Captain Horatio Hornblower R.N. (1951)

During the Napoleonic wars, a British Navy Captain has adventures in Central American waters.

Director:

Raoul Walsh

Writers:

Ivan Goff (screenplay), Ben Roberts (screenplay)

Stars:

Gregory Peck, Virginia Mayo, Robert Beatty

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Gregory Peck	...	Capt. Horatio Hornblower R.N
Virginia Mayo	...	Lady Barbara Wellesley
Robert Beatty	...	Lt. William Bush
Moultrie Kelsall	...	Lt. Crystal (as M. Kelsall)
Terence Morgan	...	2nd Lt. Gerard (as T. Morgan)
James Kenney	...	Midshipman Longley
James Robertson Justice	...	Seaman Quist (as James R. Justice)
Denis O'Dea	...	RAdm. Sir Rodney Leighton
Richard Hearne	...	Polwheal (Hornblower's Batman)
Michael Dolan	...	Surgeon Gundarson
Stanley Baker	...	Mr. Harrison (Bosun)
Alan Tilvern	...	Hernandez
Alec Mango	...	El Supremo (Don Julian Alvarado)
Christopher Lee	...	Spanish Captain
John Witty	...	Capt. Entenza

Storyline

In 1807, Captain Horatio Hornblower leads his ship the HMS Lydia on a perilous voyage around Cape Horn and into the Pacific. The men, even his officers, don't know exactly where he is leading them. England is at war with Napoleon and everyone wonders why they have been sent so far from the action. They eventually arrive on the Pacific coast of Central America where the HMS Lydia has been sent to arm Don Julian Alvarado, who is planning an attack against France's Spanish allies on the North American continent. The hope is that Alvarado's forces will require the French to divert some of their military resources to North American defense in the aid of their Spanish allies. He arrives to learn that a Spanish Galleon is en route and he no sooner captures it and hands it over to Alvarado that he learns the Spanish are now England's allies and he must take it from Alvarado. He also gets a very comely passenger in the form of Lady Barbara Wellesley, sister of the Duke of Wellington. The ...

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Plot Keywords:

napoleonic wars | naval battle | navy | soldier | british | 

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Taglines:

Wherever adventure beckons, you'll find Captain Horatio Hornblower!

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Genres:

Action | Adventure | Drama | History | War

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Certificate:

Not Rated

Details

Country:

UK

Language:

English French Spanish

Release Date:

10 April 1951 (UK)

Also Known As:

Captain Horatio Hornblower

Filming Locations:

Mediterranean Sea

Company Credits

Production Co:

Warner Bros.

Technical Specs

Runtime:

117 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound System)

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The Hornblower series of books were written by C.S. Forester and he adapted his own novels for this movie. In all, there were eleven novels in the series. Among his other adventures, he foils an assassination plot against Russian Tsar Alexander I, retrieves sunken treasure within the Ottoman Empire, encounters the army of Simon Bolivar, and despite his years battling the French he is made a Chevalier of the Legion of Honour by Louis Napoleon (Napoleon III); eventually retiring as Admiral of the Fleet.

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Goofs

The scenes filmed on the deck of HMS Lydia (probably done at a studio set), show a mizzen-sail (square rigged mainsail on the after-most mast). This sail would have badly interacted with the spanker (gaff rigged sail trailing the mizzenmast). In the full shots this sail has (correctly) not even the rigging present to support it.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Narrator: In the year Eighteen Hundred and Seven, a small ship of the Royal Navy set sail from England for a secret destination. With five million French and Spanish soldiers poised on the Continent under Napolean, nothing could save England from invasion except her 300 ships. HMS Lydia was soon far beyond battle-charged Europe. Under the most secret of sealed orders, she sailed for southern waters, fought her way around the Horn... headed north again into the Pacific. For seven months, she ...

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Connections

Referenced in Pertsa ja Kilu: Pertsa ja Kilu kippareina: Ryöstö (1973)

User Reviews

An entertaining sea epic with Peck at the helm

This is a superior technicolor sea epic with Gregory Peck as a British Fleet captain during the Napoleonic Wars. Fine sea battle sequences top off this entertaining story of this Captain away from his wife at sea who also meets a beautiful British lady (Virginia Mayo) whom he must return to England in safety.