That Hamilton Woman

Vivien Leigh and Laurence Olivier bring Hollywood glitz to the love affair between Lord Nelson and Emma Hamilton in the midst of political turmoil.

One of history’s most ill-fated romances played by Hollywood legends Vivien Leigh and Laurence Olivier in a beautifully lavish production. Korda famously made the film at Churchill’s suggestion, as a call to arms against the Nazi regime. The propagandist message is most apparent when Nelson compares Napoleon to a dictator that must be destroyed. But it was the adultery between Nelson and Emma Hamilton that the American censors took umbrage to, forcing changes to the script.