The Divine Lady

The Divine Lady is a 1929 American Vitaphone sound film with synchronized musical score and sound effects, as well as some synchronized singing sequences. The film, however, featured no spoken dialogue. The film tells the story of the love affair between Horatio Nelson and Emma Hamilton. It featured a theme song entitled Lady Divine with lyrics by Richard Kountz and music by Nathaniel Shilkret, which became a popular hit in 1929 and was recorded by numerous artists such as Shilkret, Frank Munn, Ben Selvin as The Cavaliers, Smith Ballew, Adrian Schubert, Sam Lanin, and Bob Haring.

In the late eighteenth century, Lady Hamilton has had a somewhat turbulent relationship with the British people, especially the aristocracy. Born Emma Hart from a very humble background she being the daughter of a cook, she was seen as being vulgar by the rich, but equally captivating for her beauty. In a move to protect his inheritance, Honorable Charles Greville, Emmas then lover and her mothers employer, sent Emma to Naples under false pretenses to live with his uncle, Sir William Hamilton, where she would study to become a lady. Surprisingly to Greville whose deception Emma would eventually discover, Emma ended up becoming Hamiltons wife in a marriage of convenience. But it is Emmas eventual relationship with Horatio Nelson of the British navy that would cause the largest issue. A move by Lady Hamilton helped Nelsons armada defeat Napoleons fleet in naval battles, which Nelson would have ultimately lost without Lady Hamiltons help. Beyond the dangers of war, Lady Hamilton and Nelsons relationship is ultimately threatened by the court of public opinion as both are married to other people.The film still survives intact along with its Vitaphone soundtrack. This film was a joint preservation project of the UCLA Film and Television Archive and the Museum of Modern Art Department of Film in cooperation with the Czechoslovak Film Archive. It was restored in conjunction with the project American Moviemakers The Dawn of Sound. ........

Source: Wikipedia