The Henry V film, the execution of prisoners at Agincourt and an invented Falstaff episode

Laurence Olivier's 1944 "Henry V" deserves its due: it was not only more realistic and spectacular but also interesting, yet in essence it was theatre, quite literally Shakespeare's play, with the action set in a theatre.

It is curious how the film's makers mention Henry V's war crimes only in passing, without dwelling on the mass execution of prisoners after the Battle of Agincourt, which was, strictly speaking, forbidden by the codes of chivalry. Our attention is directed instead to an invented episode in which Henry spares the lives of hostages at Falstaff's request. In reality, he had captured soldiers put to death in the most savage ways: men's heads were crushed, faces were hacked to mince, and others were burned alive, locked in barns.