Chimes at Midnight (1965) on Netflix
NR19651h 55mComedyDramaHistory
Prince Hal, heir to King Henry IV, drinks and carouses at the Boar's Head Tavern under the influence of Sir John Falstaff. A rebellion led by Hotspur threatens his father's crown.
- Netflix3.2/5
- IMDb7.6/1011,330 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes96%
Trailer
Plot summary
King Henry IV sits on England's throne after killing Richard II. Richard's rightful heir, Edmund Mortimer, is held prisoner in Wales. His cousins, the Percys, want the king to free him; when he refuses, they plan to overthrow him. Henry's son, Prince Hal, drinks at the Boar's Head Tavern with thieves and other criminals, led by Sir John Falstaff, who treats him like a son. Hal tells Falstaff he will one day abandon both that life and him, and at the castle Henry scolds his son and warns him of Hotspur's army.
Cast
- Jeremy Roweas Prince John
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about Chimes at Midnight (1965)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- To secure backing for Chimes at Midnight, Orson Welles told Spanish producer Emiliano Piedra he would make Treasure Island, and Piedra agreed to the deal without knowing Welles had no intention of shooting any of it.
- Early in pre-production, Anthony Perkins asked Orson Welles for the part of Prince Hal, but Welles had already promised the role to Keith Baxter.
- On a $800,000 budget, Orson Welles had Jeanne Moreau for five days, John Gielgud for ten and Margaret Rutherford for four weeks; in one scene with seven principal characters, none of the actors was available at once, so stand-ins played all seven in over-the-shoulder shots.
- Exploitation filmmaker Jesús Franco worked as an assistant director and was heavily involved in the Battle of Shrewsbury sequence, but he is uncredited because he and Orson Welles fell out.
- With only about 180 extras for the Battle of Shrewsbury, Orson Welles faked the look of thousands of soldiers by cutting long takes into fragments; ten days of shooting became a six-minute sequence that took six weeks to edit.
- Keith Baxter said Orson Welles had stage fright and left all his own scenes until the very end of shooting, and was so timid about his love scene with Jeanne Moreau that a double was used whenever possible.
- The Battle of Shrewsbury sequence was admired enough to inspire later films, including Braveheart and Saving Private Ryan.
- Legal disputes over ownership kept the film out of circulation: Chimes at Midnight was issued on VHS only twice in the United States, and neither release is still available.
