Laurence Olivier in Henry V (Rank Film, 1944), Hamlet (G.F....

Description

Laurence Olivier in Henry V (Rank Film, 1944), Hamlet (G.F.D., 1948), The Beggar's Opera and The Entertainer (British Lion, 1953/1960) Master Key Book Photographs (315+), and 4" x 5" Color Transparency. Vintage 4" x 5" (1) color transparency of Laurence Olivier in That Hamilton Woman (UA, 1941) by Robert Coburn, glossy 8" x 10" (4) and matte double-weight 6.25" x 8.5" (5+) key set photographs of Olivier and Penelope Dudley-Ward in Adventure for Two by E.H. Eugene Pizey (GFD, 1943), glossy 8" x 10" (10+), 7.5" x 9.5" (2), and 6.5" x 8.5" (1) key set photographs of Olivier, Rene Asherson, Robert Newton, and Leslie Banks in Henry V by Angus McBean, 7.25" x 9.5" (95+) master key book album photographs (tipped to 8" x 11" linen card stock pages, loose) of Olivier, Jean Simmons, Basil Sydney, and Eileen Herlie in Hamlet by Wilfrid Newton, 8" x 10 (30+) (one color) key set photographs of Olivier, Hugh Griffith, Dorothy Tutin, and Daphne Anderson in The Beggar's Opera (dir. Peter Brook), 8" x 10" (20+) and borderless 7.5" x 9.5" (135+) (tipped to manila pages in black cloth book-binding screw post album), master key book photographs of Olivier, Alan Bates, Albert Finney (film debut), and Shirley Anne Field in The Entertainer (dir. Tony Richardson) by Bert Cann, with wet stamp and paper caption on the verso. Fine/ Very Fine, with light handling. Comes with a COA from Heritage Auctions.

More Information: Produced during World War II with backing from the British government, Olivier's Henry V was both a patriotic rallying cry and a landmark in film history — the first Shakespeare play adapted in full Technicolor for the screen. Its release in late 1944, as Allied forces advanced into occupied Europe, underscored the resonance of Shakespeare's tale of national unity and victory against overwhelming odds. McBean, a leading British theatrical and portrait photographer, documented a watershed in Olivier's career — his directorial debut and artistic triumph.

With Hamlet, Olivier redefined Shakespeare on screen—not as a literary relic but as a deeply cinematic, expressionistic experience. Shot in stark black and white and photographed here by Wilfrid Newton, the film transformed Elsinore into a psychological labyrinth. It was the first British film to win the Academy Award for Best Picture, and Olivier, in directing and starring, became the global face of Britain's cultural exports in the immediate postwar period. Jean Simmons received an Oscar nomination (winning Best Actress at the Venice International Film Festival) for her ethereal Ophelia. The visual materials in this archive reflect that achievement—each tipped-in print from the master key book encapsulating a moment when Shakespeare was made newly urgent for a war-weary world grappling with loss, morality, and political fragility. As the master key book, this set constitutes the studio's definitive photographic archive, intended for publicity and exhibition. Newton's stills capture the brooding cinematography and deep-focus expressionist staging.

By contrast, The Entertainer, directed by Tony Richardson and captured in this archive by Bert Cann, reveals a very different Olivier: seedy, broken, lecherous, and defiantly irrelevant as Archie Rice, the faded music hall performer clinging to tatters of national identity. Emerging at the height of Britain's postwar "Angry Young Men" movement and the dawn of the British New Wave, The Entertainer confronted the audience not with classical heroism but with cultural rot and generational drift. It is a watershed performance, and the photographs—particularly from the bound master key book—document a raw, self-deconstructing Olivier willing to sabotage his own myth. Directed by Tony Richardson from John Osborne's groundbreaking play, The Entertainer was a defining work of the British "kitchen sink" movement, with Olivier delivering one of his greatest screen performances as fading music-hall comedian Archie Rice. The film also introduced Albert Finney in his screen debut and featured early performances from Alan Bates and Shirley Anne Field, capturing a generational shift in British acting and cinema. Cann, a veteran still photographer of Rank productions, captured both the seedy theatrical world of Archie Rice and the stark realism of Richardson's direction, preserving the gritty atmosphere and cultural significance of a film now regarded as a landmark of postwar British cinema.

Together, these materials form a cultural map of shifting British identity: from empire to disillusionment, from poetic grandeur to realist grit. And Laurence Olivier—through his performances, collaborations, and image-making—remains central to that transformation. This archive is not simply a collection of portraits but a visual narrative of Britain's evolving postwar self-image, as refracted through its most enduring actor.


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