That Hamilton Woman

That Hamilton Woman (1941) starring Vivien Leigh, Laurence Olivier, Alan Mowbry. Lady Emma Hamilton (Leigh), wife of the British ambassador to Naples (Mowbry), meets and falls in love with Lord Admiral Horatio Nelson (Olivier). Set against the backdrop of the Napoleonic wars, it's a tragic romance between two people who are married to others, and Leigh and Olivier have never been more attractive on screen. Their love affair is utterly convincing, plus, there is a grand sea battle thrown in for effect. Notice that this movie was made two years after "Gone With the Wind," so Leigh was near the height of her career. The fact that this film was shot in black and white hardly detracts from the appeal. I genuinely enjoyed it. (Subtitles in English are available, which is a good thing because closed captions are not included.) Grade: A- 

Shakespeare in Love

Shakespeare in Love (1998) starring Gwyneth Paltrow, Joseph Fiennes, Geoffrey Rush, Judi Dench. While Will Shakespeare (Fiennes) desperately works on his new play, lovely noblewoman Viola de Lesseps (Paltrow), disguised as a man, tries to win a part in it. They fall in love, but hit a bump in the road when she learns that he is already married. Their romance is credited with being the inspiration for "Romeo and Juliet" and "Twelfth Night." The movie won seven Oscars, including Best Picture and Best Actress (Paltrow). I had fun watching it. The disc offers subtitles as well as closed captions. Grade: A

Bright Star (DVD)

Bright Star (2009) starring Abbie Cornish, Ben Whishaw, Paul Schneider. Directed by Jane Campion. Nineteenth-century Romantic poet John Keats (Whishaw) meets and falls in love with his great passion and muse, Fanny Brawne (Cornish). Their brief union (Keats dies three years after they meet) is problematic -- because Keats is in debt, has no income and no prospects, and because his friend and literary companion Charles Brown (Schneider) does not approve of Fanny. So Keats and Brawne can never be fully united, and their romance is primarily a sad one. Oddly enough, the focus of the movie is on Fanny, not Keats, and Cornish gets the bulk of the screen time. The subtitles are very good -- large, bold, readable type. Grade: B