The Napoleonic Wars, spanning 1803-1815, were a series of conflicts between the French Empire of Napoleon I and various European powers led by the United Kingdom. The wars, attributed to disputes associated with the French Revolution, eventually led to Napoleon's defeat. TCM presents three films portraying the tensions, anxieties and adventure of this turbulent period.

That Hamilton Woman (1941) stars Vivien Leigh in a striking performance as Emma Hart, a British dance-hall girl and courtesan of the Napoleonic era who marries the much older Sir William Hamilton (Alan Mowbray). The new Lady Hamilton courts scandal through an ill-fated affair with the also-married Admiral Horatio Nelson (Laurence Olivier). The movie was shot in the U.S. by British producer-director Alexander Korda. It was said to be the favorite of Winston Churchill, in part because it portrays Britain's struggle against Napoleon in terms of resistance to a dictator--a concept Churchill must have found meaningful in the face of Hitler's rise to power. The film, also known as Lady Hamilton and The Enchantress, earned four Oscar® nominations and won for Best Sound.

Captain Horatio Hornblower (1951), with Gregory Peck in the title role, was directed by Raoul Walsh and adapted by C.S. Forester from three of his novels about the naval hero. Set in 1807, the film follows Hornblower's ship on a perilous mission along the Pacific coast of Central America, as Spain's shifting loyalties from Napoleon's France to Hornblower's England force a sudden change of plans. A critic for Variety wrote that "The exploits of one of Britain's greatest fictional naval adventurers have been filmed with spectacular success...effervescent entertainment with action all the way."

Damn the Defiant! (1962) is a British film about a mutiny aboard the fictional H.M.S. Defiant during the French Revolutionary Wars that ushered in the Napoleonic era. A furious battle of wills develops between the ship's fair-minded captain (Alec Guinness) and the second-in-command lieutenant (Dirk Bogarde) whose inhumane attitude pushes the crew to mutiny. The story is loosely based on the real-life Spithead Mutiny by sailors in the Royal Navy in 1797, the same year the film is set. In England the movie, directed by Lewis Gilbert, was called H.M.S. Defiant.

by Roger Fristoe