Shakespeare, Film and Kenneth Branagh - BHH Classic

Original upload date: 4/23/2011
Brushing up his Shakespeare in this TGWTG debut, Oancitizen looks at one of the Bard's Best Buddies, Kenneth Branagh.
All third party clips are used under Fair Use.
Follow me on Twitter: / kylekallgren
Tumblr: / actuallykylekallgren
Support me on Patreon: / kkallgren

[@EndisNi]

To this day I remain convinced Branagh and Thompson simply rang round all their mates saying "who fancies a paid six weeks in Tuscany?"

[@jbvader721]

I don't see how anyone would've said no.

[@Bluecho4]

"Bonus points, you can write 'acted in Shakespeare' on your resumes!" "You had me at Tuscany."

[@SamAronow]

"You had me at 'fancies.'"

[@EmpressTiffanyOfBrittany]

BRIAN BLESSED DOES! CHESWICK! FRESH HORSES!

[@fandomdomination3071]

Probably

[@themocaw]

Got Richard Attenborough to deliver the line "Rosenkrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead." Spared no expense.

[@edavis0423]

i feel compelled to defend keanu reeves and say that the character of don jon doesn't really offer a lot to work with. to call him one-dimensional would be generous. had he been written a couple of centuries later, he would be tying hero to train tracks and twirling a pointy mustache

[@bigkidsclubhq]

Keanu Reeves has an interesting style of acting in Much Ado About Nothing. One could call it Neo-Shakespearean.

[@brennabrodbeck5183]

Jesse Booher * faceplam*

[@Shadowman4710]

I see what you did there....and you should be ashamed. :)

[@sesfilmsllc]

The Jester Like Robin Williams in Hamlet. It seems off but he’s good.

[@koroconnell]

The Jester whoever called you a Jester was wrong

[@TheRukus37]

How dare you?

[@yuei]

Thank you for critiquing Branagh’s casting choice for As You Like It. “Let’s set the whole thing in Japan but forget about casting Japanese or even Asians in the movie.” It’s a huge oversight. I still love Branagh’s movies (I’ve rewatched Hamlet in its entirety multiple times). I hope he’ll consider doing King Lear someday or the Tempest. Great work!

[@godofsuch]

So this is the origin of the "Everyone" gag eh.

[@gamestation2690]

Actually it was back in the Prospero's Books review.

[@ECL28E]

He will never run out of stuff to reference

[@KKDWTotalObelisk]

Way back when, this was the first episode of Brows Held High I saw. And when I first watched it there were two points that had me laughing non-stop for a few mintues, don't recall what the first one was but the second was "IT SURE AS HELL WASN'T SPAIN!".

[@NymphWitchVamp]

I love this version of Much Ado About Nothing, its my favorite Shakespeare movie.

[@Madriddler]

Nice to see that Gilderoy Lockhart had a nice career as an actor after a horrible year of teaching.

[@Strawberry92fs]

actually I believe he spent the rest of his days in St. Mungo's Wizarding hospital, as he never recovered from his Amnesia, and seems permanently in a child-like mental state. Which would be pretty sad, if I wasn't certain his shitty spellcraft had done the same to at least half the people he's tried to mind-wipe over the years.

[@gozerthegozarian9500]

I still think that Brannagh essentially played Lockhart as self-parody...I mean, he does have a planet-sized ego, and I like to think he has at least some self-awareness about that!

[@marumae]

'IT SURE AS HELL, WASN'T SPAIN!" I died.

[@juliagoodwin9510]

*BRIAN BLESSED!!!* I love that, despite it being loud even at a low volume.

[@AvatarYoda]

Branagh's Hamlet made me a Shakespeare lover. I never liked or understood the Bard before then, but that film turned me around. And Derek Jacobi's narration in Henry V might be my favorite part of that movie--he delivered it so flawlessly well in that wonderful voice of his.

[@DallyBearNK]

Your recap of the plays sounds like something the Animaniacs would do! :P

[@gamestation2690]

+Jeremy Barber Like the Presidents song?

[@DallyBearNK]

+GameStation3 Yeah! :P

[@eclipsedbadger]

- it kills sheep ...I know its BAD but omfg I lost it why? Why was it so funny? Damn

[@dannytheman1313]

Little did Kyle know that not long after this Keanu would become everyones favorite person.

[@miciarokiri5182]

I would love it if you talked about Much Ado starring Cathrine Tate and David Tennant. I LOVE that version!!

[@camotophat]

He should have done Macbeth. Would have loved to see his spin on that.

[@masonallen3961]

camotophat Branagh hasn't done Macbeth, yet.

[@deborahingle2301]

Branagh played Macbeth in the 2013 National Theatre Live production. It was a brilliant piece of work, and I can honestly say Branagh did not disappoint in the lead. I would love to see him star in and even direct a full-fledged film of Macbeth.

[@IamMissPronounced]

@@deborahingle2301 that would be so brilliant.

[@bread_n_butter8614]

Branagh's Hamlet is monumental

[@mabraarbam]

same opinion...

[@Noah-po2cr]

Its fine, tbh, its got really inconsistent direction, some balatantly misunderstood scenes, a lot of lost meanings and emotions. Its self indulgent to the point where somehow the character of "hamlet" is the weakest link in "hamlet". That being said there is still a lot of good, but it is no way great or definitive.

[@keenanmccarty9925]

Noah If you believe Hamlet can be “misunderstood” you don’t really get the point of the play. The deliberate ambiguity of even important plot details to mimic Hamlets confusion and uncertainty is what’s lead to as many different interpretations as there are people. Braunagh brought several scenes to life without the subtext modern adaptations prefer, going instead for a more classical interpretation.

[@eamonndeane587]

I have an Idea.... Kenneth Branagh's Anthony and Cleopatra as a Space opera.

[@deborahingle2301]

Shut up and take my money.

[@dylanchouinard6141]

YES!

[@sophia-helenemeesdetricht1957]

It has to be hammy as fuck, though.

[@tomatomodest2487]

This is one of the best things I’ve ever seen

[@tomatomodest2487]

@@sophia-helenemeesdetricht1957 of came

[@elizabethpemberton8445]

I saw "Much Ado" in July 1993 when it came out, at the venerable Uptown Theater in Minneapolis, as a 23-year-old, with someone I was crazy about. The place was packed, and it is not small. It was utterly magical.

[@nicholashurst780]

Apparently there's a Shakespeare Festival up in British Columbia that Keanu Reeves goes up to every few years to star in a play... To keep the festival solvent. The organizers just call him up whenever they're in danger of going under and his name on a marquee grosses enough to keep it alive for a few more years

[@havencreatives2488]

I still go back a few times a year to watch your Shakespearean videos; taken to such different times by your videos takes me to a time when my own life was simpler. I'll never get tired of these.

[@thehopeofeden597]

I just saw Henry V for the first time last night and I am floored because of how masterful it is. Not only have I found a new favorite Shakespeare adaptation, but one of my favorite movies.

[@quiroz923]

You know, you've improved a lot and found your identity as a reviewer, but I think even then you were pretty good at making interesting and relevant commentary on the movies you were handling.

[@StanleyWithFriends]

I find myself re-watching this video time and time again. I really enjoy it

[@undetestable1]

Yea its actually completely believable for someone of African decent to reach high status in 19th century society...because that was a thing that happen. I am not claiming most of people of African decent were ale to pull something like that off (neither were most actual Europeans for that matter) but it certainly wasnt impossible. The most relevant example would be Thomas Dumas (the father of Alexander Dumas: the guy who wrote The 3 Musketeers), he was a count and a war hero. Queen Charlotte of England, was literally half black and this was in the 1700s.

[@emmamayberry8605]

Interesting mention of Thomas-Alexandre Dumas, sadly (I believe I read while reading Count of Monte Cristo) Napoleon reintroduced colonial slavery and expelled black officers from the army in the first decade of the 19c, so I believe this social status was very precarious. Additionally, Queen Charlotte may have had some distant black ancestry a few generations back, but this is debated. I do think it's important to discuss historical people instead of just assuming that everyone in Europe was 100% unambiguously white though :)

[@justmanic9673]

Queen Charlotte was not half-black. That's a lie.

[@brennabrodbeck5183]

Kenneth Branagh was all over colorblind acting and considering that Denzel Washington just came from Malcom X and had an impressive acting resume before then, he showed that he can so the charm of Don Pedro. Also Kenneth Branagh seemed to make the movie take place in its own little world seperate of our own. Also, this play takes in Tuscy while the movie takes place in Sicly ( sorry if I spelled that wrong).Honestly,I don't mind this at all, each time I read the play, I think of this movie. I am glad that he was in this movie.

[@samuelhanks9032]

If im correct thomas dumas was a war general who named his son thomas who took his middle name Alexander. He wrote all the classic tales which were then translated to plays by his son alexander dumas. Its all fucking confusing. Funnily enough the son had a son who he named, alexander dumas.

[@dant5349]

Queen Charlotte was not half black. If she had African ancestry at all it was through generations removed ancestry relating her to the Portuguese royal family (and even then that is not well-accepted by scholars).

[@531chaz]

I like Keanu Reeves as an actor because I always imagine him as a character that everyone finds awkward. I makes all the films he's in really enjoyable even if that roll is not meant for his unusual methods.

[@SHMITTYPOWER]

thank you for uploading these older videos and please keep it up its really hard to find some of your older stuff now that blip is gone and chez apocalypse is in perpetual "We are working on it" mode. Please keep up the good work

[@andreraymond6860]

My experience with Much Ado About Nothing was glorious. It was released in the summer and we (in Montréal) were coming out of a hard winter. I was a student and decided to go check it out. Warm, sunny July day in 1993. The mood of the opening of the movie matched my own mood exactly.

[@Warpwaffel]

Setting "As you like it" in Japan reminds me of the time when we did this play in school. As a western. That shit was hilarious. :D

[@MarquisSmith]

Thanks for the re-upload. This was one of my favourite episodes. Although it's not regarded as one of the Bard's best, I think Branagh would make a good King John.

[@sugarfrosted2005]

Wait. Racists were mad about a black man being cast in Thor? I mean that series already lost any sense of authenticity when Thor was made to be Blond instead of a redhead. That's the exact series where the have literally no case for quote and quote "racially accurate casting"

[@jjj7790]

Lmao and of course he would be cast as the character who in myth was described as "the whitest of the gods" (whatever that means, since the modern concept of white didn't exist back then).

[@L1701]

Not to mention it was a film adapting a comic book that wasn't always accurate to the original myths, either. Although the comics do pay nods to the original myths on occasion. For example, Red Norvell. He was a red-haired man who got to use Mjolnir for a while, thus a red-haired Thor.

[@yuei]

Dylan Chouinard still waiting for Loki to pop out that horse someday. 🤣

[@catrionapritchard4679]

Plus, black Vikings were a thing! Actually, quite a lot of ethnicities of Viking were a thing. The Norse travelled most of the known world at that time, and a few bits that weren't known - they discovered the Americas, which they dubbed 'Vineland' centuries before Columbus even thought of it. And *they* didn't mistake it for India when they got there. Just saying. And this includes whole swathes of Africa. And, when they went to new places, they would raid, trade with, and/or intermarry with the locals, sometimes bringing them home. Asia, the Levant, North Africa...all of these are places proven to have had Norse visitors, although whether they were raiders or traders is impossible to tell for sure. So really, the racists don't have a leg to stand on even before you put aside all the actual inaccuracies to Norse myth in those films.

[@Jillbles]

I saw his Hamlet in the theater. All 4 hours (and I smoked, back then, so thank goodness for the intermission). It was... amazing. I own it on DVD, I think, but I haven't watched it in ages; I should watch it again. My copy of Much Ado is nearly worn out from overuse; I love that movie. Henry V, I've seen only once, a decade ago, when I had pneumonia. Definitely ready for a rewatch, there. Love's Labor Lost was... disappointing.

[@theoneandonlymichaelmccormick]

I do celebrate April 23rd, actually. It’s my brother’s birthday. Ironically, he hates writing.

[@JacobMinger]

Branagh’s Hamlet is the reason I was able to enjoy the play in high school. I still own the dvd

[@BloodylocksBathory]

I like that you've made mention of Patrick Doyle. Kenneth Branagh and Doyle are a beautiful combination. Opinions over Branagh's Frankenstein adaptation notwithstanding, the score is wonderful.

[@anthonychaboude1548]

He technically returned to Shakespeare in All is True. But he played the man himself, so you can take it which way you want.

[@plumlogan]

Much Ado About Nothing was probably my biggest hidden pleasure during high school

[@solicitr666]

"arrived more happy men"- "Happy," in WS' day, meant "lucky," not "glad." Root is still found in "hapless" and "mishap." Henry was saying, in effect, "We're lucky to be alive."

[@Kongstudios2]

Pardon me everyone, I just have to get this out of the way *clears throat* BRIAN BLESSED!!!!! Thank you that is all.

[@slewtz]

Anytime you sing is such a treat.

[@GrubStLodger]

The editor of these films is my landlord, and, as landlords go, a very decent person.

[@barbarrojaa.c.4761]

Almost Ten years since I saw this video the first time. Still wish Kyle did something related to Cervantes, since the he is also celebrated on the 23rd, but it still is an awerome video.

[@07011111111]

I want more old BHH episodes, I am tired of having to go all over the places to find one.

[@ZillMob]

Wow just wow! That little singing bit was fantastic, super well sung and the writing is the best! Good job really enjoyed it

[@Crowvamp1979]

Branagh's Hamlet is my favorite Hamlet!

[@eamonndeane587]

+Crowvamp1979 What is Your Second Favourite version?

[@Crowvamp1979]

What's yours?

[@eamonndeane587]

Branagh's version is my favourite. My second favourite is probably Olivier's 1940's version is.

[@Crowvamp1979]

I don't really have a 2nd, no disrespect all of the other fine actors out there, but of all the versions I have seen felt rather boring. Branagh came off so very alive, lush and relatable, and all the other grate things that highlighted in this video that articulated way better then I could.

[@kingofthegundam7974]

Lion King of course! XD

[@queefburglar7548]

3:11 As an Ásatrúar (reffered to here as an Odin worshipper), I apologize for the racists. Their voices are loud, but they terribly misrepresent the vast majority of us.

[@bul13ts]

+Túrin Turambar I love your profile pic!

[@queefburglar7548]

+bul13ts Thanks. Yours is pretty cool too.

[@TheWolfgangGrimmer]

+Túrin Turambar As I often say to Christians who pull the "sorry for the fundamentalists" card, that's just not enough. You need to take an *active* role in impeding the misinformation spread by those kind of people.

[@Painocus]

+Ghost7856: Isn't that exactly what he is doing?

[@TheWolfgangGrimmer]

Painocus Not by posting this kind of comment, anyway. If he does more involved work on the side, you'd think he'd mention some of it in such a context.

[@nataliekmaguire]

Thanks for uploading an old video! Looking forward to seeing more!

[@Sigmundfruit]

I live that you're uploading your classic output, they may have not aged all that well, but each and every one taught me something

[@hollyxdear]

Love your reviews! So happy you have taken the time to upload older reviews on KZbin. Thank you!

[@lucytits]

this is my favorite BHH video I am so glad I can watch it again, Thank you Kyle!!!

[@crimsondynamo615]

Derek Jacobi walking around in a trench coat in Henry V gives off War Master vibes, him trying to escape the Time War.

[@bada5h231]

I celebrate April 23rd every year because its my birthday too. I like to think my whole life Shakespeare has been a kind of spirit guide. Not literally but he has definitely been a major influence in my life.

[@WDSimp]

Apparently Branagh's done stage performances of Macbeth and The Winter's Tale in recent years. Might be worth looking into.

[@eliyahumahler2280]

Kenneth Branagh's hamlet a movie I have watched at least once a year my entire life.

[@brunilda12]

thanks for uploading this review! One of my favourites

[@Mitchellfw]

Oh gosh! I remember this. Good year, good year...

[@L1701]

"Well, that's boring EAT CHANDELIER BITCH!" That's the funniest line in this review.

[@malaysiandominokid]

Very glad to see you uploading your older stuff! I can’t wait for more!

[@mwalsh616]

I enjoy these videos a lot. You can tell this is an early one. I’m glad you got out of the habit of pronouncing “Shake-SPEE-ARE!!!” like a drunken pretentious old lit professor.

[@Broadwaychica]

Oh my God, I never got the chance to see this because Blip was being screwy back in the day and now I finally can! It's just as much fun to watch as I hoped. This is the kind of review that drew me to you in the first place, and I'm always a sucker for Shakespeare. thank you so much for reuploading this. I hope Branagh comes back to Shakespeare someday too. :D

[@sexualyeti7023]

Love: It kills sheep.

[@lucygregory1416]

Literally.

[@jc-kj8yc]

I kinda like Reeves in Much Ado. He's goofy and over the top, but I feel like that's the point. And he really shines in the silent moments. He nails that glowing hateful stare

[@DeepOneBill]

Time to point out an awkward note: Heimdall, in Norse Myth, was born of 9 giantesses. Kenny cast the only black actor as the Norse deity with no father.

[@MoorRoot]

I've been waiting for you to upload this since BlipTV went down. Thanks!

[@katedoes...9783]

The episode that made me a fan of yours!

[@buckleygeneration]

I'm so happy this is up

[@katszulga1888]

I hated Kenneth Branagh in his Hamlet, but I adored the rest of the cast. Laertes reaction to the news of Ophelia's drowning is seared into my soul. And I fell in love with Rufus Sewell which led me to Dark City for which I am eternally thankful. It's nice to know that Kenneth Branagh didn't direct the Othello he was in. I remember at the time thinking "Well, at least he didn't pull an Olivier, but does Iago have to be in the foreground of every shot with Othello?" Perhaps I have misjudged the man.

[@renatapaiva4805]

I was looking for this video the other day! thanks for the reupload! i don't think i'll every get tired of the way u say William Shakespeare in these videos xD nor the EVERYONE gag. i am however afraid i'll get tired of his hamlet v quickly. i have yet to watch the whole thing, but i've seen scenes and oh boy, the ham. so much ham.

[@DescendantDroog]

YAY I was hoping you would upload this one again soon

[@panchemist]

Branagh's production of "Hamlet" came to me when I was like 17-18 years old and in 11th grade. It was something I totally enjoyed. Due to a good translation i had a book on my knees and followed every verse... until i got exhausted at about one and a half hour into film. And then i rewatched it! But i still remember it. :) I am not familiar with his other works but... for understanding "Hamlet" it was good.

[@PaceFilmsProductions]

LORD HALLELUJAH IT'S BACK ON LINE!

[@rpcvliz]

+woollybully100 My thought exactly!

[@bullettube9863]

Awesome channel indeed sir!

[@andreraymond6860]

Branagh's Henry was scraped together following a succesful theatrical run. A producer offered him a small amount of money to do it and he jumped at the chance of doing a movie. The muddy battle scene (à la Welles' Chimes At Midnight") was a budget saving device. There was really no way around it. So was the device of using darkened BBC soundstages for the opening scenes. And so I felt at the time, the inclusion of prologue's please excuse us for the poor quality of our sets and backdrops was justified.

[@z.a.7846]

Amazing singing sir!

[@TheGirlChris]

I love the summary song so much

[@circlingthesquare6470]

From Wikipedia's 'History of lions in Europe': "Lions inhabited parts of Europe during and after the Holocene and even historic times and formed a subspecies called Panthera leo europaea. They lived in ancient Greece, central Germany, Turkey, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Iran, southern Russia, coastal Saudi Arabia, western Asia, and India. It is also suggested by historical evidence, although not certain, that they lived in other parts of Europe, including modern-day Portugal, Spain, southern France, up to Germany, Italy, and the Balkans beyond Greece."

[@LazarSoljaga]

"Marry, sir, they have committed false report; moreover, they have spoken untruths; secondarily, they are slanders; sixth and lastly, they have belied a lady; thirdly, they have verified unjust things; and, to conclude, they are lying knaves" Did Shakespeare have a word minimum he needed to hit. Still has to be one of the funniest lines Keaton ever delivered.

[@masonallen3961]

With Love Labour's Lost, I have to give Branagh credit for trying something new and not just playing it safe. Yeah, It didn't work, but he tried.

[@SEHmmmmmm]

Don't forget Phyllida Law in your cast listing. She is the mother-in-law of your dreams!

[@ThAlEdison]

"The conductor's having a seizure." There were actually rules for using the long s. And it was almost never used terminally. Such usage was practically unheard of past the 15th century.

[@nemowindsor8724]

Ah, I love Branagh so, thanks for the breakdown. As for me, after months of rewatching his Hamlet in highschool and falling in love with King Lear, I ended up very happy with THOR, a covert adaptation of King Lear and the Henriad, heh heh.

[@obiwankenobi9141]

Well would you like to know he cheated on Emma Thompson with Helena Bonham Carter.

[@joelvandyke7505]

Hey, you know Slings and Arrows? Season one was actually loosely based on Keanu Reeves being Hamlet in Stratford, Canada. He was apparently amazing. ...idk what happened between then and Much Ado

[@idunno...someguy3252]

I was starting to miss the older shows. Glad to see them back. I was curious as to what happened to the plans for the redux series the "Gerry Redux" came out of.

[@thevampirefrog06]

I mean, say what you will about Branagh's Love's Labour's Lost, but when we watched his Henry V, Hamlet, and LLL in high school, that was the only one every single person in my English class enjoyed. Even the kids who thought they were too cool for Shakespeare, the ones who'd slept through the other two, had fun. It might be campy and not as well put together as his other Shakespearean work, but there's something to be said for letting the bard be goofy sometimes. Also Adrian Lester is great, don't even play like that.

[@bobbyshaddoe3004]

Keanu had not yet reached John Wick levels of awesome. But the potential was always there even if at that time in his youth he seemed more wooden than Pinocchio.

[@ErinHeartpenny]

Hey Kyle! If you can get the London this year, Kenneth Branagh's theatre company is putting on Romeo & Juliet starring Lily James and Richard Madden who recently starred in a Branagh film...

[@gRinchY-op5vr]

my birthday is also April 23rd, so when people give me birthday greetings I ask where Shakespeare's is, while I love his works I'm torn between Hamlet and Macbeth

[@CrimsonGrowlithe]

"It's the West Wing." IT'S FORBIDDEN!!!

[@MatthewSchooley94]

Wow, I was actually thinking about this vid earlier this morning.

[@velvetisis]

Love it! Please, please PLEASE re-upload the Zardoz review! (assuming there aren't any legal hang ups) I loved that one.

[@Shewhospeakesinverse]

I'm sure a thousand other people have already said this and this video is older than a lot of children in kindergarten but in you flashing of Japanese actors you put up John Cho. Who (despite playing Sulu a character who is very much Japenese) is Korean. Anyway I love this flashbacks to the past especially because I usually barely remember a lot of the older episodes that I watched when they aired.

[@8balls122]

OMG I love his "much to do about nothing" especially the detective.... It's like if a malkavian from VTM smoked Beetlejuice....

[@tierfreund780]

I like the chorus in Henry V, because the movie is pretty low budget, not too many extras.

[@dasuberkaiser6]

Okay, but now I really want a musical adaptation of a Shakespeare play that DOES use the original dialogue.

[@Ajaws]

I honestly think Keanu Reeves is perfect to be a wacky dumb villain, he seems almost intentionally ridiculous

[@LazarSoljaga]

Bravo on the William Tell part. (Claps)

[@michellebrowne9100]

One of the most exciting things to me about research is how much it shows about history that we thought we knew. MEdiaevalPoC has been doing some amazing research on race and the prevalence of people of colour, mostly of African descent, through Renaissance and mediaeval Europe. It's wonderful to learn so much that's been hidden from us! Anyway, long story short, an interracial couple absolutely could have happened.

[@andrefinger5124]

Wonderful video. Branagh's Much Ado About Nothing is actually what turned me onto Shakespeare all the way back in middle school English class. But just one thing: It's Meiji Japan, not Mei-jai Japan. The last syllable is pronounced more or less like the gee in the English word geez.

[@yvonnerogers6429]

When it comes out in November, I'd love to hear your take on Brannagh's "Murder on the Orient Express." Thanks for posting.