Captain Horatio Hornblower RN is a 1951 tale of, well, the exploits of an impossibly perfect captain and his ship during the Napoleonic War era of big sail and cannons.
By the standards of 1951, it was an exciting, technologically advanced, swashbuckler. Today, we as audiences are more mature and more demanding, and as such significant portions of the movie have aged very, very badly. Nevertheless, it remains a decent picture - far better than many of its era and is worth seeing by those such as myself who enjoy high seas adventure. However, modern films such as Master and Commander and the updated Hornblower mini-series are infinitely better.
Here are some random observations: - the accents are laughably bad. The Duke of Wellington's daughter in the move has a pure American accent - and that's probably the best accent of them all since this meant that the actress didn't even try to fake a British accent - something many other roles in the film did--and did very very very badly. Perhaps the worst accents I have ever heard on film. I'm amazed - I'm guessing this was a Hollywood picture. Were there no Mexicans around somewhere nearby to at least show them a Spanish (or Mexican, which for the purposes of this movie would have been infinitely better) accent. Were we really so backwards of a people in 1951 that our actors simply felt that they could affect whatever accent they wanted by rolling their Rs in some random way?
This movie today is a solid 5/10. Anybody who gives it more than that is adding extra stars out of nostalgia.
By the standards of 1951, it was an exciting, technologically advanced, swashbuckler. Today, we as audiences are more mature and more demanding, and as such significant portions of the movie have aged very, very badly. Nevertheless, it remains a decent picture - far better than many of its era and is worth seeing by those such as myself who enjoy high seas adventure. However, modern films such as Master and Commander and the updated Hornblower mini-series are infinitely better.
Here are some random observations: - the accents are laughably bad. The Duke of Wellington's daughter in the move has a pure American accent - and that's probably the best accent of them all since this meant that the actress didn't even try to fake a British accent - something many other roles in the film did--and did very very very badly. Perhaps the worst accents I have ever heard on film. I'm amazed - I'm guessing this was a Hollywood picture. Were there no Mexicans around somewhere nearby to at least show them a Spanish (or Mexican, which for the purposes of this movie would have been infinitely better) accent. Were we really so backwards of a people in 1951 that our actors simply felt that they could affect whatever accent they wanted by rolling their Rs in some random way?
- Related to the above, there is a lot of ridiculous ethnic stereotyping and several characters that don't act as real humans do. This movie pretends to be serious, but, it was from 1951. The British are human and basically everybody else is a cartoon. This seems inappropriate, even for 1951. I can excuse the blackface as a technical necessity (of sorts), but the actual characterizations were insulting to anybody with half a brain.
- The basic plot is sound, and could be updated. However, if this movie were done today, the character of Hornblower would need to be completely revamped. He's unrealistically flawless in this movie, and the characters spend a heck of a lot of time standing around saying things like "Hornblower is flawless!". High comedy.
- Special effects are good.
This movie today is a solid 5/10. Anybody who gives it more than that is adding extra stars out of nostalgia.