10 Best William Shakespeare Film Adaptations

3. Henry V (Kenneth Branagh, 1989)

While playing Hamlet remains the dream, many young actors are drawn to Henry V, either as a starting point or as a worthy challenge in itself. The character arc, from upstart drunken slacker to victorious monarch, resonates with young people, showing them what wonders can be achieved with the right attitude and application. It's no surprise therefore that Kenneth Branagh chose it as his first film, which he directed, adapted and starred in aged only 28.

Henry V follows the actions of said monarch in his bid to reclaim territories in France once held by his ancestor Edward III. Having scorned the French king's gestures of peace, and exposed a plot to murder him at Southampton, he arrives in France and lays siege to the town of Harfleur. Soon afterwards, his army are confronted in Agincourt by the full force of the French army. Their unlikely but emphatic victory results in Henry marrying the French king's daughter Catherine and becoming ruler of both England and France. Branagh has often been compared to Laurence Olivier, long before he ended up playing him in My Week With Marilyn.

While Olivier's version was shot on the cheap for the Ministry of Information, and is essentially Allied propaganda, Branagh's version takes a much more nuanced and revisionist approach to both the conflict and the character. The film takes pains to show the terrible scars of battle and the pain Henry feels for having to turn his back on Falstaff et al. for the sake of the crown. Arguably Branagh's most entrist adaptation, it is at turns funny, thrilling, maudlin and regal, and Branagh's performance is one of the best of his long and illustrious career. Plus it has Brian Blessed in it.