Evening star., 1943-07-09

nehfs Nebo"V'e' lTUS1l hIb sbill no
neutral as ever, but there's battle
about to start any minute. Here.
in the Wicklow Hills, five CEN
turies are being rolled back and
TOO Irish extras are going to fight
the Battle of Agincourt all over
again for the film version of w.
Shakespeare's Henry, the Fifth
Olivier Is Star.
The f1lm company, which has
Laurence Olivier as the star, pro-
ducer and director, came to Ire
land because neutral country
Is the only place in the world to-
day where you can stage battle
scene without having one side or
the other start playing for keeps
This is very nice war here. Mr..
Olivier has his front-line headauar-
ters in a canary-yellow trailer which
Is complete with bar, bath and
kitchenette, and, in case the 60
ing gets tough he can reach into
the clothes closet and yank down
a suit of 15th-century armor.
The battle location is the coun-
try seat of Lord Powerscourt. A
country seat is large farm where.
If they branded cattle, they'd have
to do it with crest instead OF
Bari or a running w. The Eng
lish camp and the French camp
are set up on different hills in tents
that look like cabanas on a dream
I beach in prewar Hawaii or Miami.
Today they were trying to shoot
a scene of French footmen scurrv-
ing over to their lords on horse
back and handing them their lances
so the lords could 60 out and lonk
for the British. But the sun
wouldn't Cooperate. It kept duck
ing in and out of the clouds.
Soldiers CIanked.
War is hell" I think 7 heard
GeneraliSSimo Olivier say ss he
Scurried about among the cameras,
clad only in white shorts and a
suntan. He offered a pleasing con-
trast to the bearded soldiers VIM
| clanked about in their mail, Won
/ dering II they shouldn't have asked
for more than a pound day for
their efforts.
! While waiting for the sun. some
( OF the soldiers walked around the
| countryside, thereby frightening the
cows who had never before seen men
in led full-length stockings, yellow
/ jenkins and chain mail Others
I passed the time by singing, and
favorite number was Spurs That
Jingle, Jingle, Jingle" This cor
respondent has learned that travel
has its rugged sides and one Of
them is having to listen to WORT
out American songs.
When the big battle scene is
finally shot, the Irish French and
Irish English soldiers will be en-
coursged TO shout and scream dur
ing the battle but no sound will
be recorded. Generslissimo Olivier
has figured out that one. A be
gorrs" could louise up 500 900 worth
Of technicolor film.
Blond Stirx Warriors.
visited Powerscourt with some
Irish folk. In our company was
lovely blond. The entire French"
Army ceased 18th century opera
tions when she passed along, to
give out with very modern 1a43
Whistles. That's sign, I thought,
tha the world hasn't change a great
deal. The boys at Agincourt were
just about the same sort of BOYS
who are fighting this globsl war
today.
Then, watching 18th century
battle being fought, had another
thought. The british won at Agin-
court with archers-they knocked
off the superior French force as
easily as if they had been using
Spitf1res and machine guns. What
will war be like 500 years from now?
Present-dsy methods OF killing
will be as ont-moded as the mailed
knights of Agincourt seem today.
Our csnnons, our planes, our COM
mandos and our rangers will be
just as ridiculous to a warrior of
500 years from now as the bows
and lances of the days of Henry
the Fifth. Not q very pleasant
thought, is it?