Today is the 15th anniversary of the start of this blog. Over 700 reviews later, I am still going strong. If you had told me that after 15 years I still would have hundreds of war movies to watch and review, I would tell you that surely there are not that many war movies. I did manage to complete my reviews of Military History magazine's 100 Greatest War Movies a few years ago. And recently I completed my own 100 Best War Movies, but I am not stopping. I chose this movie for the 15th anniversary because "That Hamilton Woman" is a war movie about actual people who it attempts to tell the story of. Naturally, it can not be expected to be perfectly accurate, so the fun is to find out how accurate it is. I have an interest in the Napoleonic Wars and Horatio Nelson, so it makes sense to post this review now.
“That Hamilton Woman” (“Lady
Hamilton” in Great Britain) was one of the films made to encourage American
support for Britain during its darkest days of WWII. The treatment was suggested to
director/producer Alexander Korda by Winston Churchill and supposedly became
his favorite movie. He once claimed to
have seen it 83 times! Churchill, a fan
of Horatio Nelson, wanted a movie made about him and his famous romance with
Emma Hamilton. It was a tale all
Englishmen were familiar with, but it would have been revelatory for American
audiences. Korda had the brilliant idea
of casting the current Hollywood celebrity couple – the newly wed Laurence
Olivier and Vivien Leigh. It didn’t hurt
marketing that their romance had some parallels to those of the movie’s
characters. The actors had fallen in
love and conducted a public affair while still married. It was their third movie together. They had begun their affair during the
filming of “Fire Over England” (1937). The movie was scripted by Walter Reisch
(“Ninotchka”) and R.C. Sheriff (“Journey’s End”). They had the ulterior motive of slyly tying
the tale to Britain’s current situation.
They succeeded in drawing the attention of the America First Committee,
which encouraged a boycott of it and similar films (“The Great Dictator”,
“Foreign Correspondent”, “The Mortal Storm”).
And Korda drew the attention of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee
because of accusations he facilitated MI-5 agents in their ferreting out German
activities and infiltration of isolationist groups in America. Fortunately for Korda, his appearance before
the committee was aborted by the attack on Pearl Harbor. The movie was well-received by critics and
audiences. It was nominated for four
Academy Awards - Sound, Art Direction
(Alexander’s brother Vincent, who did a wonderful job on a small budget),
Cinematography, and Effects. It won for
Best Sound.
The movie opens in Calais
where an alcoholic prostitute is arrested and thrown in jail. She shocks her cell mates by revealing that
she used to be the famous Lady Hamilton (Leigh). Her tale results in a flashback to her better
days. When she was 18 and significantly
more beautiful than her current jailed self, she arrived in Naples at he home
of Sir William Hamilton (Alan Mowbray).
Although engaged to his nephew, Hamilton has paid off his nephew’s debts
and “acquired” Emma. She is offended at
first, but what’s a stripper to do but make the best of it. And the best of it is a lavish lifestyle with
a husband who only requires she grace his arm.
He Eliza Doolittles her and soon she is running his Tara. Two years later, in walks the dashing, but
officious, Capt. Horatio Nelson (Olivier).
There is a spark there and when she intervenes with the rulers of Naples
to support the British, Nelson is impressed.
At this point, the movie becomes a chronicle of Nelson’s career and the
evolution of their romance. Nelson’s greatest
hits are simply alluded to. If you are
British, you can fill in the blanks. If
you are American, read up on it. The
romance progresses to the point where Sir William snarkily acknowledges it and
Horatio has some very awkward moments with his wife. But love will prevail and they manage to
weather the storms. While sailing by
Nelson’s successes at the Nile and Copenhagen, the movie goes all in for the
climactic Battle of Trafalgar. And then
it’s back to the Calais jail cell for the what-ifs.
“That Hamilton Woman” takes
its title from the reaction of British crowds upon seeing the couple in public
in London. The original title of the
film was to be “The Enchantress”, which might have been more accurate about
Emma, but a 1941 movie could not have lived up to that title. The Production Code was at its height of
ludicrousness, so this famous love affair had to be depicted as chaste. Olivier and Leigh could not be shown in bed
together and not even slightly disrobed.
How Emma became pregnant with Nelson’s son is left to the
imagination. The passion had to come
through the actor’s interaction and this is partially successful. Olivier portrays Nelson as upright, but
susceptible to a comely ankle. Leigh has
more fun with the flirtatious Emma.
There is some chemistry from the real-life couple, but the main appeal
of the movie to viewers would have been seeing them act together. Leigh is gorgeous, as is to be expected. You don’t get the green eyes because the
movie is black and white, but she still has the wow factor. This despite the low budget which resulted in
make-up only on the side of the face the camera was on. She was the perfect choice to play a woman
who was painted by George Romney.
Thankfully, the movie spares us from an accurate depiction of her portly
later years. (Leigh in a fat suit would
not have been good for box office.)
“That Hamilton Woman” is not
a war movie until it gets to Trafalgar.
This sequence almost makes the movie worth the wait for war movie buffs
(who tend to not be romance buffs). It
does a good job depicting the battle and includes the memorable moments like
the signal “England expects everyone to do their duty” and Nelson’s refusal to
dress less like a peacock begging to be shot.
There is plenty of action and cannonading by the models, but it is hard
to follow who is who and the movie made the poor decision not to depict the
“Nelson touch” by having Olivier explain his plan to his officers. In fact, the movie makes no case for Nelson
as a great leader. (And frankly, it is
not clear that he was a great lover either.)
Nelson’s death is spot on and surprisingly uses the accurate “Kiss me,
Hardy” last words (instead of “Kismet, Hardy” which ended up in British
textbooks). I wonder how they got that
past the censor.
As a war movie, “That
Hamilton Woman” comes up short. It
reminds of “Gone with the Wind” in that it is more of a romance set in a
war. It gets credit for being based on a
true story that deserved Hollywood treatment.
Even though it had a hidden agenda, it is not overly patriotic and I
doubt viewers left the theater and immediately wrote a check to Great Britain. I bet most simply enjoyed it for its
entertainment value, which was high for the time, but seems tame today. A miniseries on Nelson is definitely needed
today. Why has this not happened, BBC?
GRADE
= C
HISTORICAL ACCURACY: The
movie is surprisingly accurate for a historical romance. Emma was born poor and early in her life had
to fend for herself. She was blessed by
striking beauty which meant her career path was obvious, especially for an
ill-educated woman. As early as age 15
she was a concubine for a wealthy gentleman.
She would dance nude on tables at his bacchanalian parties. She eventually settled with George
Greville. He farmed her out to the
artist George Romney, who became obsessed with her. He did a lot of paintings of her and made her
a celebrity. Greville decided he needed
to sleep with someone who was wealthy, so when he got engaged to an heiress and
she was not into open marriages, he shuffled her off to Naples to entrance his
uncle. She did arrive with her
mother. Hamilton was 55 and newly
widowed. She was the best present he
ever received. He was an art collector
and she was living art. She was less
excited, but once she realized her “vacation” on Naples was meant to be
permanent, she decided to make the best of it.
Sir William was kind and doting and they fell in love. When they married, he was 60 and she was
26. She was quite the hostess and soon
was best friends with Queen Maria Carolina (sister of Marie Antoinette). Her fame swept Europe when she came up with
her performance art called “Attitudes”.
She would dress up and portray famous statues and paintings. Nelson had been married six years when they
first met. He was infatuated from the
start. They corresponded and the love
grew. When he returned five years later,
crippled lacking some of his dash, she still fainted in his arms and the
romance was on. As the movie shows, they
were often apart for long stretches, but they eventually returned to England
together (with her mother and her husband). Nelson’s wife Fanny was not thrilled,
especially since Emma was pregnant. Nelson treated her badly, which of course
the movie does not show because Nelson was such a hero. The public excused
Nelson for the very public affair. Nelson, Emma, William, and her mother openly
lived together. When Nelson left to fight the Battle of Trafalgar, Emma did not
cope well. She overdrank and overate and went deeply into debt. She escaped her
debtors by escaping to France. Her downward spiral continued as she accumulated
debts there too and was an alcoholic and a user of laudanum. I found no evidence
that she died in debtor’s prison. She was 49 when she died.
