That Hamilton Woman (1941)

So many reasons for see it ! from the status of testimony about the spirit of a period to the performances - Vivien Leigh is magnificent as Emma Hilton - to the naval battle and the imposible love story. it is not a film for define it. and not an artistic delight. or a masterpiece. after its end, you discover it as a very personal message. sure, romanticism is present. and it could appear as the basic ingredient. but the film gives more than a sensitive story. but a kind of ...spell. about succes and sacrifice and fall. using the perfect couple.

Laurence Olivier and Vivien Leigh's third and final film together and the only one made during their marriage, this is a hugely enjoyable romantic period film which tells the story of the rise and fall of Emma, Lady Hamilton in Georgian society and her long lasting and very well known affair with Lord Nelson, which ended with his death at Trafalgar in 1805. I am not an expert on either those two individuals or the Napoleonic era in general so I don't know how closely it hues to or how greatly it departs from actual history but tells a wonderful story of two lovers who were in many ways doomed. One thing that I did know about the couple is that they had an illegitimate daughter named Horatia (subtle). Given the film standards of the day, I was expecting this little fact to be left out and I was very surprised that they acknowledged her existence, although they never show her. The film has a very strong script by Walter Reisch and R.C. Sheriff, top notch direction from Alexander Korda and beautiful sets designed by his younger brother Vincent.Olivier and Leigh are both sublime in the leading roles and just make it seem so effortless. It's such a shame that their on screen partnership was limited to a mere three films as their chemistry is fantastic. I do know that Olivier wanted to make at least two films with her before they divorced: his unproduced and seemingly cursed version of Macbeth and The Prince and the Showgirl. In the latter, she was to reprise her stage role as Elsie Marina from The Sleeping Prince but she was replaced by the considerably less gifted actress Marilyn Monroe. The couple are certainly the strongest performers but they receive great support from the hilarious Sara Allgood as Lady Hamilton's Irish mother Mrs. Cadogan-Lyon, Alan Mowbray as her cuckolded husband Sir William Hamilton, the great Gladys Cooper as the imperious yet still sympathetic Lady Nelson, Henry Wilcoxon as Sir Thomas Hardy (of "Kiss me, Hardy" fame), Gilbert Emery as Lord Spencer and Heather Angel as Lady Hamilton's Calais cellmate.Although the film was made by Hollywood, it is British to its core and fiercely patriotic. It was intended as an anti-Nazi propaganda piece, which caused controversy in the US as it was released almost eight months before Pearl Harbor. It is well known to be Churchill's favourite film and he actually wrote two of Nelson's anti-Napoleon speeches. The Nazi allegory is most clearly seen in the scene when Sir William explains to his wife that the British Empire is periodically attacked by military adventurers, in Nelson's line "We are alone but unafraid" and his speech denouncing the idea of negotiating with dictators which Churchill could have delivered in Parliament if five or six words were changed. I imagine that it was quite a stirring film for the Britons of the day. In this sense, it is reminiscent of Olivier's later, better and more subtly propagandist film "Henry V".Overall, this is an excellent film which works as both a great romantic story in its right and a very effective social commentary on its own troubled time.

That Hamilton Woman (1941) feels like two different movies competing for attention: a star cross'd romance made to capitalize on real life lovers Vivien Leigh and Laurence Olivier and a propaganda film trying to coax the US to getting involved in the Second World War.This sort of mix can be done well. Casablanca, considered one of the greatest films ever produced in Hollywood, blends romance and propaganda so well the two are inseparable. One element does not work without the other. Rick and Ilsa's love affair is in direct opposition to the greater good, that is, the Allied effort against the Axis represented in the character of Ilsa's husband. This is not the case in That Hamilton Woman. One minute the Napoleonic Wars take the center stage, with Olivier's Nelson giving patriotic speeches. The next, we're watching two lovers torn between passion and social convention. The two stories do not mesh.While the direction is competent and the art direction spellbinding, the film as a whole is uneven. The only outstanding performance comes from Vivien Leigh, who outshines Olivier constantly even when merely entering a room in one of those luscious Regency era gowns. The pacing is poor and the run time overlong. I found myself losing interest more than once.Honestly, the behind the scenes information and historical context are much more interesting than the film itself. Otherwise, That Hamilton Woman is a by the numbers melodrama.

Thus says Vivian Leigh when asked "What happened then, what happened after". As she lies in prison, drunk and penniless, she describes to a fellow prisoner, her life as the beloved mistress of one of England's greatest heroes.This is a film that stays with you, not only for the story of the ill-fated romance of Admiral Lord Nelson and Lady Emma Hamilton, but also for the perfect casting of the leads, Vivian Leigh and Laurence Olivier. They were impossibly beautiful and besotted with each other in real life (they had just married). That attraction was obvious on the screen and reflected the love affair of the characters they portrayed.The story follows Lady Emma's life from a possession passed from nephew to uncle (Sir Edward Hamilton, well played by Alan Mowbray), to her marriage to Hamilton and her meeting with Horatio Nelson. From that point, it's time to bring out the hankies as the love affair, doomed from the beginning, moves to its inevitable conclusion. There is more than enough pathos to move the most jaded movie lover.One of my favorite scenes in the film is that in which Nelson returns to Naples against orders to rescue Emma and she collapses against him saying "I would have died if you would have left me here".The film may not be for all tastes, as it contains a plethora of propaganda aimed at the US which was still neutral in WWII, and does not portray the characters exactly as they may have been. But I say "Who cares"??? It's the kind of love story that will grab your heart and bring you back to watch it again and again.It seems impossible to find it on anything but tape......my copy is on BETA which goes to show how badly I want to have repeated viewings!!!!