The real Lady Emma Hamilton was probably a bit more of a full figured lady than Vivien Leigh was and seemingly more forward. The scene where Nelson and the Hamilton’s finally meet up is one of the key ones. Emma's mother is delightfully played by Sara Allgood and at dinner you appreciate where Emma had come from and where she had ended up.
So back to the history…The censor had his way with some of the scenes (just too raunchy!), and some of the morality raised concerns on both sides of the Atlantic. Remember that Nelson and Hamilton were both married (albeit loveless) and apparently some of the dialogue and scenes were re-shot in order to reflect a more penitent state in the mid term of their relationship. Meanwhile at a political level the anti-interventionist forces in the U.S. Congress had scheduled Alexander Korda, Charlie Chaplin and Alfred Hitchcock to appear before them as suspected British Agents (what!). Pearl Harbour was attacked before that happened and Korda was turned from a propagandist into a prophet by the Americans.
Whatever the scandals of his private life as a seaman and a naval officer, Horatio Nelson was the real thing. He was the son of an obscure country vicar who had way too many mouths to feed. Nelson's mom died while he was still a child and he made the decision to go off to sea as a cabin boy. He rose in the ranks strictly on merit and talent and turned out to be the right man to save our country from certain invasion.
