Not every movie that has been made in 50-s or 60-s is a classic movie and Captain Hornblower is such a case. This sea/war adventure is loosely based on three S.S.Forrester's novels (Beat to Quarters, Ship of the Line and Flying Colours) which for some inexplicable reason were united in one movie. Here's the first and the biggest mistake of the filmmakers. Such decision caused that the movie consist of numerous hardly related with each other scenes and episodes which change each other with kaleidoscopic speed. To fill up numerous gaps and unite the parts screenwriters were forced to invent several short ridiculous scenes (like one-minute journey through entire France and Dutch officers in Nant) and of course such substitutions couldn't save so much flawed script. In fact so many parts of the books have been missed in the movie that those omissions caused inevitable plot holes with many illogical or even preposterous scenes and story lines. Due to lack of screening time majority of characters from the books have been deleted and only three lieutenants, one midshipman and couple of sailors were personalized. The same happened with all the dialogs. They were completely re-written and instead of thoughtful and meaningful lines from the books in the movie appeared only one-lined silly dialogs like in formulaic modern action flicks. Finally, the main character, captain of the Royal Navy Horatio Hornblower has lost all of his charms and instead the excellent development of his character in the novels we got only terribly weak love story and repeated "Ha-hmm" line. I was so much surprised seeing the S.S.Forrester among the screenwriters. How the filmmakers could press him to make such terrible script from his novels? We can only guess about possible answers. Despite such a flawed idea and script I couldn't blame the actors. They did the best at they parts, though the galloping story didn't leave enough place for acting. The cinematography is the only really decent part of the movie as it bring to us the magic of old-fashioned Technicolor. But that's all. I have no idea why so many critics and viewers praised so much about reality and greatness of the sea battle scenes. Sorry but I've noticed there only absurdity, lack of simple logic and reality. Overall this movie is a very good lesson how critical flaws and mistakes of the movie script can cause in the result only a disappointed mediocrity. Especially it's easy to see now when we have such movie like Master & Commander, a perfect masterpiece of film-making. With any unprejudiced look the colossal difference in quality of these movies should be evident for everybody.
My grade 5 out of 10. Not every old movie is a classic.
My grade 5 out of 10. Not every old movie is a classic.