Flyerplesys
Perfectly adorable
Libramedi
Intense, gripping, stylish and poignant
Humbersi
The first must-see film of the year.
Idiot-Deluxe
"Starboard battery - Ready! Fire as your guns bare!"Captain Horatio Hornblower is a highly entertaining big-budget Technicolor seafaring epic from 1951, starring Gregory Peck in the title-role of Captain Hornblower. This classic film is grand in all ways and is one of the very best films of it's kind, that being a naval seafaring adventure, which is similar to, but NOT a swashbuckler movie. Captain Gregory Peck runs a tight ship in this rollicking seafaring classic and was reportedly one of his favorite roles of his long and successful career. Gregory Peck and Virginia Mayo, the two leads, are the only two American actors in this movie, the rest is made of an entirely British supporting cast, which certainly helps since it's based on an English naval hero. Warner Brothers entrusted directorial duties to the eye-patch wearing veteran director Roul Walsh (so they say, he lost his right eye by "an errant jackrabbit" which jumped through the windshield of his car while driving!), who had ample experience with expensive large-scale productions. The film is a deft blend of many aspects, such as: great acting (especially Peck), terrific ship battle sequences (the last one is the best of it's kind ever filmed), miniature effects (i.e. the model ship sequences), a bit romance, great scenery/location filming and a high-spirited musical score by the relatively unknown Robert Farnon.Taking place in the Napoleonic-era, the year 1807 to be exact. The beginning of the film captures well the air of a sickly ship that's running desperately low on provisions and to enforce the captains order aboard, we get a taste of the cat-of-nine-tails early on as well. Travelling half-way around the world, eventually arriving at the fortress one "El Supremo, Don Julian Alvarado" and unload their cargo of guns and ammo, at El Supremo's insistence they capture the Spanish galleon Nativida and turn it over to him for his intended conquests of the nearby countries of central America. However, as fate would have it, a change of sides occurs and allies they are no more and with cannons blazing, a rousing ship battle ensues - full broadside-action! Along the way they pick up "the love interest" a lovely female passenger (and her maid) one Lady Barbara Wellesley and with a boatload of horny seamen - she proves to be quite a distraction, much to the Captian's dismay, though he too has a hard time resisting her charms. Once back in England, Hornblower finds that his wife has died, but not before giving birth to a son, but with a war happening, he's soon off on another mission; that is to take a fortress and a harbor full enemy ships (and the battle sequence that erupts for this scene is truly a spectacle - thee overall best of it's kind I've ever seen and I've seen a lot of the vintage swashbuckler films). Taken prisoner with two other ship mates, they escape while en route to Paris intended to be tried and executed by the decree of Naploeon himself; in disguise they board a stolen English ship and with a crew of prisoners/sailors, they take it over and make sail for England. Ending in with the captain and his infant son, standing in the bucolic setting of a Technicolor rose garden, where then the Lady Barbara appears once again - conveniently recently widowed and presumably becomes the new Mrs. Hornblower.Captain Horatio Hornblower: A classic and timeless film you can watch many times. A big fan of nautical films (Treasure Island, 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea, The Crimson Pirate, The 7th Voyage of Sinbad and Moby Dick - the 1950's where the best decade for such films) they don't get much better than this. With it's opulent sets and costumes, stirring ship battles and striking scenery, I find this to be one of the most handsomely-staged films from the Technicolor-era - there's no weak link in The Captain. And little not to like.....................
Targe
This movie was far better than I expected for it's time, given they had no access to cgi and had to rely on ship models and shots of existing tall masters to recreate the naval battles. I loved it from start to finish, how can you go wrong with Gregory Peck at the helm! He was an awesome actor at 35 too! I wish they would re-do the hornblower movies with modern technology.The naval battle scenes are excellent, and demonstrate the correct sailing tactics near flawlessly. The outcomes are realistic, for example after sailing into an enemy port and blowing up 4 enemy ships at anchor, it is shown just how suicide this would have been as the fort quickly destroys them as they try to escape.The damage these old ships took when in battle is shown well, the only thing not properly shown, likely due to censorship rules at the time, is the blood. This makes the movie enjoyable for the girlfriend though, and the nice thread of a love story through the movie keeps her entertained while I watch the kewl ship battles.
bkoganbing
I don't think the good citizens of the United Kingdom with their proud tradition of sea power could complain too much about the American leads in a film about one of their popular fictional heroes. You can't get too much more heroic than Gregory Peck on screen and he certainly does fit C.S. Forrester's conception of Captain Horatio Hornblower, R.N.In fact even recently with Russell Crowe's Master and Commander kind of reinvigorating this genre of literature, I still kind of like what Gregory Peck did with the role. The age of Napoleon where Great Britain stood for a time very much alone against his domination of Europe was another their finest hours. The film is taken from two of the Hornblower novels and sad to say the film's weakness is that the first part of it is much the superior of the second. Personally I think they should have padded out the first part and dealt with it alone. Recurring characters from the Hornblower novels appear here such as the Duke of Wellington's fictional sister Lady Barbara Wellesley played by Virginia Mayo and members of Hornblowers crew played by Robert Beatty, James Robertson Justice, and Terence Morgan among others. There's also a very touching performance by young James Kenney as the midshipman on board the HMS Lydia.The first part of the film deals with Hornblower sailing the Lydia to the western coast of Central America in secret to reach a potential rebel ally against Spain which has joined with France. Hornblower makes contact with Don Julian Alvarado, the self-styled El Supremo. Hornblower captures a Spanish ship of the line and gives it to his new ally.Then he learns that Spain has switched sides in the Napoleonic War while he's been at sea and now this heavily armed vessel is in the hands of a real psycho. Now he has to undo what he did.If you don't see Captain Horatio Hornblower, R.N. for any other reason, than see it for Alec Mango's over the top performance as the psychotic El Supremo. It's a piece of scenery chewing for the ages and it fits with the character. You take your allies in war where you find them and Spain was not the first or the last country that ever switched sides during a conflict.The second half concerns Peck and the crew in action off the Bay of Biscay and the vessel Lydia runs aground. Peck and the crew are taken prisoner and the rest of the film concerns with their escape. These are in fact two different Hornblower stories and the first is much the superior of the second.Of course another viewer might feel differently and the film is recommended for all of you who like a good sea yarn.
Al
I remember seeing this film when I was about 10 years of age on our black and white telly. I thought it was the best thing since sliced bread but had to wait for ages and ages for it to be shown again (no videos in those days!) When it finally came on, there was a bit of a gale blowing and our aerial was blown off the roof half way through the film. You can imagine how I felt. I have seen it many times since and it has stood the test of time,a good old fashioned adventure story with excellent actors, tons of excitement and loads happening from beginning to end. There are no false accents from Gregory Peck or Robert Beatty and we even have Richard Hearne (Mr Pastry, remember him, people of my age?) as Pecks batman. Stanley Baker, James Robertson Justice, Terence Morgan (He played the lead in the series 'Sir Francis Drake' in the early sixties) and Christopher Lee also make fine appearances. I recommend it without reservation.
