C. S. Forester certainly began the saga of his Napoleonic-Era naval hero Horatio Hornblower “in media res.” Here is Hornblower as a dashing captain, with the stories of his younger days and later glories both yet to be penned. “Captain Horatio Hornblower” actually covers the key events in Forester’s first trio of Hornblower adventures, “Beat to Quarters,” “Ship of the Line” and Flying Colours.” Hornblower (American Gregory Peck playing the quintessential English hero) is sent on a secret mission to the far side of South America where he has to pick a Spanish frigate not once but twice, all because of the problematic delay in having unusual orders get up with him in the time of wooden sailing ships. Chance throws Hornblower together with Lady Barbara Wellesley (Virginia Mayo), the sister of the Duke of Wellington. She is engaged to some admiral and he is already married, but there is no doubt that they are meant for each other. Besides, even Fate has to buy a backseat to Hornblower’s sense of duty. Even when he is captured by the French it is but another opportunity for enormous adventure. Like many fans I came to the Hornblower novels and this rousing 1951 film directed by Raoul Walsh. The jubilant ending falls into residence a bit too neatly, but that is what happened in the recent novels and not simply a Hollywood decision. The sea battles with the fully rigged ships are as beautiful as you can salvage from the advantageous former days of movie-making, but my accepted scene is the touching one when the Captain and Lady Barbara deal with the final moment’s of the youngest member of the ship’s company. “Captain Horatio Hornblower,” like the novels, achieves that feeling that we are truly in the middle of an legend yarn, with well-established characters who we readily hold have already had long and radiant histories. I judge Lt. Bush (Robert Beatty) gets a lot of the credit for that as the unofficial “narrator” of the legend. So, if you have loved the imported A&E adventures of the young Horatio Hornblower, you certainly need to gather around to watching the unique film version and reading Forester’s novels. If not, you will impartial be a scurvy dog, matie.
After starting on Patrick O’Brian, I have also discovered Horatio Hornblower first with the first A&E episode “The Duel” (Ion Gruffyd, Robert Lindsay), and now with the 1951 movie “Captain Hornblower” starring Gregory Peck. I have *not* read the Hornblower books yet, so my review is from the perspective of someone novel to naval fiction and naval movies.
Gregory Peck is one of my accepted actors, which makes this film an easy choice to contemplate (for me, at least) . However, the character of Hornblower (with his trademark Hmm..mmm) and the events covered by the movie are probably closer to the fresh series than the fresh A&E series. [At least, judging from Parkinson's biography covering the same ground as the novels, this would appear to be the case]. If you are a Hornblower purist, you will probably bewitch the Gregory Peck movie version for this reason, even though the battle scenes are more sustained and far more fascinating in the A&E versions (judging from The Duel) .
Captain Hornblower condenses two (or is it three? ) books into one - the book in which he is posted on scream orders from the Admiralty, and must round Cape Horn to near a Spanish rebel, Don Julian Alvorado on the other side of Nicaragua. This feat of seamanship is well-portrayed, with the movie starting at the point where the ship has been at sea for months and has been becalmed. Hornblower takes a wild gamble in assuring the crew and his officers that the wind will win up that night and that they will discover land within the next day. Amazingly, he pulls this off. In private, his journals assume his fears and uncertainty, thus allowing us a contemplate at the private Hornblower.
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The first portion of the movie focuses on Hornblower’s difficult decisions during this secret mission (when he cannot confide in any of his officers, including his second-in-command Lt Bush) . He must settle whether to trust Don Julian Alvorado (who is clearly a madman), whether to attack a distinguished larger Spanish frigate with twice the gunpower, and what to do when political events overtake this shrimp expedition.
What is not made certain (at least when I watched the film for the first time) is that Hornblower had really no choice but to go along with Alvorado (or El Supremo) as he likes to call himself. Spain is allied with Napoleonic France, and Hornblower must re-provision his ship. The nearest British port of call is St Helena - on the other side of South America. Hornblower was not simply following Admiralty orders, he was also taking a risk to retain his crew alive.
There are several battles, including one major battle when Hornblower’s ship loses one of its mast and is nearly wrecked. Fortunately, intellectual seamanship on his piece allows him the upper hand.
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During this first section, Hornblower also develops a esteem interest in Lady Barbara Wellesley (a fictional character, although she is supposedly the sister of the future Duke of Wellington) . She is engaged to an admiral Sir Rodney Leighton, but she prefers Hornblower. He was reluctant to have her aboard at first, but had no choice (she was fleeing yellow fever, it would have been professional suicide to leave her slack, with her connections) . Unfortunately for Hornblower, he must convey the truth after Lady Barbara declares her esteem for him. He is married. The rest of the voyage is strained, with both anxious to return to Britain as soon as possible.
The second piece of the movie begins with Hornblower’s return to the British Isles, only to learn that he is a widower and has an infant son. From there, he is placed under the utter of Leighton (now Lady Barbara’s husband) . Admiral Leighton disapproves of Hornblower’s independence, but our hero’s fleet thinking and independent ways pay off in a crucial action against some French ships that have escaped the blockade.
In the third allotment of the movie, Hornblower is taken prisoner along with his lieutenant, and is to be sent to Paris to be tried and executed for piracy (sailing under French colors) . Of course, he escapes eventually and returns home to examine that Lady Barbara has been widowed.
This is a swiftly summary of the movie, which hardly does justice to many of its finer points. There are some deviations from the book (the myth was adapted, by the contrivance, by Forester himself) . For example, Sir Percy Leighton becomes Sir Rodney Leighton. [He is of a different social background in the books than in the movie]. Lady Barbara is not engaged to be married at the beginning of the voyage, and she appears proud and haughty to Hornblower. And of course, the collapsing of the three books into one movie means that definite details must be omitted (thus Lt Bush recovers remarkably swiftly, or so it would seem) . The jog of the adaptation is however unbiased factual - the chronicle continues to hold the viewer’s interest.
The sea battles are well-depicted, and the yarn was filmed in steady ships (of the period, I assume) and mostly at sea. However, the battles are less bloody than in the A&E version (perhaps a nod to 1950s sensibilities), and the ships are certainly cleaner than expected. I plan that the ships would be closer together when they engaged in battle.
Despite these minor caveats, this film was savory to glimpse. I would recommend this movie strongly to anyone fervent in this period (the Napoleonic wars), or anyone alive to in nautical fiction. The A&E series covers the very early career of the very young Hornblower, when he is serene a midshipman and then makes lieutenant. (At the rate the producers are going, it will capture a while before they arrive the same events covered by this movie) . Even if they do hide this period, view this movie, if only for Gregory Peck’s portrayal of Hornblower as as as Forester’s gain adaptation of his novels for the shroud.
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