CAPTAIN HORATIO HORNBLOWER, R.N.

UK, 1951, 116 Minutes, Colour.
Gregory Peck, Virginia Mayo, Robert Beatty, Terence Morgan, James Robertson Justice, Stanley Baker, Christopher Lee, Denis O'Dea.
Directed by Raoul Walsh.

Captain Horatio Hornblower is a colourful film version of a Napoleonic novel by C.S. Forrester. Forrester was a popular action novelist of the 40s and 50s - eg. The Pride and the Passion was the film version of his novel, The Gun. Gregory Peck in the title role is not as adventurous and swashbuckling as Errol Flynn might have been a decade before. Virginia Mayo is very decorative as the heroine but not the actress that Olivia de Havilland was. Direction is by Raoul Walsh who made so many of the action adventures at Warner Bros. in the 30s and 40s. However, there is a lot of entertainment in the swashbuckling tradition in this film. (Sections of its action footage were incorporated into the 70s drama about Nelson, Bequest to the Nation, with Peter Finch and Glenda Jackson.)

1. Was this an enjoyable adventure film? Why do such films appeal? In what lies their chief appeal?

2. This was a film of the 50s. What characteristics of 50s film-making did it have? Is it still an appealing adventure for modern audiences?

3. How well did the film use colour, spectacle, ships, the sea? The musical and stirring background?

4. Why are films which show details of naval life in the 18th century of interest? The discipline, the danger, the routine of life? which sequences best illustrated this? The British overtones of the film and the sense of patriotism and glory for England? The Napoleonic Wars? The maps, the adventurousness of English sailing into unknown oceans? The background of the wars? The alliances with Spain, Central America? The belief in English glory? Allies and achievement? Heroics? The appeal for audiences? Hornblower as the central character and hero, how convincing and appealing? Gregory Peck's style? The nature of Hornblower's heroism, his leading his men, eliciting loyalty, administering justice, and yet his guesses about his destiny? The importance of his decisions in alliances and taking the ship? His treatment of El Supremo? His alliance with the Spaniards? The defeat of E1 Supremo? The hazardous nature of the voyage and bringing the ship home? The treatment of Lady Barbara? His admiration by the admiralty? His role against the French? His decision to destroy the fleet? The heroics of his escape? Was he a real character or was he a fiction hero? The personal side of Hornblower? How convincing? His friendship for the men, his stern behaviour? His interest in the seamen, promoting the young seaman? The involvement with Lady Barbara? The reality of his wife and child? How artificial was it to find that his wife had died? That Lady Barbara had married? That her husband had died? The happy-ever-after kind of ending?

8. Comment on the personalities of the crew and the impact that they made? In terms of discipline, loyalty, the bets, the fighting, the deaths?

9. Lady Barbara a convincing heroine? Her relationship to the Duke of Wellington, her role in the ship, her work as a nurse, her romantic involvement. the irony of the marriage, her presence at the end?

10. The irony of Lady Barbara's fiancee and his work at the Admiralty? His hostility towards Hornblower? Hornblower's self-vindication?

11. What were the dramatic highlights of the film? The highlights of the battles?

12. How good a picture of a different age was this? Differences in attitude, in loyalty and patriotism? Did it seem real? Or is it the romantic memory of history?