Review of That Hamilton Woman (1941) by Orion W — 09 Jul 2008

Another great film for Vivien Leigh's resume. I'm tempted to say she looks even better here than she did in Gone With The Wind. Her performance was equally good, though the love scenes may not count to that performance, since she was with the man she truely loved and her new husband, Larry Olivier.

This was Viv's show all the way, even Larry couldn't compete with her on the screen, something he actually admitted when it was all over. In fact she outshined him so much he decided not to make anymore films with her. They worked together on the stage alot, but never in pictures again.

Laurence was not slouch, he's not considered one of the greatest actors of all time for nothing, But all eyes were on his wife's performance in this one, he really had to fight her presence to be noticed.

British folks should know this story pretty well, considering it was one of the biggest scandals of its day, the Admiral Nelson/Lady Hamilton affair was big news back then. Its a pretty sad story, especially when you know what happened to Nelson, you can't help but feel sorry for Lady Hamilton. A great film with lots of drama and romance, should not be missed if you get the chance to see it.