Henry IV, Part 1
1979: David Giles
This is one of the finest of the BBC Shakespeare sequence of history plays. In its casting, too, it achieves a commendable continuity much like that in both An Age of Kings (1960) and in The Hollow Crown (2012). The cast is largely made up of long-term BBC and RSC troupers; their diction is excellent and their acting credible throughout.
Despite the title (which is conventional for the histories), the emotional and narrative gravity of the play is defined not by the eponymous king, but by Prince Hal (later Henry V). David Gwillim plays the role with less bluster and bravado, and with more nuance,than any other actor I have seen in the role. His inner life is covered with quiet, almost whispered, soliloquies, and gos a long way toward convincing the viewer that his character is not altogether put on, though it is played close and guardedly. There are other approaches to the character, perhaps equally valid, and they deserve to be seen and heard as well. Gwillim’s rendition, however, is to my sense the most congenial and satisfying. It is not free of contradictions, but it embraces and balances them very well.
Two particular players deserve special mention. One is Jon Finch, who was not the product of the Shakespeare-training machinery (chiefly the RADA and the RSC) that produced so many of the age’s other notable actors, but had broken into the playing of Shakespeare with the titular role in Roman Polanski’s Macbeth. In Richard II and both of the Henry IV plays he achieves a remarkably nuanced approach to Henry, as well. He constantly carries his anxiety about being a usurper; at the same time he is eager to establish his dynasty, and is never quite able to undersand the quicksilver wit of his son.
The other is Anthony Quayle, who played in Shakespeare, biblical epics, Lawrence of Arabia, science fiction potboilers (Five MIllion Years to Earth) and popular television (Strange Report); here he plays Falstaff to near perfection. He was not an exceptionally corpulent man in his day, but that much is covered with a body-suit. He manages both the endearing and the repellent aspects of the hedonist knight in both of the Henry IV plays (though he does not play Falstaff in the BBC The Merry Wives of Windsor), which is a more fundamentally comic part).
All in all this and its sequel are exceedingly solid renditions of the Henry IV plays. They are not marked by any strange performative differences such as many modern performances of Shakespeare seem to prize: they are about first-rate story-telling and solid acting, and they are presented with solid but unobtrusive production values. It would be hard to do better as a baseline.
Archibald: John Cairney
Bardolph: Gordon Gostelow
Chamberlain: Douglas Milvain
Earl of Westmoreland: David Buck
Edmund Mortimer: Robert Morris
First Carrier: Mike Lewin
First Messenger: Michael Heath
Henry IV: Jon Finch
Henry Percy: Bruce Purchase
Hotspur: Tim Pigott-Smith
Lady Mortimer: Sharon Morgan
Lady Percy: Michele Dotrice
Mistress Quickly: Brenda Bruce
Owen Glendower: Richard Owens
Peto: Steven Beard
Poins: Jack Galloway
Prince Hal: David Gwillim
Prince John: Rob Edwards
Ralph Moldy: Julian Battersby
Scroop: David Neal
Second Carrier: David Bailie
Second Messenger: Malcolm Hughes
Servant to Hotspur: George Winter
Sheriff: Neville Barber
Sir John Falstaff: Anthony Quayle
Sir Michael: Norman Rutherford
Sir Richard Vernon: Terence Wilton
Sir Walter Blount: Robert Brown
Thomas Percy: Clive Swift
Buy the complete BBC Shakespeare Plays at Amazon. Note that this will require a Region 2 player or a region-free player: it will not play on most normal American DVD players. Nevertheless, the price is so reasonable that even with a region-free player thrown into the deal, you’ll come out ahead.
Buy the BBC Shakespeare Plays Histories Giftbox at Amazon. Unlike the complete series, this is in a North American video format, and it includes five plays: Richard II, Henry IV, Part I, Henry IV, Part 2, Henry V, and Richard III.
Buy the complete set of the BBC Shakespeare Plays or individual plays (including this one) in Region 1 format direct from Ambrose Video.