool little connection made between Henry and Herald? Henry refers to him as "gentle", knowing he's just an emissary and likely wants no part of the conflict, while Herald doffs his hat to him, clearly a showing of respect toward Henry's abject bravery.
'Gentle' in this context has a similar meaning to 'noble', as in 'gentleman'. The same meaning is used in "... gentle his condition". Knowing Shakespeare, though, this was probably a deliberate double-meaning.
I've watched this scene many times, I had the video cassette (now vintage!) ...back in the day. I think Mr Branagh did a damn fine job of bringing Shakespeare to the younger generation. My poor old landlord at the time....full volume - lol
I love that since time immemorial the glory of combat has never been in the fighting or even personal bravery. But the simple love and absolute willingness to die for your fellows. That term band of brothers captures the feeling perfectly
I think it underlines the fact that when you wee the actual fight (as far as I remember it), it's not Exacalibur or Ran-style grandiose, but an abject brawl in mud and blood. Brannagh might have been standing on the shoulder of a giant, but he knew what he was doing…
Mountjoy really shines in this. You see his expression change and he realizes Henry is in deadly earnest and this will be a gruesome fight to the death, yet at the end he remains confident of French victory and Harry's death/capture with "Thou shalt never hear herald anymore." The subtle mix of both respect and boast is splendid.
I took a different meaning. Mountjoy would have been a neutral with no allegiance to either side. He was a protected courier to deliver messages between the two warring sides. He had arrived to allow one more option of mercy as decently offered by France who was certain of a quick and bloody victory. France's offer was to allow England to declare a loss right then, allow France to declare victory, arrest all the soldiers, keep the King and his high ranking leaders safe to be returned (for ransom of course) while the remaining soldiers' fates would be death or imprisonment. To some that was an act of mercy. Truly, to stop England from suffering such a terribly bloody loss, including perhaps the death of the young King. But, the King proclaimed he was not afraid to go forth in battle and was offended by the offer. He directed the courier to tell the King of France his previous offer still stood and to make no more such offensive offers to him. The courier seemed impressed by the King's bravery and even took his cap off and placed it on his chest as a sign of respect and admiration and said in effect, "you will have no more such offensive offers tendered by me'. And he nodded and rode off to tell France that the battle would indeed go forward!
@@CasuallyObservant Definitely agree on the doft of the cap as a sign of respect. Whether he was doing his perfunctory duty or not, and whether he was confident of French victory or not, he was clearly impressed by Henry's resolve. How many other kings and nobles had he delivered terms to and found them to be little more than connivers and cowards?
@@alexyoon-sungcucina7895 Agincort was such a *resounding* defeat for the French that the ransom of the French nobility repaid the cost of the failed invasion and then some, and the French Infantry still suffered servitude or death. But make no mistake, Henry's invasion of France was absolutely a failure, Agincort wasn't a battle Henry wanted to fight, especially outnumbered and with many of his men so *literally* sick with Dysentery they went without pants (actual accounts of this, dysentary is conveyed via diarhea) Keep in mind Henry knew (at the time of the Battle) he was a disgraced king and if ransomed back (if it was paid at all) he would have been deposed. His options were death in battle or death in disgrace he didn't think he had a chance of actually winning the battle.
@@alexyoon-sungcucina7895 To clarify further: "Ransom" actually was standard practice, land owners were rarely if ever put to death even on the battlefield in any conflict. But in terms of this speech King Henry is willing to pay from the crown's treasury for any man who doesn't want to die ("His passport shall be made") Even if Henry himself is not willing to admit such a disgrace.
Watching this on October 25th - Saint Crispian's Day and the 606 year anniverary of Agincourt. It is currently cold, went, and rainy outside, just like another Saint Crispian's Day. When I was seven years old my dad showed me this scene and played the epic battle scene for me. This story did a good man teach his son.
Agreed! And Branagh's is the best interpretation, in the humble opinion of one who hasn't seen any other and doesn't care for them. Nothing could top this.
There was one performance that comes close. Years ago the BBC ran a series call "The Shakespeare Plays" with David Gwillim playing the lead in "Henry V." His performance was excellent.
BUT only if ya can relate. thats why the noncombatant sleepers are FAR AWAY in london and not calais, i.e., ya gotta run the guantlent at least once of killing AND dieing for such a noble cause to even know what the b of b are talking about. that explains that captivating, totally out of place smirk and delight on henrys beaming face. hes telling an inside joke, while unwrapping sudden surprise st crispin day gifts for each and every one. and thats true and real and profound and important; timely and timeless. i guess.
Another Veterans Day comes and again I come back to the St. Crispin's Day speech. To all my shipmates, past and present, it was my honor to belong to your band of brothers.
I saw this movie when it debuted in 1989 as most of my friends were dying of AIDS. Several of us, all gone now but me, saw it together. We had a foe and we were few and despised by society. Nothing could have been more encouraging than this scene, the St. Crispin's day speech by the dear King. I miss them all and hope that in the hereafter we will meet again and remember St. Crispin's day.
I saw this in a video store and for a dollar,. what the heck. I have never seen or read anything by Shakespere before. I watched it mesmerized. I went to get Hamlet with Mel Gibson next and was sorely disappointed. I play Branagh's spech when I'm feeling depressed for some reason and it helps get me out of that funk.
We would not die in that man's company who fears his fellowship to die with us. --I thought about that line often during the deepest days of the AIDS crisis.
The combination of the speech and the music is just outstanding. I can watch this repeatedly without getting bored and always noticing something new. Totally excellent
@@concars1234 So true. The way Shakespeare sounds as you hear it and how it feels as you speak or read it tickles a part of the brain in a way that few other things can.
Three elements put this clip at the top of motivational speeches: the text, the delivery, and that sneaky--but really effective--music track. Contrast this version with Olivier's take on the material or even Bill Pullman's almost pep rally worthy speech near the end of Independence Day and you will wonder why did the others waste the celluloid.
Shakespeare is the GOLD standard. There's a reason why we're still watching and reading his work 500 plus years later. There are fewer and fewer reason to feel pride in being English; especially nowadays - William Shakespeare is one of them.
I could not have wished to be of english descent more than after watching this. Alas I'm swedish, but I behold, read and admire, still. O' Land of Angles, Saxons, Jutes and Britons. History has shown you are a great people. For good and for worse. You are a people to be admired.
Nancy Benefiel Its amazing how he just blows everything else out of the water. Very, very little matches him and nothing surpasses him. It'd be interesting to see what Shakespeare's thought process was like, I wonder if there's any notebooks of his that exist that showed us what he was thinking?
+Nancy Benefiel And thank god. At least I can understand everyone else. I really don't get people's fascination with Old English. Yay, it happened, it made us speak a certain way, it introduced certain things, but now it's old and we don't speak it really that much any more and it doesn't make much sense, and it's not modern english and oh, by the way I speak in slang more than I do QUEEN's english, so, it's not exactly that relevant any more. Like, that's how I see it anyway. Great stories, annoying as hell language.
+30secondstomarsMBH Old English is Anglo Saxon, the language of Beowulf. You can't read it just from knowing modern English. Middle English is much more accessible as in Chaucer or the lovely poem Sumer is icumen in, thought to be the oldest in the English language. The English of the 16th and 17th centuries, Shakespeare and Marlowe are readily accessible with a good glossary. I can't imagine wanting to miss the beauty of it. When you lose a language, which we are doing rapidly right now, you lose the heart of the people who think in it. Each loss takes something away from mankind, in my humble opinion.
+Anon San It's really quite simple. Shakespeare wrote his plays not to entertain the gentry & royalty, but for the common folk in the pit at the Globe. Since they, in that day, were mostly illiterate, he had to write easy "hooks" that the common man would remember and spread as cheap advertising. He invented the movie trailer, but had the genius to keep it up for a 2 hour play.
This speech is bourgeois criminality. A better speech would have been : "It is with great emotion that I implore you to turn yourself over to the The Communist Party for re-education and be released from these ungood thoughts. Religion enslaves minds and must be replaced by fervent worship of The Mother Goddess Gaia (Emma Thompson's daughter notwithstanding) and The Party. The state creates truth and harmony! Your body is now the property of the multicultural proletariat! Report to your nearest Asylum Centre at once for cultural enrichment !"
@@OceanGateEngineer4Hire - Please disregard my previous post which was made in the clouded stupor of a bottle of Krasnodar Limited Reserve fermented beet peelings juice that somehow is not on the inventory of permitted Communist Party rations….
You don't need to be English to understand universal thoughts and feelings. One reqaon Shakespeare can be appreciated and wept over by people of any nation. His plays and sonnets are universal, about humanity, they resonate with anyone of intelligence and passion.
That moment when the camera shows Robin The Luggage-Boy is truly magical. Not just because you can see the young lad feeling a whole new surge of pride at his place among these older soldiers and the place in history he’ll earn, but you can also see the young Christian Bale’s inspiration! After he had done Empire Of The Sun, he felt like he wanted to quit acting, but working with Branagh encouraged him to continue his career. You can imagine how full of awe he must have been watching this legendary thespian deliver this passion-filled speech!
It stirs all our blood.... We of these islands have earned the right.... Scottish, Irish, Welsh and English.... These are our islands... We have nowhere else to go
@@corinth492 there wasn’t any Irishmen in Henry the 5ths army as the English only owned a tiny part of Ireland at this point and his army was almost entirely English with 600 Welshman
Just got cast as Henry. Which is strange for me, cuz I’m typically the comedic side kick. But I’m stoked as hell to deliver this and “once more unto the breach”
Without doubt, the best rendition of this speech, ever. I have this film at home and every now and then watch it. I never tire of it. Makes me proud to be British. For good or bad the British have certainly made an impact on this planet out of all proportion to their numbers.
@Bruce1956 What do you mean, Britain didn't exist? Great Britain is an island, of course it existed. And the original commenter lives in the present, not in the past, which makes them citizens of the present-day United Kingdom, which is probably what you meant. I'm capable of being pedantic too.
@@Bruce-1956 If you actually watched the play, you will see that Shakespeare included a Scotsman, an Irishman and a Welshman to show this was a "British" victory
600 years ago today, October 25, 1415. We may never know for sure what Henry actually told his troops, but it must have been a corker, because outnumbered 2-1 and taking on the enemy on his soil, they smacked 'em!
+felixthecoach Actually the french had the technological advantage with better armor, longbows really aren't as good as they are in the movies, used more to make the french advance with their heads down as to not get shot in the visor(really the only way to kill someone in armor) giving some edge I guess. But really the battle was won with poleaxes and the likes, after the archers threw their bows. The french would have been fatigued by struggling trough the arrows and the muddy field (so the weather did help) making them easy for the fresh and unhindered light archer to smack them about.
+QvixTv I beg to differ. Most English warbows during those times had draw weights ranging from 120 to 200 pounds, as evidenced by the finds on the Mary Rose. A longbowman deliberately aiming with bodkin tipped arrows could penetrate a stationary knight's plate armour up to 50 yards. But since those knights were charging on horseback, the momentum is increased and therefore the distance where direct impact can penetrate plate is also increased. But it is true that at one point, the English archers threw down their bows and joined the English men at arms and knights in hand-to-hand combat.
Archer's typically had hammer headed axes, which they used for making protective rampants and sharpening stakes. They also carried short swords. They basically kept to the sidelines after exhausting their ammunition and then got into the periphery of the melee, by which time any soldiers would be too exhausted or wounded to put up much of a fight.
This will hang on my conscience for years to come, the music,the language and the tone come together to inspire millions. Future generations will never see a better speech.
Dont be proud of your british world. In a few years, south asians will ve running britain, ruling over all of u with an iron hand, just like the east india company did with us. Almost 30 percent now. In a few years indians will take over. Shakespeare will be translated in hindi and english will be forgotten.
This is so brilliant . Shakespeare's mastery of the English language, combined with acting of the best in the business. Before you face what ever challenge in life watching this "Band of Brothers ", St Crispin's Day speech would have you set. Many sports teams and others have done so.
Whenever I need a pick me up, I can always come here and it never fails. This rendition was what introduced me to the play when I was bored flicking through the channels one day when I was a teen. From then on I was obsessed with it and have even been lucky enough to both direct it and star in the lead role (in separate amateur productions). Thanks Kenneth Branagh, you gave me an appreciation for Shakespeare that helped shape my life.
I gave a version of this speech at work when things were going slowly. It actually inspired people despite me forgetting a lot of it and pausing a bunch. Even I worked harder after giving it. Shakespeare's words have legitimate power.
This is a wonderful example of the beauty of the English language. Kudos to William Shakespeare - from one of the commoners from the colonies in Australia ;-)
Aquí mexicano, en Zacatecas México tenemos una capilla dedicada a san Crispín y san crispiano, cada 25 de octubre voy de peregrinación a Zacatecas a brindar plegarias, :) me alegra que este speech mencione estos santos
