Soon after his recovery, he is given the difficult task of dealing with mutineers off the coast of France. "[13], The film has been well received by modern critics. He is guarded with nearly everyone, unless the matter is the business of discharging his duty as a King's officer, in which case he is clear and decisive. Nicholas Meyer, director of some of the Star Trek films, frequently cites Horatio Hornblower as one of his primary influences.[26][27]. According to Parkinson, Hornblower in later life became a director of P&O, Governor of Malta (1829–1831), Commander in Chief at Chatham (1832–1835), a viscount (in 1850), and Admiral of the Fleet, dying at the age of 80 on 12 January 1857.[10]. He leads a Royalist guerrilla force, and causes the returned Emperor's forces much grief before his band is finally cornered; in a desperate shootout, Marie is slain, and a devastated Hornblower captured. [2] Parkinson includes in Horatio's family tree a number of real-life Hornblowers. Horatio Hornblower is a fictional Napoleonic Wars–era Royal Navy officer who is the protagonist of a series of novels and stories by C. S. Forester. After gruelling service during the blockade of Brest aboard Hotspur, he is promised a momentous promotion to post captain by Commander-in-Chief William Cornwallis and is recalled to England. When she later falls gravely ill, Hornblower nurses her back to health. Leighton has just returned from his honeymoon with Lady Barbara. "[17], According to Warner Bros' accounts, the film earned $2,598,000 domestically and $2,735,000 foreign. Captain Horatio Hornblower was originally scheduled to star Errol Flynn, but the role was recast when it was decided he'd grown too old to play the role convincingly (the fact Flynn was in the midst of one of his periodic battles with the brass at Warner Brothers certainly didn't help matters). Captain Horatio Hornblower neatly sidesteps the first issue by a first-act shift of alliances. Captain Horatio Hornblower features several nicely staged battle sequences and an excellent performance from Gregory Peck as the title character. This article is about the 1951 film. Hornblower's early exploits are many and varied. Royal Navy Captain Horatio Hornblower, commanding the 36-gun frigate HMS Lydia, Forester. In the process, his ship is crippled, and with two-thirds of the crew incapacitated (including Lt. Bush) he surrenders to the French, not before, however, severely crippling three of the French ships and damaging the fourth. The film is based on three of C. S. Forester's Horatio Hornblower novels: The Happy Return (1937), A Ship of the Line (1938), and Flying Colours (1938). See Appendix 1, Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television, (1995) 15:sup1, 1-31 p 31 DOI: 10.1080/01439689508604551. [12], TV Guide writes "Walsh's direction has no time to linger. He is rewarded by being created a peer as Baron Hornblower of Smallbridge in the County of Kent. Hornblower (Gregory Peck) battles the French and the Spanish forces during the Napoleonic wars, but also finds time for romance. Hornblower is born in Kent, the son of a doctor. [3]:82 At the same time, Forester wrote the body of the works carefully to avoid entanglements with real world history, so Hornblower is always off on another mission when a great naval victory occurs during the Napoleonic Wars. Captain Hornblower is captured by the French. He is sent with his coxswain, Brown, and his injured first lieutenant, Bush, to Paris for a show trial and execution. Later, he is given command of the Sutherland, a 74-gun ship of the line captured from the French, and is assigned to a squadron commanded by Rear Admiral Leighton (Denis O'Dea), an arrogant officer who owes his position to influence more than skill. The original Hornblower tales began with the 1937 novel The Happy Return (U.S. title Beat to Quarters) with the appearance of a junior Royal Navy captain on independent duty on a secret mission to Central America. He fends off fire ships which interrupt his (failing) first examination for promotion to lieutenant. There are other discrepancies as well; in one account of his defeat of a Spanish frigate in the Mediterranean, he distinguished himself as lieutenant and in another he is a post-captain with less than three years seniority. Captain Horatio Hornblower R.N. Action! The two survive, and this revelation does much to heal the last self-inflicted wounds in Hornblower's soul. The men, even his officers, don't know exactly where he is leading them. In June 1808, Captain Hornblower is assigned command of the 36-gun frigate HMS Lydia with orders to sail to the Pacific coast of Nicaragua on a secret mission to deliver armaments and form an alliance against England's military enemy -- Spain. After arriving home, Hornblower learns that his wife has died in childbirth, leaving him an infant son. Original programme for this premiere in my possession, "Captain Horatio Hornblower Plot Synopsis", "Captain Horatio Hornblower (1951) - Articles - TCM.com", "The Films of Errol Flynn: Part 4 – Going to Seed", https://cdnc.ucr.edu/?a=d&d=SBS19510715.1.4&srpos=7&e=------195-en--20-SBS-1--txt-txIN-%22capsule+review%22----1951---1, "THE SCREEN IN REVIEW; 'Captain Horatio Hornblower,' With Gregory Peck in Lead, Opens at the Music Hall", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Captain_Horatio_Hornblower&oldid=1010085728, Films based on multiple works of a series, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, This page was last edited on 3 March 2021, at 18:43. Captain Horatio Hornblower neatly sidesteps the first novel Beat to Quarters, the of. Virginia Mayo more attractive uses his ability at whist is up to the task four ships. Editor at American publisher J Kent captain horatio hornblower the daughter of his landlady, despite doubts! 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