I’m not a war buff, but I’ve always had a fascination with the story of Horatio Nelson and the events surrounding the Battle of Trafalgar. There are so few heroes left to history, and Nelson is one legend that persists beyond his highly public personal affairs. This trip to Trafalgar Square was a bit of an homage to that legacy.
I mention That Hamilton Woman in this video. Featuring Laurence Oliver as Nelson and Vivien Leigh as Emma Lady Hamilton, it’s an old favorite of mine. It was a favorite of Winston Churchill too, who reportedly saw it over 100 times.
The story centers on Emma Hamilton, a woman of unfortunate upbringing who uses her beauty and charm to marry into high society. Along the way, she and Nelson fall in love and maintain their relationship against great odds (like being married to other people!) to become England’s most famous couple.
Vivien Leigh filmed this role three years after her turn as Scarlett O’Hara in Gone With the Wind. She is noticeably less convincing in this role, which spans Lady Hamilton’s time as a fresh young beauty just entering society to an impoverished middle-age drunkard, dying of liver failure. Then again, every work in her long-running career was doomed to mope in the shadows cast by her Oscar-winning bookend roles of Scarlett and Blanche DuBois.
Olivier approaches the role with his usual magnificence. He rides the line between heroic dignity and desperate self-effacement in his relationship with Hamilton. At the time, Olivier and Leigh were mirroring these roles in real life as a couple who had a famous affair and divorced others to be together.
In both realms, these were people who knew what they wanted and transparently pursued it. Maybe it’s the autobiographical element that is so compelling.
The story itself was made for Hollywood, but perhaps a bit too ambitious for a standard cinema feature. Too many lives, years, and tragedies whiz by for adequate treatment or comprehension. One wonders how differently the story would be portrayed in the hands of someone like David O. Selznick.
Still, for someone who likes classic film and skilled acting, That Hamilton Woman is well worth adding to your movie queue.
I like this movie too, I saw it when I was a teenager and, being impressionable, it stayed with me. Just yesterday I found from 1979 (page 47) about the motivation behind making this film. So interesting!
New York Magazine