grantss A great series, based on the books by CS Forester. The adventures of Horatio Hornblower, an officer in the Royal Navy at the start of the 19th century. The movies follow his rise up the ranks.Very realistic in its actions, commands, uniforms, ships etc. Some great action and human drama.Special effects are good, except for the explosions. Those seem very cheap and unrealistic.The other area that seems unrealistic is Hornblower's home life. The relationship with Maria seems very clumsy and unnatural.Great performance by Ioan Gruffudd in the lead role. This is surpassed by Robert Lindsay as Admiral Pellew. He provides the perfect mix of authority, gravitas, compassion and father-like doting.Good support from Paul McGann as Lt Bush, Paul Copley as Matthews and Sean Gilder as Styles.The biggest pity is that this movie is the last one they made, when there are several books left.

leehught-935-735275 If you have read CS Forester's "Hornblower and the Hotspur" you are wondering where it went. While a few incidents are present here from the book, the story line has nothing to do with the book. You will be disappointed that the main themes and character of Horatio have been lost. While the series is entertaining, do not expect the TV movies to be the books. "Based on" is used in its very broad sense. So watch the movies first. Then go read the books, they are much richer and complex. However, the character of Hornblower will be vastly different and the historic settings as well. Unfortunately, another example of taking the reputation of a book, some names and some of the incidents and then writing your own story without the depth of the original.So, just treat them as separate works with name connections only.

Todd Bradley I Video'd this and the other new Hornblower movie ("Loyalty") when they were shown on A&E in December 2003, but it wasn't until mid-February that I finally watched them. And then the following weekend, I finally saw the "Master and Commander" movie. It's too bad I watched the Hornblower movies first, because they really ruined "Master and Commander" for me. The acting is so much better in the Hornblower stories. In fact, I think about the only thing "Master and Commander" had over "Loyalty" and "Duty" were sound effects and lack of commercials. What I didn't realize is that these were just the latest (last?) two in a long series of Hornblower made-for-TV movies. Now I want to watch the whole series!

StoryLady66 This episode follows on from the previous one, Loyalty. It carries on as Hornblower attempts to find out what the french are up too and keep his crew intact at the same time. The entire Hornblower series of tv movies is on a par with Sharpe starring Sean Bean and set in the same era and with a cast of well know actors I highly recommend anyone to buy the DVD's it's something you can watch again and again, we want more!