Hornblower: The Frogs and the Lobsters (1999) (TV)

User Rating:

7.9/10   

Director:

Andrew Grieve

Writers:

C.S. Forester (novels)
Chris Ould (screenplay)

Release Date:

25 April 1999 (USA)

Genre:

Adventure | Drama | War

Plot:

Lt. Hornblower and his mates are sent to accompany a doomed royalist invasion of revolutionary France.

Plot Keywords:

Invasion | Guillotine | Bridge | Schoolteacher | Navy

Awards:

Won Primetime Emmy. Another 1 win & 2 nominations

Cast

Ioan Gruffudd	...	Horatio Hornblower
Robert Lindsay	...	Capt. Sir Edward Pellew
Antony Sher	...	Colonel Moncoutant
John Shrapnel	...	General Charette
Samuel West	...	Major Edrington
Peter Vaughan	...	Admiral Lord Hood
Jean Badin	...	Fauré
Jamie Bamber	...	Acting Lt. Archie Kennedy
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Paul Copley	...	Matthews
Jonathan Coy	...	Lt. Bracegirdle
Sean Gilder	...	Styles
Ian Lindsay	...	Collins
Colin MacLachlan	...	Master Bowles
Simon Sherlock	...	Oldroyd
Estelle Skornik	...	Mariette

Also Known As:

Horatio Hornblower: The Wrong War (USA)

Runtime:

Brazil:100 min

Country:

UK

Language:

French | English

Color:

Color

Certification:

Netherlands:12 | Singapore:PG | UK:PG

Filming Locations:

Peniche, Portugal

Company:

Meridian Broadcasting

Goofs:

Errors made by characters (possibly deliberate errors by the filmmakers): Early in the movie Captain Pellew and Lieutenant Hornblower board their ship's boat to return to the ship. Pellew boards the boat before Hornblower. This is contrary to naval customs of the day (and present). The senior officer always boarded a boat last (and left it first).

Quotes:

Major Edrington: In that case, I suggest we look to ourselves for command.

Movie Connections:

Followed by Hornblower: Duty (2003) (TV)

Soundtrack:

The Girl I Left Behind Me

If America only knew how good this was.

If America only knew how good this was,it would be the highest rated Made-For-TV movie series of all time(hard to believe there are more people out there that would rather watch "The Columbo Mysteries" than Horatio Hornblower- that just goes to show the power of major network name-brand advertising.

The Hornblower movie series has been television at its finest. I have seen all 6 of the A&E Horatio Hornblower movies,"The Duchess and the Devil" is my favorite of the 6 films. However I tune in to A&E everytime they air a new Hornblower movie. So far all 6 movies have been based on the Horatio Hornblower adventure novels written by C.S. Forester(the same author who wrote African Queen). Each Movie chronicles the on-going adventures of Horatio Hornblower who is a Brittish Lt. in the Brittish Navy during the late 1790's-to early 1800's during the Napoleonic era in Europe. I sincerly believe that each one of these 6 Films has been good enough to have shown at the movie theaters,if the producers had wanted to. Unlike other Made-For-TV films,The Hornblower films do not have that Made-For-TV feeling to them,like most television movies have.

A common misconception that people who havent seen these movies have is that all 6 of these films go to gether as a mini-series- that is not true. The Hornblower movies are not a mini-series,all 6 of these films are individual movies about the same charactor- with all the same actors playing the same roles in each film(EXAMPLE:think of the James Bond films-They are not sequels, but they are all about the adventures of James Bond- that same principle applies to the Hornblower movies) I give the entire Horatio Hornblower movie series 5 out of 5 stars. Its Perfect entertainment- but you cant please everyone, so for those of you dont like epic battleship battles,historic style drama,high stakes adventure, and danger on the high seas,if you dont like stuff like that-there is always Columbo re-run for you to watch.