Horatio Hornblower 3 (2003)

Hornblower is given a dangerous mission to deliver an emigre French nobleman to a secret rendezvous near Brest while coping with enemy agents in his own ranks.

Director:

Andrew Grieve

Writers:

C.S. Forester (novel), Niall Leonard (screenplay)

Stars:

Ioan Gruffudd, Robert Lindsay, Paul McGann

Nominated for 4 Primetime Emmys. Another 5 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Ioan Gruffudd	...	Commander Horatio Hornblower
Robert Lindsay	...	Admiral Sir Edward Pellew
Paul McGann	...	Lieutenant Bush
Greg Wise	...	Major Côtard
Lorcan Cranitch	...	Wolfe
Tony Haygarth	...	Master Prowse
Julia Sawalha	...	Maria Mason
Barbara Flynn	...	Mrs. Mason
Paul Copley	...	Matthews
Sean Gilder	...	Styles
Ian McElhinney	...	Captain Hammond
Christian Coulson	...	Midshipman Jack Hammond
Ron Cook	...	Steward James Doughty
Jonathan Forbes	...	Midshipman Charles Orrock
Jim McManus	...	Pawnbroker

Storyline

The war with France has been over for a year and Horatio Hornblower finds himself on land. With his ship, the Retribution, laid up and his promotion to Commander rescinded as a result, he finds himself a poor Lieutenant in a peace time navy. He has taken to playing cards to make a living. Luck presents itself in the form Sir Edward Pellew, his mentor and former commanding officer. Horatio soon finds himself again promoted to Commander and in charge of a sloop, the HMS Hotspur. He recruits his old shipmate Lt. Bush as his first officer, along with Matthews and Stiles. His task is to transport a French officer to the coast but once ashore, Horatio discovers the French amassing an invasion force. Once again at war, the men of the Hotspur are tasked to lead an advance force against a shore battery ahead of the British fleet. Hornblower soon realizes he has a traitor among his crew. In his personal life, he has to deal with the lovely Maria, his landlady's daughter who has taken quite a ...

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Plot Keywords:

landlady | horatio hornblower | sword | traitor | nephew | 

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Genres:

Adventure | Drama | War

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Details

Official Sites:

Official Site

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Release Date:

2 December 2003 (USA)

Also Known As:

Horatio Hornblower 3

Filming Locations:

Erme Estuary, Mothercombe, Devon, England, UK

Company Credits

Production Co:

A+E Networks, Meridian Broadcasting, United Film and Television Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

125 min

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.78 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The white and blue print gown Julia Sawalha (Maria) wears to church is the same costume worn by a gust at the Easter Ball in Wives and Daughters (1999).

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Goofs

A Radar reflector can be seen tied in the halyard above the national colors of the Hotspur.

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Quotes

Styles: If that's their idea of the cavalry I pity the poor bastards!

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Connections

Follows Horatio Hornblower: The Duchess and the Devil (1999)

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Soundtracks

God Save the King
Traditional

User Reviews

TV Pablum

The opening credits note "based on the stories by C. S. Forester". In the interest of fairness, it should say "very loosely based...". I happened across this on tonight and am appalled for Forester's sake. How A&E takes a well-written intelligent drama and turns it into such stupid melodrama that has only a faintly passing relationship to the actual story is beyond my comprehension. Spielberg once said to his crew in regard to a tv-movie he was making, "This is TV folks - Tender Vittles. We have to make it simple for them." Obviously the A&E folks studied at his school of pablum. Certainly this series is entertaining on some level, but don't for a minute think you know the Hornblower story based on seeing it. Call it something else and not Hornblower if they're going to change it so radically. For me, I'm angry, as I hoped to see Forester's great stories given a good treatment.