Review of That Hamilton Woman

First of all, the film is too long by about 35 minutes. Given the star quality of Olivier and Leigh at the time, that's probably deliberate. Never mind that we see several scenes that cover the same self-conflicted feelings again and again. Some scenes are embarrassingly overwrought, and one can only blame the director. Leigh especially thinks more is more, and seems never to have heard of nuance. The battle scenes are typical of British film of the era, with models standing in for real ships. Granted, the film was made during wartime, but even before the war British production values were meager -- the reason Hitchcock packed up for America. There is a death scene that goes on way too long, which dips the film further down into its melodramatic depths. As the film returns from the protracted flashback, it abruptly ends, with no explanation of what had happened to That Hamilton Woman after the recollections.

The patriotic message is repeated often enough to help establish the film as encouragement for the British to hang in there during these war years of the 1940's. I found myself wondering if the treatment of the Italians as uncultured fools was based on Italy's alliance with Germany, or merely a fairly typical English attitude of superiority that defined (at least) the 1930's (mirrored in my recent reading of Agatha Christie's novels, which rather blatantly sneer at Italians and other foreigners).

I was rather surprised that this film was deserving of the Criterion Collection treatment. But then again, they seem to think Douglas Sirk is a genius, too.