Synopsis
England expected an affaire. Caroline gave them history.
Lady Caroline Lamb, dissatisfied in her marriage, has an affair with the dashing Romantic poet Lord Byron.
Lady Caroline Lamb
Cast
Sarah Miles Jon Finch Richard Chamberlain John Mills Margaret Leighton Pamela Brown Silvia Monti Ralph Richardson Laurence Olivier Caterina Boratto Peter Bull Roy Stewart Michael Wilding Charles Carson Sonia Dresdel Nicholas Field Felicity Gibson Robert Harris Richard Hurndall Paddy Joyce Bernard Kay Janet Key Mario Maranzana Robert Mill Norman Mitchell John Moffatt Trevor Peacock Maureen Pryor Fanny Rowe Show All…
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Alternative Titles
Peccato d'amore, Die große Liebe der Lady Caroline, Лейди Каролайн Лам, Леди Каролина Лэм
Releases by Date
Theatrical
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UK
11 Feb 1973
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USAPG
19 Oct 1973
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Spain
25 Dec 1973
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Sweden
Releases by Country
Spain
19 Oct 1973
- Theatrical
Sweden
25 Dec 1973
- Theatrical
UK
22 Nov 1972
- Theatrical
USA
11 Feb 1973
- TheatricalPG
Popular reviews
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Lady Caroline Lamb (Sarah Miles), wife of politician William Lamb (Jon Finch), begins an affair with the notorious Lord Byron (Richard Chamberlain), which causes far-reaching scandal, in this epic romantic drama written and directed by Robert Bolt and co-starring Margaret Leighton, John Mills, Laurence Olivier and Michael Wilding in his last film role.
It covers a fascinating part of history, and making Caroline the central figure gives the story a different angle to other dramatisations of a similar period of time. Bolt made this as a vehicle for Miles, his wife of the time, and she is superb, giving Caroline a fragility and eccentricity that seems to mirror her own personality to an extent. Chamberlain makes for a memorable Byron,…
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Historically shaky period potboiler in which a vulnerable and blonde-cropped Sarah Miles as Caroline Ponsonby marries political firebrand William Lamb (Jon Finch, at a peak in his career with Polanski's Macbeth just gone and Hitch's Frenzy on the horizon).
She finds him a bit of a fusty old stick and gets caught in the romantic, poetical web of the amoral Lord Byron (a handsome Richard Chamberlain), but he's not really that bothered, and she makes a bit of fool of herself, pushed along by the machinations of Mr Lamb's mother (Margaret Leighton), who's a bit of a fan of Byron herself.
By the time Lady Caro heads to bed with the Duke of Wellington (a still striking Larry Olivier) this…
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Robert Bolt won two Oscars back to back, (for "Doctor Zhivago" and "A Man for All Seasons"), as well as penning that most literate of epics "Lawrence of Arabia". Indeed for a time he seemed to be David Lean's writer of choice until his script for Lean's elephantine "Ryan's Daughter" and that films critical failure, severed those ties. In 1972 Bolt not only wrote, but also directed, "Lady Caroline Lamb". It wasn't really a success and, as may be expected, is a very literate-minded costumer but also, as may be expected, is highly intelligent and very nicely played.
It is, of course, an account, for the most part, of the title character's scandalous and disastrous affair with the mad, bad…
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Notable moments:
-'I shall die of love!'
'Well... do.'
-Lord Byron introduced doing big bad boxing
-'I've just been in Turkey'
'is that where you learned to fight like a savage?'
'No, I learnt that at Harrow'
-Lord Byron eating a napkin
-Lord Byron keeps a severed head in his home
-There's a scene where you hear a voice over letter in the background written by Caroline over lots of scenes which cuts short abruptly as it cuts to a shot of Lord Byron tossing it bc he cba to read it
-'I love him'
'Him or his.............. genius?'
-William Lamb DISSOCIATING in parliament thinking about his cucking
-some questionable Caroline dressing up as Lord Byron's black slave while he… -
Mr. Lamb is advised that his wife is attracted to anyone who is the center of attention while she begins an affair with the rising literary star Lord Byron. At first glance it seems quite a case of an obsessive fan in the Edwardian era. That has a lot of resonance for things that happen currently with parasocial relations in not only celebritydom but on social media as well.
At the same time she is a free spirit trapped in a world controlled completely by men and the rigid social decorum of the aristocracy and high level politics. Women cannot have ambition except through the men they are connected too nor can they express any other desire beyond their social place without causing scandal and ostracization so it's not surprising someone with a will of their own becomes crushed with their desires distorted under that kind of unrelenting pressure.
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A shame that this is practically lost. Less than 200 logs on here. Long OOP DVD.
Bolt’s only film as director and he clearly learned from Lean (offered this but declined). It’s a fabulous looking film so it’s even more of a shame that it currently can’t be seen in better quality.
Melodramatic and bordering on kitsch occasionally, it just about manages to walk the tightrope thanks to the excellent cast, gorgeous visuals, and some genuinely funny one liners in Bolt’s script (the last line is a doozy).
Miles is great as the titular scandalous Lady (essentially playing the aristocratic version of Ryan’s Daughter), and Jon Finch (another favourite) is perfect as the wronged but loyal husband.
Glad I checked this one out. -
Sarah Miles with a Karen haircut and going around in black face-- they truly go above and beyond the call of duty to make her wildly unlikable. Olivier is pretty solid in his few scenes as Wellington, fake nose and all. Richardson as George IV is great. The film, ultimately, is inconsequential as it can't decide what it's about nor provide any compelling insight. Seen primarily for Peter Bull who has a brief sequence early on in the film.
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I went into this wanting to like it.... but I just couldn't.
There were many inaccuracies with the plot and I had umbrage with the characterisations, particularly that of William Lamb/Lord M. But that is for another time.
The most shocking thing to me is the blackface seen in the costume ball scene. It was appalling.
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the niece of georgina cavendish (kiera knightley in "the duchess"). her husband william lamb (the proto-colin firth-looking mofo which emily price has mentioned to me loving about this movie) is the lord melbourne who will, after caroline's death, go on to be prime minister when 18 year old queen victoria is crowned. they will develop an intense mentor/crush relationship for 4 years until he dies and she has the first/only crisis/scandal of her long reign because she just can not deal with her lord M being gone and replaced by some old fucking creep/asshole as PM. masterpiece is currently making hay of the melbourne/victoria relationship with rufus sewell as lord melbourne. i will not watch all of that show but…
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This is nuts. And why on earth did she look like a walking corpse most of the time?
A fascinating and tragic story reduce to this mess.
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