That Hamilton Woman (1941)

Directed by

Alexander Korda

Genre

drama film, biographical film

Country

United Kingdom, United States

Runtime

1h 48m

Rated

NR

Rating

7.1 of 10 from 93 voters

Elsewhere

IMDb

How it feels

During the Napoleonic Wars, a dance-hall girl named Emma Hamilton marries a British ambassador and later becomes the mistress of Admiral Horatio Nelson. The film traces her rise in society and her eventual downfall.

romantictragichistoricalmelancholicdramaticpatrioticslow-burnglamorous

What happens

That Hamilton Woman, also known as Lady Hamilton, is a 1941 black-and-white historical film drama produced and directed by Alexander Korda for his British company during his exile in the United States. Set during the Napoleonic Wars, the film tells the story of the rise and fall of Emma Hamilton, dance-hall girl and courtesan, who married Sir William Hamilton, British ambassador to the Kingdom of Naples, and later became Admiral Horatio Nelson's mistress. The film was a critical and financial success, and while on the surface the plot is both a war story and a romance set in Napoleonic times, it was also intended to function as a film that would portray Britain positively within the context of World War II, which was being fought at that time. At the time it was released, France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland and Denmark were all occupied by Germany and the Soviet Union was still officially allied with the Third Reich, so the British were fighting against the Nazis alone and felt the need to produce films that would both boost their morale and also portray them sympathetically to the foreign world, especially the United States. On Rotten Tomatoes, That Hamilton Woman has a 100% rating based on 11 reviews. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

Trailer

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