THE DIVINE LADY

 

For the last few weeks Turner Classic Movies has been showing a marathon of Oscar-nominated features. Most of these are films that I have seen over and over again, but TCM did happen to sneak in an obscure title: the 1929 THE DIVINE LADY, about the famous love affair between Lady Emma Hamilton and British military icon Horatio Nelson. THE DIVINE LADY was made by First National, and while it has no dialogue, it does have a music track that also features songs and sound effects. 

The most famous film about Lady Hamilton and Admiral Nelson by far is Alexander Korda's THAT HAMILTON WOMAN, starring Laurence Olivier and Vivien Leigh as the notorious couple. THE DIVINE LADY has Corinne Griffith as Lady Hamilton and Victor Varconi as Nelson. Griffith was nominated for a Best Actress Oscar, while Frank Lloyd won for Best Direction. Cinematographer John Seitz was also nominated. 

The storyline of THE DIVINE LADY is almost exactly the same as THAT HAMILTON WOMAN. The movie charts the rise of Emma Hart from maid to society darling, due to her beauty and her attachments to rich, powerful men. Emma marries the much older British Ambassador to Naples, Sir William Hamilton (H.B. Warner), and encounters Captain Horatio Nelson when he arrives on naval business. Later when Nelson's squadron is desperate to stop at Naples to replenish much needed supplies, Emma intervenes with the city-state's queen to help the British fleet. Emma and Nelson fall more and more in love, but both are married to others, and the now-Admiral's rise in fame and glory doesn't help matters. The Battle of Trafalgar brings the couple's relationship to a close. 

THE DIVINE LADY is now what would be called a Hollywood big-budget spectacular. Nothing was done on the cheap with this production. The costumes, sets, art direction, and photography are all excellent, and there's plenty of extras swarming about. The story is more about Lady Hamilton than Nelson, but there are a few impressive battles at sea, and the death of Nelson is adequately dramatized. 

This is a very well-made picture....but it's also rather stately and even stuffy at times. I felt it lacked a certain spark, that certain something to set it apart from other historical epics. Corinne Griffith is certainly attractive enough to be Emma Hamilton, but she's much kinder and gentler than the Emma of Vivien Leigh. Victor Varconi is generically handsome enough, but he doesn't have the commanding presence one would expect from one of the greatest naval heroes of all time. Griffith and Varconi lack the fire and passion displayed by Leigh and Olivier in THAT HAMILTON WOMAN. The Lady Hamilton and Nelson of THE DIVINE LADY are portrayed in a sentimental and sympathetic manner--they moon over each other like a couple of teenagers. (Notice also how the difference in the titles reflect the attitude of each movie: in one Emma is a divine lady, while in the other she's "that Hamilton woman".) The fact that Emma and Nelson's affair produced a child is not even mentioned in this film. 

There is a notable supporting cast here, with H.B. Warner, Ian Keith, and Montagu Love as Captain Hardy. Marie Dressler plays Emma's mother, but she doesn't have much screen time (in the latter part of the film her character disappears). Despite not having a lot of scenes Dressler still manages to steal the ones she is in. 

THE DIVINE LADY is an above-average epic for its time, but there's more romance in it than historical adventure. Corinne Griffith was quite popular in the 1920s, but she wasn't able to make a successful transition to sound, while Victor Varconi became a steadily-working character actor.