I Remember Nelson – Recollections of a Hero’s Life (1981) DVD 2-Disc Set (Region One - Playable in the US, Canada, Mexico, etc.) Color Approx. 104 min.
Starring: Kenneth Colley, Geraldine James, John Clements, Tim Pigott-Smith, Anna Massey and Phil Daniels. Written by Hugh Whitemore. Directed by Simon Langston. Produced by Cecil Clarke. Original music by Patrick Gowers.
Worshipped as a national savior, Vice-Admiral Horatio Nelson masterminded the naval victories that thwarted Napoleon’s plans to invade Britain. Yet, in the midst of public adulation, rumors swirled about his private life. Nelson took a friend’s wife as a mistress and even fathered a child by her in secret.
Starring Kenneth Colley (Monty Python’s Life of Brian), Geraldine James (The Jewel in the Crown), and Tim Pigott-Smith (V for Vendetta), the lavish historical drama examines Nelson through the eyes of four people close to him: his wife, his friend, his captain and an ordinary seaman. What emerges is an unconventional portrait of a complex figure and a study in the effects of fame.
CHAPTER ONE: LOVE
Nelson – already a hero after his defeat of the French at the Battle of the Nile – returns to London in 1800 to the adulation of the public and the suspicions of his wife. Aware of rumors about her husband and Lady Hamilton, Lady Nelson feels her man and their marriage slipping away.
CHAPTER TWO: PASSION
In 1798, with Naples beset by revolutionaries and threatened by the advancing French army, British envoy Sir William Hamilton sees Nelson as the kingdom’s only salvation. But the ageing diplomat also observes his vivacious, much younger wife’s obvious attraction to the admiral – as well as a distinctly ungentlemanly side of Nelson’s character.
CHAPTER THREE: DUTY
In 1805, Thomas Hardy – captain of Nelson’s flagship, HMS Victory – visits his commander’s country estate to help plan the final blow to the French fleet. There, the straight-laced officer is shocked by Nelson’s social-climbing new friends and vulgar new wife, precipitating a confrontation between the captain and his commander.
CHAPTER FOUR: BATTLE
Twenty-one-year-old William Blackie had a choice: debtor’s prison or the Royal Navy. Now, in October 1805, manning a cannon on the lower deck of HMS Victory, the young man and his mates prepare for the decisive Battle of Trafalgar and look to the commander for courage and inspiration.