From: Ronald Gillen (gillen@NCONNECT.NET)
Date: Mon Apr 12 1999 - 13:12:46 PDT
I don't know if you far flung readers get the A&E (Arts & Entertainment)
TV channel or not, but if you do the 'Horatio Hornblower' series is well
worth watching. It seems to be loosely based on the life of Admiral
Nelson
and is extremely well done. I was brought up on a diet of C. S. Forester
and John Masters, both writers of heroic deeds. It was fiction that was
closer to the truth than further away.
Watch Horatio Hornblower in April on A&E
April 4: Film One--"The Duel" (repeats April 6)
April 11: Film Two--"The Fire Ships" (repeats April
13)
April 18: Film Three--"The Duchess and the Devil"
(repeats April 20)
April 25: Film Four--"The Wrong War" (April 27)
All films air at 8pm ET/7pm CT/9pm PT
England 1793. Beneath the rolling clouds of a January
gale, a
shoreboat cuts through the churning waters of Spithead
harbor to
where the battleship Justinian rides at anchor.
Huddled wet and
shivering in the sternsheets of the shoreboat, a pale,
thin, young boy
named Horatio Hornblower is about to embark upon the
greatest
adventure of his life. . .
Warning: If you have not seen the Hornblower films
yet, you
may not wish to read the following program synopses,
as they
contain detailed plot information.
Horatio Hornblower (Ioan Gruffudd) clambers aboard the
ship-of-the-line the Justinian—known to its intimates
as "the good
ship Slough of Despond. As the appalled Hornblower
looks at the
crowded, fetid land-based ship, a seaman whispers,
"His Majesty's
latest bad bargain." It's a baptism by fire. Not only
is Hornblower
awkward, nervous, seasick and afraid of heights, his
peers are wary of
his intelligence while the resident bully, Midshipman
Jack Simpson
(Dorian Healy), adds the new recruit to his list of
targets. A suicidal
Hornblower writes to his father, telling him how happy
he is.
Simpson, who has decided to bestow his most sadistic
antics upon
Hornblower, beats him up and threatens to do worse if
he tells anyone
about the deed. When questioned by his superiors about
his physical
condition, Hornblower tells them that he "fell."
When Simpson accuses Hornblower of cheating at cards,
this incites
Hornblower to challenge him to a duel—a move that is
thwarted by
another midshipman who, unbeknown to Hornblower, takes
his
place—and is killed by Simpson. Simpson, however,
still swears
vengeance on Hornblower.
When the war against France intensifies, Hornblower
and several
other men are transferred to the frigate Indefatigable
that sets sail for
the Bay of Biscay. In command of the ship is Captain
Sir Edward
Pellew (Robert Lindsay), who will become Hornblower's
mentor.
Simpson remains on the Justinian and Hornblower is
given command
of this division of seamen who initially resent the
young midshipman.
Yet soon that resentment gives way to respect, for
it's becoming clear
that while Hornblower is a stickler for duty and
detail, he's also kind,
conscientious, loyal and honorable—the exact opposite
of Simpson.
In the Bay of Biscay the Indefatigable, known as the
'Indy', captures
two French merchant ships. Pellew instructs Hornblower
to board one
of them—the Marie Galante—with a "prize crew" of four
men and sail
her to any port in England. Hornblower is thrilled:
it's his first
command—one that goes horribly wrong.
The Marie Galante has been holed, causing its cargo of
rice to swell
and break up the ship. Hornblower, his division and
the French
prisoners end up adrift at sea in a jolly-boat. And
then the prisoners
overcome their captors.
Yet Hornblower's resourcefulness saves the day and
soon they are
they are picked up by the Indy. Hornblower's men now
think he's
positively heroic; Pellew is quietly delighted with is
protégé. Yet for
Hornblower himself, the whole episode is but fuel for
the flame of his
self-criticism. As far as he's concerned, he failed
his mission.
Then the Indy is fired on by the French Frigate, the
Papillon—a vessel
that has already damaged a British 74-gun ship, ablaze
in the
distance. The Indy gives chase, but loses the Papillon
in the Gironde
estuary. Pellew then gives orders to rescue survivors
from the
74-gunner. As they lower boats and race towards the
floundering men,
the nameplate of the ship floats past Hornblower in
the water. It's the
Justinian, and the first man he rescues is none other
than Mr.
Midshipman Jack Simpson. Pellew and his officers plan
to lower
boats and launch an attack on the Papillon, Simpson
volunteers his
services, much to the terror of Midshipman Kennedy
(Jamie Bamber),
a colleague and now friend of Hornblower's whose life
was made a
misery by Simpson. He's prone to fits, and Simpson is
invariably the
catalyst. As they board the Papillon, Kennedy lays
unconscious in
the jolly boat. Unnoticed by anyone else, Simpson cuts
him adrift.
Then, in the thick of battle as they struggle to
capture the French
ship, Simpson wreaks his vengeance on Hornblower.
Unseen by
anyone except Hornblower himself, he fires up at him.
But the shot is
a glancing one: Hornblower falls into the sea and is
rescued. They are
now fired on from French guns on the shore. Several
men are killed
and Simpson tries to assume command. Tellingly, he's
thwarted by
the division he used to command: the men are now
firmly behind
Hornblower.
Nearby, the Indy is under fire from three French
corvettes and
Hornblower, in command of the Papillon, destroys one,
and harries
the other two into surrender. The Indy is saved.
Pellew is hugely impressed and contemplates promoting
Hornblower
to acting lieutenant. The only stumbling-block is that
Hornblower
refuses to retract the accusation that Simpson shot
him. Caught up in
a righteous anger, the courageous young midshipman
challenges his
tormentor to a duel, even thought he knows that
Simpson is the best
shot in the British navy.
The Indy puts into Gibraltar which, since Spain's
change of allegiance
from Britain to France, is now home to the entire
English fleet in the
area. The Indyrescues the three surviving crew of a
wrecked British
brig, one of whom is the legendary Captain Foster
(Denis Lawson)
who Hornblower comes to admire. Supplies to the Indy
are much
reduced by the Spanish attacks and Hornblower leads a
mission to
Oran (Algiers) for supplies, only to find himself and
his men
quarantined after exposure to the plague at the port.
Hornblower
spends much of the time with his books preparing for
his lieutenant
examination. After three weeks quarantine and back in
Gibraltar,
Hornblower sits for his exam. Overcome by nerves and
awed by the
three fearsome commanders, including Captain Foster,
who are to
judge his proficiency, the normally intelligent
Hornblower fails to
answer even the most basic questions. He is about to
be dismissed
from the room in ignominy when an alarm is raised: a
blazing fireship
is bearing down on the harbor from the Spanish side.
The examination
is aborted and as the examiners head for their ships,
Hornblower joins
Foster in an attempt to board the fireship and keep it
clear of the
British fleet.
With Hornblower at the helm and Foster giving
directions, they
managed to keep the burning brig clear of nearby
ships. Hornblower
nearly drowns and Foster saves his life. Captain
Pellew is hugely
impressed by Hornblower's courage and tells him not to
worry about
the aborted exam—he's well prepared for the next time.
Acting Lieutenant Hornblower, assisted by only five
men, captures the
French sloop Le Reve off the Spanish coast—a major
feat that does
much to enhance his reputation. At a high society
dinner with the
Governor of Gibraltar and his wife, Sir Hew and Lady
Dalrymple,
Hornblower meets the extraordinary Duchess of
Wharfedale (Cherie
Lunghi) —a loud, raucous and completely outrageous
woman. He is
asked to escort her to England and take a packet of
important naval
dispatches with him. Out at sea they find themselves
in a fog in the
middle of the Spanish fleet and are captured and taken
to a mainland
fort and imprisoned. The Duchess has hidden the
dispatches in her
skirts, but Hornblower overhears her talking in
Spanish and worries
that she may be a spy. In prison, Hornblower is
reunited with his
friend Kennedy, the young midshipman who befriended
him in his
early battle with Simpson. He and the other prisoners
plan an escape,
but must wait until Kennedy recovers from ill health.
The Duchess,
who was supposed to have been escorted to Lisbon by
her captors,
returns to the fort and she and Hornblower become
friendly. She is
revealed as an actress called Katherine Cobham, but
before
Hornblower can retrieve the dispatch, she leaves again
in a Spanish
trader that will take her to neutral Portugal.
His first escape bid thwarted, it is the wrecking of
the Spanish trader
that offers Hornblower the prospect of escape. Having
given his jailers
his word of honor to return, Hornblower and his men
bravely go to the
aid of the stranded Spanish sailors and the "Duchess."
By the time
they reached the vessel there are only four survivors
left—including the
Duchess. The Indy picks them up and the Duchess gives
Captain
Pellew the dispatches and tells him of Hornblower's
bravery.
Hornblower insists on returning to the fort as he
promised with his
men, under truce. Two weeks later orders are given to
release them.
Hornblower is now a commissioned Lieutenant due to his
"exemplary
gallantry."
Hornblower's ship, the Indy, together with three other
ships carrying
French émigré troops ("Frogs") and British Infantrymen
("Lobsters"), is
sent to aide an attempted coup against the Republican
Government
by French Royalist counterrevolutionaries. Commanding
the British
Troops is the Earl of Edrington (Samuel West) assisted
by Colonel
the Marquis de Moncoutant (Antony Sher) who is making
a highly
symbolic return to France complete with a guillotine.
The commander
of the French émigré troops is General the Baron de
Charette (John
Shrapnel) whose secret campaign documents have been
stolen.
Arriving in France, the forces disembark to launch
several attacks in
different locations. At the village where de
Moncoutant is lord and has
gone to rouse his subjects to action, their reception
is disastrous as
all the villagers have become Republicans and refuse
to lower the
tricolor. Bloodshed ensues and the cruelty and
barbarism of some of
the French aristocrats shocks Hornblower and a young
schoolteacher
called Mariette (Estelle Skornik) who has caught his
eye. Meanwhile
the other allied forces are routed and beat a retreat
to the shore where
they plan to blow up the bridge to protect them from
the fast
approaching enemy - the secret plans must have fallen
into enemy
hands. Hornblower, trapped in the village by
Republican troops is
caught up in a race against time to return to the Indy
before it sails
and before the bridge is blown up. He will not leave
without Mariette
but a bullet kills her. Devastated, Hornblower just
makes it over the
bridge. A desperate stand occurs on the beach as the
Republican
troops surge across the river to overwhelm the allies,
but at the last
minute the Indy appears firing at the Republicans and
forcing them to
retreat.
Sveikas ..... Ron Gillen