Captain Horatio Hornblower

Another of the movies that I hadn't blogged about before but showed up during TCM's salute to Warner Bros. was the naval adventure Captain Horatio Hornblower. So, I recently sat down to watch it so that I could do a review on it here.

Gregory Peck plays Capt. Hornblower, captaining a relatively small ship, the HMS Lydia for England during the Napoleonic era, specifically during the era of the Peninsular War. For those who don't know their history, Napoleon had his brother Joseph installed as the king of Spain to make them a more pliant ally, although the Spanish ultimately revolted. If memory serves, it's also the backdrop for the Cary Grant movie The Pride and the Passion. Anyhow, at the time the movie starts, Spain is still an ally of France and still has all its colonies in the New World. But there are people in the Spanish colonies who aren't so thrilled with Napoleon's occupation of Spain, and perhaps the British could use that to their advantage.

To that end, the Lydia has been sent to the New World to get help from one of those restive Spanish local bigwigs. It's extremely stressful for the crew, as they have to go all the way around Cape Horn without knowing what their mission is and having to stay away from being sighted, since they are technically the enemy. And as it turns out, the Spanish commander they're supposed to meet is only in it for himself, which means that he may be a danger to the English as well.

The voyage to the New World is a long one; long enough that by the time they get there, Spain, or at least a significant portion of it, is nominally on the side of England, so that the commander the Lydia helped is actually no longer on the side of the English. To make matters worse, Hornblower gets himself involved in a battle with a Spanish ship that is really on his side, although he has know whay of knowing the political situation back in Europe changed since he was incommunicado.

The Spanish ship he attacked was fleeing Panama, where there was a yellow fever epidemic. They also had some English captives who were being removed from Panama because of their value as hostages. Specifically, that's Lady Barbara (Virginia Mayo), who happens to be the sister of the Duke of Wellington. No wonder she's so important. She and Hornblower, being at sea for months, fall in love, although there's a problem there as well in that Lady Barbara had been betrothed to another man back in the UK and Hornblower is going to have to keep his feelings for Lady Barbara a secret. But at least she's useful as a nurse tending to the sailors, until she gets sick herself.

After Hornblower gets back to England, having gained a son but lost a wife in childbirth, he has to go back to sea to help in a blockade of France. This provides the movie's third act, which is many ways really isn't related to the first two acts, although the action it provides is satisfying enough.

Captain Horatio Hornblower is an enjoyable enough movie, and certainly well made thanks to the Technicolor photography and the capable performace from Peck. But it also feels more like a bunch of set pieces with only a relatively bare plot on which to hook all those pieces. The connection between the first two acts at least is vaguely plausible, while the third act in France feels like it comes out of nowhere. So if you want a great story, you won't really get it here. If you just want to sit back, relax, and watch Gregory Peck do the adventure movie thing, however, I think you'll definitely be entertained.