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That Hamilton Woman (1941)

Rate: 10
Viewed: 7/15

HamiltonW
7/15: Reportedly, That Hamilton Woman is Winston Churchill's favorite film, having seen it over eighty times.

It's not hard to see why because it's an excellent film that's about overcoming adversity to rouse the British (and possibly the Americans) to enter WWII and showcases the very best of Laurence Olivier's and Vivien Leigh's talents in their third and final picture together.

In many ways, That Hamilton Woman is Vivien Leigh's picture. She was that good of an actress. Throughout the history of motion pictures, there's Vivien Leigh, and there's the rest. Consequently, she won the part of Scarlett O'Hara for Gone with the Wind and was able to go toe-to-toe with Marlon Brando in A Streetcar Named Desire. She had the confidence to deliver her lines in the middle of the action without any difficulty.

I've complained in the past there had been times Laurence Olivier truly belonged in the theater because he hardly translated on screen. But in That Hamilton Woman, thanks to Vivien Leigh's presence, Laurence Olivier finally achieves a breakthrough and makes a case of having the goods for cinema. As a result, he's convincing as Horatio Nelson.

Alexandra Korda should be credited for keeping the facts accurate as much as possible when it comes to the relationship between Horatio Nelson and Emma Hamilton. He also stages one of the best naval battle spectacles ever by filming how it went down during the Napoleonic Wars in the early 19th century. Describing a particular scene, one reviewer said:

"The Battle of Trafalgar is breathtaking. HMS Victory was constructed to scale, but the ships-of-the-line in the background were the size of dinghies, manipulated like puppets by prop men inside of them. The battle took place in a tank with wind machines that roil the water convincingly. One would never guess that this elegant set was jerry-built on a low budget. It makes many of the CGI effects in films today seem paltry in comparison."

All in all, That Hamilton Woman is a British masterpiece about a real-life love story.