“Hornblower: The Duel” (entitled “The Even Chance” in Great Britain) is the first in a series of movies produced by ITV and A&E. This movie introduces Midshipman Horatio Hornblower (Ion Groffudd) as he joins the crew of the HMS Justinian in 1793. “Welcome to Purgatory”, he is told as soon as he boards. It will be closer to Hell for the seventeen year old rich kid. The ship is commanded by an old and worn out captain and the midshipmen are dominated by a psychopath named Simpson (Dorian Healy). He makes it his objective to make Hornblower’s life as miserable as possible. It gets so bad that Hornblower challenges Simpson to a duel. However, another midshipman named Clayton (Duncan Bell) takes Hornblower’s place, so the rivalry continues. Hornblower gets transferred to the HMS Indefatigable, which is commanded by the no nonsense Captain Edward Pellew (Robert Lindsay). He forbids Hornblower to fight any more duels. Hornblower is given command of a gun crew. It is motley. He will have to earn the tars’ respect. And get on the good side of the captain. Luckily, he is a quick study and a born leader. The movie is episodic after the build-up. Hornblower has a time dealing with a French prize ship. Hornblower leads a boarding party that cuts out a French warship. Hornblower rescues the Indy from attack by three corvettes. The movie culminates with the return match with the dastardly Simpson. Hornblower gets killed and the series ends with just one episode. Just kidding.
ACTING: A-
ACTION: B (7/10)
ACCURACY: N/A
PLOT: A
REALISM: A
CINEMATOGRAPHY: B
SCORE: A
SCENE: the capture of the French ship
QUOTE: Capt. Pellew: Damn your impudence, sir!
“Hornblower: The Duel” was a big budget production and it showed. The Indefatigable is actually the Grand Turk (a replica of the HMS Blandford) which is a 22-gun corvette with twelve pound guns. It is supposed to represent a 44-gun frigate with twenty-four pounders. The film is lensed so the action appears to be on a larger ship. The exteriors and interiors allow the movie to be nicely instructive on shipboard life. The below deck set is authentic. You can learn a lot about what is was like to serve on a British warship in the age of fighting sail. The plot manages to hit on midshipmen training, burial at sea, firing sequence, boarding, women below decks in port, and of course, dueling. But this is not a documentary. The story is entertaining and the characters are intriguing. The story revolves around two themes. One is Hornblower’s growth as a leader. The other is his conflict with Simpson. The first follows a traditional arc, the second is what sets the movie apart. Simpson is one of the greatest war movie villains. The final duel closes the movie with a cherry on top. The casting director deserved a bonus. The actors are all perfect in their roles. Hornblower dominates, but it is truly an ensemble movie. The movie launched Gruffudd to stardom and just like Bean as Sharpe, it is impossible to imagine anyone else playing the role. Healy is not a cartoon villain and he makes his character’s death very fulfilling. Lindsay’s Pellew ranks among the great cinematic ship captains. And he gives life to one of the greatest Royal Navy heroes. There is nothing TV about the production. The dialogue is excellent. The music fits nicely. The sound effects make you feel you are on the ship.
The story is fictional, but Edward Pellew is based on the famous English sea captain. Pellew took part in the American Revolutionary War and was with Burgoyne’s army when it surrendered at Saratoga. In the war with France, he took the first French warship.He led the boarding party. In 1795, he was given command of the HMS Indefatigable. He had such success that he became famous. He rose to admiral and was made a noble. He was commander-in-chief of the Mediterranean fleet from 1811-1816. While fictional, the movie is very realistic about life aboard an English frigate.
Here are things you will learn from the movie:
1. dunnage – a sailor’s sea chest
2. when a ship was in port, some captains allowed women on board (below deck)
3. the sailors slept on hammocks
4. the lowest rank of officer was midshipman
5. vittles - food
6. cut a rill – dance
7. time was kept by bells
8. rigging - the rope used with the sails
9. press gang – the forceable enlisting of civilians into the Royal Navy
10. prize money – when an enemy ship was captured, the officers and crew shared in the value of the ship; usually a portion of the crew (prize crew) were put on board to sail the ship to an English port
11. rat baiting – a gambling game where the sailor tries to kill as many rats by biting them in a certain amount of time
12. one type of punishment was to be tied to the rigging
While I agree that the series was well-done and generally well-developed the limitations are felt in ship maneuver and battle sequences, which are spared from the series as often as possible. One of the reasons that the pilot episode feels so open is that it has little to do with sailing. Of course if the series were made today it would no doubt be filled with CGI battles and greenscreens but I suspect the parts that you correctly praise would somehow suffer as a result.
ReplyDeleteI don't recall Hornblower being a rich kid in the books. He seems to be largely on his own and very limited in his resources until promotions, prize money, and an advantageous marriage secure his fortune. His charm is, as with Scarlett O'Hara, that he clearly thinks differently about things than other people and is willing to work and face danger to meet his obligations within that framework.
For instance, in the book Hornblower's thought about the duel with the Simpson character is, "this fellow is a constant threat to me and (unusually) I just cannot stand his bullying. One day he will either kill me or drive me mad. I can't murder him or desert the service. I cannot escape him within the service. My best option is therefore to accept the duel because in that case my chance of survival rises to 50%."
The Horatio Hornblower we see in the series is designed more to be someone we can identify our ideal selves with - more social, less rigid about honor, and more upbeat. There is enough similarity between the characters to touch on the main points of Hornblower novels but enough difference to require (or allow) the writers to create additional subplots and stories for him.
I recommend that people who enjoy this series watch the old Gregory Peck Hornblower movie, which shows more of the original Hornblower personality but also almost works as an ending to the TV series.