By Steven Suskin
20 Sep 2009

Criterion has, at the same time, given Mr. Korda a place in their main catalogue with the separately released That Hamilton Woman [Criterion]. In England, this film was titled the less cumbersome "Lady Hamilton"; I suppose they figured that overseas audiences didn't know who Lady Hamilton was. (The film opened in New York in April 1941, four months before the London premiere.) Nobody went to see the film for the tale of Emma Hamilton, anyway, or Horatio Nelson either. They were going to see Scarlett O'Hara. Vivien Leigh, just off "Gone with the Wind" and "Waterloo Bridge," is radiant in one of her finest performances; hubby Laurence Olivier is there too, but all eyes are on Vivien.

The story offers "a gripping account of the scandalous adulterous affair between the British Royal Navy officer Lord Horatio Nelson and the renowned beauty Emma, Lady Hamilton, the wife of a British ambassador." Korda, and his brother Vincent, also see fit to fill the screen with the Napoleonic Wars — Sir Larry loses an eye, an arm, and eventually his life — and some pretty formidable sea battles.

We are told that this was the favorite film of Winston Churchill, who claims to have watched it more than 80 times; this in a day when you couldn't just pop in the VHS or wait for it to appear on TV. Korda and Leigh's "That Hamilton Woman" is duly impressive, but I don't imagine I could get through it more than twice or thrice. Criterion has paired the high-definition digital restoration with audio commentary by film historian Ian Christie; a new interview with Michael Korda, nephew of Alexander and a noted book editor and writer; a 1941 radio promo for the film, entitled "Alexander Korda Presents"; and a booklet from critic Molly Haskell.

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And lest there are any fans of Angela Lansbury out there — I'm sure there must be a few — let us add that Disney DVD has just released a new, "Enchanted Musical Edition" of Walt Disney's Bedknobs and Broomsticks. That's the 1971 charmer about an apprentice witch, played by the post-Mame/pre-Sweeney Todd Angela, who takes on three evacuated London children during World War II. Together, they fly around the country side, aided by Oscar-winning special effects, and help defeat the Germans. "Bedknobs" doesn't succeed in wiping "Mary Poppins" from your memory, despite obvious attempts by the studio to make this a worthy successor. (Director Robert Stevenson, producer/screenwriter Bill Walsh, the songwriting Sherman Brothers and orchestrator/conductor Irv Kostal are all in attendance, as is co-star David Tomlinson, who played Mr. Banks.) Even so, viewers are likely to find this one a pleasant surprise.

Most of the special features are carried over from the "30th Anniversary Edition" of 2001, with the major addition being "The Wizards of Special Effects" hosted by Jennifer Stone. (This is a tie-in to the current Disney series "The Wizards of Waverly Place.")

(Steven Suskin is author of "The Sound of Broadway Music: A Book of Orchestrators and Orchestrations" as well as "Second Act Trouble," "Show Tunes," and the "Opening Night on Broadway books. He can be reached at Ssuskin@aol.com)