The Divine Lady is a 1929 Vitaphone sound film with a synchronized musical score and sound effects. The film, however, featured no spoken dialogue. The film tells the story of the love affair between Horatio Nelson and Emma Hamilton. It stars Corinne Griffith, Victor Varconi, H.B. Warner, Ian Keith, Marie Dressler, Dorothy Cumming, William Conklin, and Montagu Love. It featured a theme song entitled "Lady Divine" with lyrics by Richard Kountz and music by Nathaniel (Nat) Shilkret. The song became a popular hit in 1929 and was recorded by numerous artists such as Nat Shilkret, Frank Munn, Ben Selvin (as The Cavaliers), Smith Ballew, Adrian Schubert, Sam Lanin and Bob Haring.
The movie was adapted by Harry Carr, Forrest Halsey, Agnes Christine Johnston, and Edwin Justus Mayer from the novel The Divine Lady: a Romance of Nelson and Emma Hamilton by E. Barrington. It was directed by Frank Lloyd.
It won the Academy Award for Directing and was nominated for Best Actress in a Leading Role (Corinne Griffith) and Best Cinematography.
Famous quotes containing the word divine:
“Every man supposes himself not to be fully understood; and if there is any truth in him, if he rests at last on the divine soul, I see not how it could be otherwise. The last chamber, the last closet, he must feel was never opened; there is always a residuum unknown, unanalyzable. That is, every man believes that he has greater possibility.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)