Hornblower: Duty (2003) (TV)

User Rating:

8.2/10   

Director:

Andrew Grieve

Writers:

Stephen Churchett (screenplay)
C.S. Forester (novel)

Release Date:

3 December 2003 (USA)

Genre:

Adventure | Drama | War

Plot:

Admiral Pellew interrupts Hornblower's wedding reception and tasks him to locate a British ship which has disappeared off the French coast, where Napoleon's troops are engaged in covert activities.

Plot Keywords:

Duty | Wedding Reception | Wedding | Honor | Christmas

Awards:

Nominated for 2 Primetime Emmys.

Cast

Ioan Gruffudd	...	Commander Horatio Hornblower
Robert Lindsay	...	Admiral Sir Edward Pellew
Paul McGann	...	Lieutenant Bush
Lorcan Cranitch	...	Wolfe
Tony Haygarth	...	Master Prowse
Julia Sawalha	...	Maria Mason
Barbara Flynn	...	Mrs. Mason
Paul Copley	...	Matthews
Sean Gilder	...	Styles
Jim Carter	...	Etheridge
Ron Cook	...	Steward James Doughty
Jonathan Coy	...	Captain Bracegirdle
Jonathan Forbes	...	Midshipman Charles Orrock
David Birkin	...	Jerome Bonaparte
Camilla Power	...	Betsy

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Certification:

Netherlands:12 | Singapore:PG | UK:PG | Australia:M

Filming Locations:

Falmouth, Cornwall, England, UK

Company:

Meridian Broadcasting

Goofs:

Factual errors: Bush and Hornblower refer to the shell which Hornblower extinguished as a "five inch". The cannon was clearly no more than a 12 pound gun which would have had a bore diameter of about 3.7 inches. A five inch gun would have been too large to be easily moved by hand as shown in the scene.

Quotes:

Admiral Sir Edward Pellew: You see things, sir, that others do not. One thing you do not question is your loyalty to your King. One day, Hornblower, you'll fight for more than England.
Commander Horatio Hornblower: What is there more than England?
Admiral Sir Edward Pellew: [He pointedly does not answer]

Movie Connections:

Follows Hornblower: The Even Chance (1998) (TV)

Soundtrack:

Yankee Doodle

Duty does as duty says

From Midshipman to Post-Captain, the fictional career in the Royal Navy of one Horatio Hornblower has been well documented by Andrew Grieve over the past few years. `Duty' is the latest in the series with our hero getting married to his landlady's daughter (Julia Sawalah) and then sailing off across the channel for some close and personal stuff with the French.

There's nothing to the story and yet somehow you are dragged in. Maybe it's Ioan Gruffud's saturnine charm as Hornie (or `Horrie' as his wife calls him). He's actually a bit of a prig but unlike most of his species acts fast and gets away with things a more hesitant man would never achieve. His facility for putting his own neck on the line strangely endears him to his crew (if my boss was that reckless I think I'd ask for a transfer to something less hazardous, like fireships). His attitude towards his new wife is peculiar; he has married her out of a sense of duty, he doesn't dislike her but he is aware she's not Admiral's wife material. Still when a character's mother-in-law is played by Barbara Flynn, a man has to take his chances.

Realism is not a big feature of this show (the French unconcernedly moving their troops around with a British ship in the bay) despite the use of what looks like a full-sized replica of the sloop `Hotspur'. In an earlier episode a few hundred British troops manage to get ashore in full view of the French on the beach without being noticed. It's also not too likely that a steward as good as Doughty would have been put on a capital charge for accidentally striking a junior officer, nor that a younger brother of Napoleon Bonaparte would wind up aboard one of His Majesty's ships (though come to think of it one did become King of Naples). But all that doesn't matter. C S Forester could tell a good yarn and the series makers have ultilised his formula to good effect. The whole thing is overflowing with chauvinism and xenophobia (even the Americans can't be trusted) and yet we cheer every time Hornie puts his sword through some unlucky foreigner.

There's plenty of good period detail without too much pedantry and Matthews the Bosun (Peter Copley and Styles (the lower deck trouble magnet played by Sean Gilder) are always entertaining. It's simple, but not mindless stuff and its US popularity is intriguing. I can't see it having much appeal to the French, though.