THE DIVINE LADY (1929)
Starring Corinne Griffith and Victor Varconi
PHOTOPLAY
December 1928
Lady Hamilton, beloved of Nelson, the great British admiral, is one of the famous women of history, aside from being one of the immortal beauties.
This special film, which ran to a million in costs, was built upon E. Barrington's recent novel of the lovely and questionable lady.
Although the screen version glosses over the famous Emma's indiscretions and does not tell exactly how the daughter of a cook became the most talked about woman in all Europe during the dying days of the eighteenth century and the first years of the nineteenth, it has genuine pictorial beauty.
And, while the star, Corinne Griffith, gives an unaging (sic) characterization of the famous woman, she lends great pictorial assistance.
She is as lovely an Emma as Romney every transferred to undying canvas.
The weakness of "The Divine Lady" is in its effort to tell history and its forgetfulness of the real Emma. The picture is too concerned with Lady Hamilton's efforts to help Admiral Nelson and to give assistance to his fleet. Then, too, the extended shots (many in skillful miniature) of the Battles of the Nile and of Trafalgar are repetitious. The two combats look exactly alike, which is unfortunate for the climax of the film.
Miss Griffith is a charming Lady Hamilton. The important roles of Nelson, Lord Hamilton and Greville are handled by Victor Varconi, H.B. Warner and Ian Keith. The photography is gorgeous.