Nelson & His World

Do the members have a favourite Nelson film, an actor who you think has played the great Admiral perfectly. There have been a few films with actors such as Donald Calthrop, Cedric Hardwicke, Laurence Olivier, Peter Finch (with the eye patch), Richard Johnson and above all my personal favourite Kenneth Colley who portrayed Nelson in a mini series in the early eighties called 'I Remember Nelson' Not sure if there are any more Nelson actors out there that i may have missed.

Hello Post Captain,

I have only seen the film with Laurence Olivier, and the Remember Nelson sequel, so I cannot say anything about the other films/actors you mentioned. Although I think Remember Nelson was well made too, I prefer Laurence Olivier as Nelson. I could imagine Olivier being more like Nelson was. Besides That lady Hamilton is also a lovely sentimental film.

Would you like to tell us why I remember Nelson is your favourite?
Sylvia

It's my favourite because it got me interested in Nelson, before than i used to study WWII, but after that series i just went totally for the Napoleonic wars, Nelson in particular.
Ken Colley really seemed to bring out the other side of Nelson that i felt had not been seen by the public before, his kindness, ruthlessness (shown in the first two episodes of 'Love' and 'Passion') and his charisma, the affection his men had for him was shown to great effect in the 'Battle' episode. Not bad for the early eighties, imagine such a series today with CGI.
Hope i did not waffle to much.

Yes, I enjoyed 'That Hamilton Woman' too - though the acting style is a little dated now and it was a WW2 propaganda film, as was Olivier's other great wartime film, 'Henry V'. Olivier's Nelson was very much a mouthpiece for voicing the need to resist dictators and implicit parallels were drawn between Napoleon and Hitler.

To move the discussion on a bit, I wonder, of today's stable of actors, who would best interpret Nelson in a new film of his life? The modern approach to film of psychological realism and a more 'naturalistic' style of acting might make for a deeper exploration of Nelson's complex character. Physical resemblance wouldn't be too much of a problem - skilled make-up artists could achieve that; but who could convey Nelson's contradictory, and, in many ways, unfathomable character?

For me, "I Remember Nelson" with Colley as HN, is my all time favourite. This seemes to capture Nelson's personality very well, and the other actors are as good in their roles, especially Tim Piggot- Smith as Hardy. I much preferred this to "That Hamilton Woman" as it is historically well researched,and compulsively viewable. I got it from Amazon, as a US import, but it played fine on my DVD here in the UK. The only HN film I haven't been able to get hold of is "Bequest to the Nation". Anyone know where I can get this ? tay