''Captain Horatio Hornblower'' (a.k.a. ''Captain Horatio Hornblower R.N.'' in the UK, "R.N." standing for "

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against F ...

") is a 1951 British naval

swashbuckling A swashbuckler is a genre of European adventure literature that focuses on a heroic protagonist stock character who is skilled in swordsmanship, acrobatics, guile and possesses chivalrous ideals. A "swashbuckler" protagonist is heroic, daring, ...

war film War film is a film genre concerned with warfare, typically about naval, air, or land battles, with combat scenes central to the drama. It has been strongly associated with the 20th century. The fateful nature of battle scenes means that war fi ...

Technicolor Technicolor is a series of Color motion picture film, color motion picture processes, the first version dating back to 1916, and followed by improved versions over several decades. Definitive Technicolor movies using three black and white films ...

from

Warner Bros. Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (commonly known as Warner Bros. or abbreviated as WB) is an American film and entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California, and a subsidiary of Warner Bros. D ...

, produced by Gerry Mitchell, directed by

Raoul Walsh Raoul Walsh (born Albert Edward Walsh; March 11, 1887December 31, 1980) was an American film director, actor, founding member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS), and the brother of silent screen actor George Walsh. He w ...

, that stars

Gregory Peck Eldred Gregory Peck (April 5, 1916 – June 12, 2003) was an American actor and one of the most popular film stars from the 1940s to the 1970s. In 1999, the American Film Institute named Peck the 12th-greatest male star of Classic Hollywood ...

Virginia Mayo Virginia Mayo (born Virginia Clara Jones; November 30, 1920 – January 17, 2005) was an American actress and dancer. She was in a series of comedy films with Danny Kaye and was Warner Brothers' biggest box-office money-maker in the late 1940s. ...

Robert Beatty Robert Rutherford Beatty (19 October 1909 – 3 March 1992) was a Canadian actor who worked in film, television and radio for most of his career and was especially known in the UK. Early years Beatty was born in Hamilton, Ontario, Hamilton, O ...

and

Terence Morgan Terence Ivor Grant Morgan (8 December 1921 – 25 August 2005) was an English actor in theatre, cinema and television. He played many "villain" roles in British film but is probably best remembered for his starring role in the TV historical ...

. The film is based on three of C. S. Forester's

Horatio Hornblower Horatio Hornblower is a fictional officer in the British Royal Navy during the Napoleonic Wars, the protagonist of a series of novels and stories by C. S. Forester. He later became the subject of films, radio and television programmes, an ...

novels: ''

The Happy Return ''The Happy Return'' (''Beat to Quarters'' in the US) is the first of the Horatio Hornblower novels by C. S. Forester. It was published in 1937. The American title is derived from the expression " beat to quarters", which was the signal to p ...

'' (1937), '' A Ship of the Line'' (1938), and '' Flying Colours'' (1938). Forester is credited with the screen adaptation.

Plot

In 1807, during the

Napoleonic Wars The Napoleonic Wars (1803–1815) were a series of major global conflicts pitting the French Empire and its allies, led by Napoleon I, against a fluctuating array of European states formed into various coalitions. It produced a period of Fren ...

Captain

commands the 38-gun

frigate A frigate () is a type of warship. In different eras, the roles and capabilities of ships classified as frigates have varied somewhat. The name frigate in the 17th to early 18th centuries was given to any full-rigged ship built for speed and ...

HMS ''Lydia'' on a secret mission to

Central America Central America ( es, América Central or ) is a subregion of the Americas. Its boundaries are defined as bordering the United States to the north, Colombia to the south, the Caribbean Sea to the east, and the Pacific Ocean to the west. ...

. He is to provide arms and support to a megalomaniac named Don Julian Alvarado, who calls himself "El Supremo" ("The Almighty"), in his rebellion against Spain, an ally of Britain's enemy

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

. Upon arrival, Hornblower is told that a larger, much more powerful Spanish warship, the 60-gun ''Natividad'', has been sighted. When it anchors nearby, Hornblower and his crew board and capture it in a surprise night attack. He then reluctantly hands the ship over to Alvarado to appease the madman, and they go their separate ways. Later, he encounters a Spanish

lugger A lugger is a sailing vessel defined by its rig, using the lug sail on all of its one or several masts. They were widely used as working craft, particularly off the coasts of France, England, Ireland and Scotland. Luggers varied extensively i ...

and learns that Spain has switched sides, so the ''Lydia'' will have to attack the ''Natividad'' again. Two passengers transfer to the ''Lydia'' (over Hornblower's strenuous objections): Lady Barbara Wellesley and her maid, fleeing a

yellow fever Yellow fever is a viral disease of typically short duration. In most cases, symptoms include fever, chills, loss of appetite, nausea, muscle pains – particularly in the back – and headaches. Symptoms typically improve within five days. In ...

epidemic. As Lady Barbara is the (fictitious) sister of the

Duke of Wellington Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington, (1 May 1769 – 14 September 1852) was an Anglo-Irish soldier and Tory statesman who was one of the leading military and political figures of 19th-century Britain, serving twice as prime minister of ...

(Wellesley,at that time, was not yet the 1st Duke of Wellington as this title was only bestowed to him in 1814!), Hornblower cannot refuse her request for passage to England. Using superior seamanship and masterful tactics, Hornblower sinks the more powerful ''Natividad''. When the ship's surgeon is killed during the battle, Lady Barbara insists on tending the wounded. When she later falls gravely ill, Hornblower nurses her back to health. On the voyage back to England, they fall in love. However, when she speaks of her feelings (although she is engaged), Hornblower gently tells her he is married. Later they meet in a passageway and embrace passionately. She promises her maid's discretion, but he says that they are not free. After arriving home, Hornblower learns that his wife has died in childbirth, leaving him an infant son. Later, he is given command of the ''Sutherland'', a

74-gun The "seventy-four" was a type of two- decked sailing ship of the line, which nominally carried 74 guns. It was developed by the French navy in the 1740s, replacing earlier classes of 60- and 62-gun ships, as a larger complement to the recently-de ...

ship of the line A ship of the line was a type of naval warship constructed during the Age of Sail from the 17th century to the mid-19th century. The ship of the line was designed for the naval tactic known as the line of battle, which depended on the two colu ...

captured from the French, and is assigned to a squadron commanded by Rear Admiral Leighton. Leighton has just returned from his honeymoon with Lady Barbara. Outside the Admiralty, Lady Barbara tells Hornblower that she did not learn of his wife’s death until she returned from Ireland. Leighton's squadron is to help enforce the British

blockade A blockade is the act of actively preventing a country or region from receiving or sending out food, supplies, weapons, or communications, and sometimes people, by military force. A blockade differs from an embargo or sanction, which are le ...

of France. Hornblower learns that four French ships of the line have broken through the blockade. Leighton assumes they will make for the Mediterranean, but Hornblower suggests that they mean to support

Napoleon Napoleon Bonaparte ; it, Napoleone Bonaparte, ; co, Napulione Buonaparte. (born Napoleone Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French military commander and political leader who ...

's campaign on the Iberian Peninsula. Leighton decides to cover both possibilities by detaching one ship to patrol the French coast. When he learns that Hornblower's ''Sutherland'' is best suited for this task, having the shallowest draught, he accuses Hornblower of pursuing glory and

prize money Prize money refers in particular to naval prize money, usually arising in naval warfare, but also in other circumstances. It was a monetary reward paid in accordance with the prize law of a belligerent state to the crew of a ship belonging to t ...

and expressly forbids Hornblower's taking any independent action if he sights the French. Hornblower's French-built ship is subsequently mistaken for a friendly vessel by a small French

brig A brig is a type of sailing vessel defined by its rig: two masts which are both square rig, square-rigged. Brigs originated in the second half of the 18th century and were a common type of smaller merchant vessel or warship from then until the ...

, which flies the enemy's recognition signal for the day. After capturing the vessel, Hornblower learns from its captain that he was transporting supplies to the four warships for use in Spain. Rather than return to the squadron, Hornblower enters the enemy harbour where the French ships are anchored and guarded by a well-armed fort. By flying a French flag and the recognition signal and taking advantage of his ship's French design, Hornblower fools the garrison into believing that the ''Sutherland'' is friendly. His gun crews dismast all four enemy ships before cannon fire from the fort forces the British to abandon ship. Hornblower scuttles his ship in the channel, bottling up the French ships. As the rest of the British squadron arrives to complete the job, Hornblower, First Lieutenant Bush, and seaman Quist are taken by carriage to Paris to be tried for

piracy Piracy is an act of robbery or criminal violence by ship or boat-borne attackers upon another ship or a coastal area, typically with the goal of stealing cargo and other valuable goods. Those who conduct acts of piracy are called pirates, v ...

. They escape en route and make their way to the port of

Nantes Nantes (, , ; Gallo: or ; ) is a city in Loire-Atlantique on the Loire, from the Atlantic coast. The city is the sixth largest in France, with a population of 314,138 in Nantes proper and a metropolitan area of nearly 1 million inhabita ...

. Disguised as

Dutch Dutch commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands * Dutch people () * Dutch language () Dutch may also refer to: Places * Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States * Pennsylvania Dutch Country People E ...

officers, they board the ''Witch of Endor'', a captured British ship. They overpower the

skeleton crew A skeleton crew is the minimum number of personnel needed to operate and maintain an item such as a business, organization, or ship at its most simple operating requirements. Skeleton crews are often utilized during an emergency and are meant to ...

, free a working party of British

prisoners of war A prisoner of war (POW) is a person who is held Captivity, captive by a belligerent power during or immediately after an armed conflict. The earliest recorded usage of the phrase "prisoner of war" dates back to 1610. Belligerents hold priso ...

to man her, and sail to England. Hornblower is hailed as a national hero and learns that Leighton was killed in the battle against the French ships. Hornblower returns home to visit his young son and finds Lady Barbara there. The two embrace.

Cast

as Captain

, R.N. *

as Lady Barbara Wellesley *

as First Lieutenant William Bush *

as Second Lieutenant Gerard *

Moultrie Kelsall Moultrie Rowe Kelsall (24 October 1904 – 13 February 1980)Biographical info

as Third Lieutenant Crystal * James Kenney as Midshipman Longley *

James Robertson Justice James Robertson Justice (15 June 1907 – 2 July 1975) was a British actor. He is best remembered for portraying pompous authority figures in comedies including each of the seven films in the ''Doctor'' series. He also co-starred with Grego ...

as Seaman Quist *

Denis O'Dea Denis O'Dea (26 April 1905 – 5 November 1978) was an Irish stage and film actor. He was born in Dublin and attended Synge Street CBS. When very young he and his mother Kathleen (from County Kerry) moved in with her sister, who kept a boardin ...

as Rear Admiral Sir Rodney Leighton *

Richard Hearne Richard Lewis Hearne (30 January 1908 – 23 August 1979) was an English actor, comedian, producer and writer. He is best remembered for his stage and television character Mr Pastry. Career Hearne was born in Norwich, Norfolk, in 1908, the son ...

as Polwheal *

Michael J. Dolan Michael J. Dolan (born 1884) was an Irish actor known for '' Scrooge'' (1951), ''Captain Horatio Hornblower'' (1951) and '' Saints and Sinners'' (1949). He died on 21 October 1954 in Dublin, Ireland at the age of 70. He was a distinguished acto ...

as Surgeon Gundarson *

Stanley Baker Sir William Stanley Baker (28 February 192828 June 1976) was a Welsh actor and film producer. Known for his rugged appearance and intense, grounded screen persona, he was one of the top British male film stars of the late 1950s, and later a pro ...

as Mr. Harrison *

Alec Mango Alec Mango (16 March 1911 – 7 November 1989) was an English actor. He is best known for portraying El Supremo in the 1951 ''Captain Horatio Hornblower'', he also appeared in ''South of Algiers'' (1953), ''The Strange World of Planet X'' (1958 ...

as El Supremo/Don Julian Alvarado *

Christopher Lee Sir Christopher Frank Carandini Lee (27 May 1922 – 7 June 2015) was an English actor and singer. In a long career spanning more than 60 years, Lee often portrayed villains, and appeared as Count Dracula in seven Hammer Horror films, ultimat ...

as the Spanish captain of the Natividad *

Diane Cilento Diane Cilento (2 April 1932 – 6 October 2011) was an Australian actress. She is best known for her film roles in ''Tom Jones'' (1963), which earned her an Academy Award nomination, '' Hombre'' (1967) and '' The Wicker Man'' (1973). She also r ...

as the voice of Maria, Hornblower's wife *

Alan Tilvern Alan Tilvern (5 November 1918 – 17 December 2003) was an English actor. He was known for usually playing "tough-guy" roles. Life Tilvern was born 5 November 1918 in Whitechapel, in the East End of London, to Jewish-Lithuanian parents, who c ...

as Admiral Don Jose Hernandez *

John Witty John Witty (1915–1990) was a British film and television actor. Witty's distinguished voice appeared extensively on various series and documentary short films. He presented the TV series ''Mail Call'' (1955–56) with his wife Genine Graham ...

as Captain Entenza * Jack Watson as Capt. Sylvester (uncredited) *

Alexander Davion Alexander Davion, (March 31, 1929 - September 28, 2019) French-born British actor. He was perhaps best known in the UK for his starring role in ''Gideon's Way'' as Detective Chief Inspector David Keen. He was born in Paris, France. He died in Lond ...

as Spanish officer (uncredited)

Casting

acquired the film rights to the first three Hornblower novels – ''

'', ''A Ship of the Line'', and ''Flying Colours'' – as a star vehicle for

Errol Flynn Errol Leslie Thomson Flynn (20 June 1909 – 14 October 1959) was an Australian-American actor who achieved worldwide fame during the Golden Age of Hollywood. He was known for his romantic swashbuckler roles, frequent partnerships with Olivia ...

when they were first published. For reasons that may have included the financial failure of the 1948 ''

Adventures of Don Juan ''Adventures of Don Juan'' is a 1948 American Technicolor swashbuckling adventure romance film directed by Vincent Sherman and starring Errol Flynn and Viveca Lindfors, with Robert Douglas, Alan Hale, Ann Rutherford, and Robert Warwick. Also in ...

'', the growing difficulties of working with the actor, and/or his advancing age, Flynn was not cast. Warner's was already building up

Burt Lancaster Burton Stephen Lancaster (November 2, 1913 – October 20, 1994) was an American actor and producer. Initially known for playing tough guys with a tender heart, he went on to achieve success with more complex and challenging roles over a 45-yea ...

as their new swashbuckling screen star, but the role of a British sea captain seemed to be outside his range, so Peck was ultimately cast on a loan-out from David O. Selznick, who received screen credit in the opening titles. Virginia Mayo was only cast after a number of high-profile British actresses were either not free or not interested. Peck's personal choice was

Margaret Leighton Margaret Leighton, CBE (26 February 1922 – 13 January 1976) was an English actress, active on stage and television, and in film. Her film appearances included (her first credited debut feature) in Anatole de Grunwald's ''The Winslow Boy'' (1 ...

. Studio head Jack Warner found Virginia Mayo more attractive.

Production

The film was shot at studios inside the United Kingdom, on Mermaid Street in

Rye, East Sussex is a small town and civil parish in the Rother district of East Sussex, England, two miles from the sea at the confluence of three rivers: the Rother, the Tillingham and the Brede. An important member of the mediaeval Cinque Ports confederatio ...

, at and also on location in France. El Supremo's Fortress is

Fort de Brégançon The Fort de Brégançon (; English: ''Brégançon Fort'') is a medieval fortress, located above sea level on an islet off the French Riviera, connected by a short causeway to the mainland, in the Communes of France, commune of Bormes-les-Mimosa ...

in France To save costs, the ''Hispaniola'' set from the 1950

Disney The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was originally founded on October ...

film adaptation of ''

Treasure Island ''Treasure Island'' (originally titled ''The Sea Cook: A Story for Boys''Hammond, J. R. 1984. "Treasure Island." In ''A Robert Louis Stevenson Companion'', Palgrave Macmillan Literary Companions. London: Palgrave Macmillan. .) is an adventure no ...

'' was reused as the frigate HMS ''Lydia''. Instead of moving the horizon background in order to simulate movement on the water, the ship itself was rocked. This caused many problems because of the combined weight of ship, crew and equipment. The Italian

brigantine A brigantine is a two-masted sailing vessel with a fully square-rigged foremast and at least two sails on the main mast: a square topsail and a gaff sail mainsail (behind the mast). The main mast is the second and taller of the two masts. Older ...

''Marcel B. Surdo'' represented the ''Witch of Endor'' for all at-sea exterior footage. The ''Marcel B. Surdo'' would also appear in such seafaring films as ''

The Crimson Pirate ''The Crimson Pirate'' is a 1952 British-American international co-production Technicolor tongue-in-cheek comedy-adventure film from Warner Bros. produced by Norman Deming and Harold Hecht, directed by Robert Siodmak, and starring Burt Lancaste ...

'', ''The Master of Ballantrae'', and ''John Paul Jones''. The explosive and fire effects were supervised by Cliff Richardson.

Premiere and reception

The film had its worldwide premiere in the presence of Princess Margaret at the Warner Theatre, Leicester Square, London on 12 April 1951. The premiere was in aid of King George's Fund for Sailors and the "Foudroyant" appeal (the presently restored frigate renamed afloat in the Historic Quay, Hartlepool, UK).

Bosley Crowther Francis Bosley Crowther Jr. (July 13, 1905 – March 7, 1981) was an American journalist, writer, and film critic for ''The New York Times'' for 27 years. His work helped shape the careers of many actors, directors and screenwriters, though his ...

, critic for ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'', said it has "plenty of action ... It may be conventional action, routine in pattern and obviously contrived, with less flavor f the booksin it than of the workshops of Hollywood. However, it should please those mateys who like the boom of the cannon and the swish of the swords." Bob Thomas said it "is excellent adventure stuff ... the dialogue and action can be stilted at times. But there is enough eye-catching excitement and color to offset that." ''TV Guide'' wrote that "Walsh's direction has no time to linger. Guy Green's camerawork and Robert Farnon's jolly score are helpful." According to Warner Bros' accounts, the film earned $2,598,000 domestically and $2,735,000 foreign. It was the studio's most expensive film of the year but also their most popular. It was the 9th most popular film at the British box office that year. The film has been well received by modern critics. The film

review aggregator A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews of products and services (such as films, books, video games, software, hardware, and cars). This system stores the reviews and uses them for purposes such as supporting a website where users ...

website

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

gives it 7.3 out of 10 and a 100% "fresh" rating.

Other versions

Peck and Mayo recreated their roles on a one-hour ''

Lux Radio Theater ''Lux Radio Theatre'', sometimes spelled ''Lux Radio Theater'', a classic radio anthology series, was broadcast on the NBC Blue Network (1934–35) (owned by the National Broadcasting Company, later predecessor of American Broadcasting Company ...

'' program broadcast on 21 January 1952, which is included as an audio-only feature in the film's DVD release.

Home media

On 6 March 2007 Warner Home Video released the film on DVD in its original aspect ratio of 1:37:1.

References

External links

* * * * * *
''Captain Horatio Hornblower''
review at ''DVD Journal''

review at ''Decent Films Guide'' {{Raoul Walsh 1951 films 1951 romantic drama films 1950s historical action films 1951 war films 1950s adventure drama films British historical action films British romantic drama films British war drama films Films shot at Associated British Studios 1950s English-language films Films based on British novels Films based on historical novels Films based on the Hornblower series Films based on military novels Films based on multiple works of a series Films directed by Raoul Walsh Films set in 1807 Films set in Central America Seafaring films War adventure films Warner Bros. films 1950s British films