“We never know what destiny holds in store for us, Captain Nelson.” – Lady Emma Hart Hamilton
Number of Times Seen – 1 (24 Oct 2018)
Brief Synopsis – The daughter of a cook is sent to learn to be a “lady” in the house of Lord Hamilton to whom she is wed, but problems arise when she falls in love withe a married British Fleet commander Horatio Nelson.
My Take on it –Here is another movie that I had never heard about before but was quite interested in seeing what it was about since Director Frank Lloyd won an Oscar for Best Director for his work here.
This film actually has a very interesting premise but was probably much more appreciated when it was made than it can be now.
The story deals with some very risque subject matter but it is done too subtlety which takes away from the impact.
It was probably presented this way due to the censors of the time and also due to the attempt by many filmmakers to keep characters and storylines seemingly very virtuous as often as possible.
This was quite a weak year for Best Director nominees and Lloyd was able to win probably due to the fact that he is able to shwow some great sea battles which were probably quite groundbreaking and unique to film at that time.
Bottom Line – Interesting premise that probably worked much better when it was made than it does now. Many of the ideas presented are alluded to very subtly due to the censors and the way that people thought at the time that things should be presented more virtuously on film. This was quite a weak year for nominees for Best Director and Frank Lloyd was able to win with this film probably due to the way he is able to depict sea battles which was quite groundbreaking at the time.
MovieRob’s Favorite Trivia – With this film, Frank Lloyd became one of only two directors to win the best director Oscar without their movie also being nominated for best picture. The only other film to win a directing Oscar without a best picture nomination was Two Arabian Knights (1927), which won the only Oscar ever given for Comedy Direction to Lewis Milestone. Both Lloyd and Milestone won additional best director Oscars for directing best picture winners, Lloyd for Cavalcade (1933) and Milestone for All Quiet on the Western Front (1930). (From IMDB)
Rating – BAFTA Worthy (6/10)
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