Product Details

• Actors: Vivien Leigh, Laurence Olivier, Heather Angel, Leonard Carey, Julie Compton
• Format: Black & White, Dolby, DVD, Full Screen, NTSC
• Language: English
• Subtitles: English
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rated: NR (Not Rated)
• Studio: Criterion
• DVD Release Date: September 8, 2009
• Run Time: 128 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (39 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B002E01M8S
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #38,119 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)
• For more information about "That Hamilton Woman (The Criterion Collection)" visit the Internet Movie Database (IMDb)

Editorial Reviews

Studio: Image Entertainment Release Date: 09/08/2009 Run time: 124 minutes Rating: Nr

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

33 of 36 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars MORE TRUTH THAN FICTION, October 26, 2005

By 

Pepper (Seattle) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: That Hamilton Woman (1941) (VHS Tape)

Vivien Leigh and Laurence Olivier star in this wonderful film and their off screen love affair still makes this true story shine. Emma Hart and Lord Horatio Viscount Nelson are two historical figures who were so in love, their affair almost cost Nelson his career. Emma was considered the most beautiful woman of her time and this could also be said of Vivien Leigh when she made this film. Olivier and Leigh were newly in love when they made this film. The viewer can feel the spark beteen them, and that of Emma and Lord Nelson, as you watch these two brilliant stars bring their story to life. Although Leigh and Olivier were married for many years, they unfortunately divorced later on, primarily due to Leigh's bipolar disorder (mis-diagnosed in those days). Olivier remained loyal to Leigh until she died, trying in vain to protect her from the prying eyes of the world.
As you view this film, you are witnessing romance come alive two fold. It reminds us truth is stranger than fiction. I know of no other love story in history to top this one, and Vivien Leigh and Laurence Olivier obviously put their heart and souls into bringing Emma and Lord Nelson's love alive on screen - and off.
You are watching two true artists at their best. As Leigh brings Emma Hart to life, you understand why she was chosen to star in "Gone With the Wind".
Hollywood made feeble attempts to tell this story in subsequent films, but none compare to "That Hamilton Woman". Be careful as you watch. You may find one viewing isn't enough. I've been watching this film for over 55 years and it still comes across fresh and beautiful, aging well like a fine wine.

18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of the great period pieces, June 28, 2009

By 

calvinnme - See all my reviews
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This review is from: That Hamilton Woman (The Criterion Collection) (DVD)

This is one of my favorite historic epic/romantic films. It stars Lawrence Olivier as Lord Nelson and Vivien Leigh as Emma Hart Hamilton, with Vivien Leigh fresh from her triumph in "Gone with the Wind" and at a time when the real-life romance and marriage between the two stars (Leigh and Olivier) was new. Up until now this film has only been available on expensive out of print VHS copies or Region 2 DVDs. Now Criterion is releasing a copy that will have all of the extras. The extras are:

New, restored high-definition digital transfer
Audio commentary featuring noted film historian Ian Christie
New video interview with author and editor Michael Korda, Alexander's nephew, who discusses growing up in the Korda family and the making of That Hamilton Woman.
Theatrical trailer
Alexander Korda Presents, a 1942 promotional radio piece for the film
PLUS: A booklet featuring an essay by Molly Haskell

The film is largely accurate, which is unusual for an historical drama of its time since these usually took great license with the truth. The departures from the truth that the film took were largely to satisfy the production code of the time. The truth is that William Hamilton, Emma's older husband, accepted and even encouraged the affair between his wife and Lord Nelson. When Emma set up housekeeping with Lord Nelson in England, William Hamilton lived there with them in a menage a trois relationship that fascinated the public of the time. In 1941 this would have been unacceptable on the screen.

The implication of the film is that Emma's daughter by Lord Nelson died. In fact their daughter married a man of the cloth, had ten children, and died at the age of 80. Emma's end as it is portrayed in the film is sadly accurate. Women of Emma's time were largely dependent upon their station in life and upon the whims of the men in their lives. If those men died, even if the man was great, women often found themselves in desperate poverty.

21 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars LORD AND LADY OLIVIER., November 10, 2001

By 

"scotsladdie" - See all my reviews

This review is from: That Hamilton Woman [VHS] (VHS Tape)

Vivien Leigh and Laurence Olivier make a beautiful pair as they portray Lady Emma Hamilton and Lord Horatio Nelson in THAT HAMILTON WOMAN! Trivia buffs should know that this was Winston Churchill's favourite film; he had it screened many times. Only part of the astonishing life of Emma, Lady Hamilton is told in this big, sprawling Alexander Korda movie, which makes of Napoleon an earlier Hitler and of Naples an 18th Century warning to America. Her real name was Amy Lyon. Before she married aging Sir William Hamilton, British Prime Minister to the Kingdom of Naples, she had lived in the London slums, passed from hand to hand, bore several illegitimate children and posed as Circe, Cassandra, Nature, Joan of Arc and Mary Magdalene for George Romney, the great English portrait painter. At Naples, she created endless scandal, became the crony of Queen Maria Carolina and met young English Naval Captain Horatio Nelson. From then on, their lives were constantly intertwined, making choice chatter for London gossips. Meanwhile, the young captain chased Napoleon's fleet around the Mediterranean, lost an eye and an arm, became the idolised "Victor of the Nile", the immortal Lord Nelson who died of a sharpshooter's ball at the Battle of Trafalgar (1805). Producer Korda makes of his heroism an epic of British defiance to dictators, of Emma's sordid life - a romance in the lush PRISONER OF ZENDA style.