Hornblower: The Duchess and the Devil (1999)

The film starts off excitingly enough as Hornblower launches a successful surprise attack and captures the French supply ship La Reve.Captain Pellew orders Hornblower to sail La Reve with important papers that must not fall into enemy hands, accompanying them is the the widowed Duchess of Wharfedale (Cherie Lunghi) who has a common manner of talking.La Reve comes across the Spanish fleet and the crew despite their attempt to fool them are captured and imprisoned. The Duchess hides the dispatches and she also gets friendly with the Spanish commander of the garrison which gives Hornblower some privileges.Hornblower meets up with Midshipman Archie Kennedy who was set adrift in the first film of the series and thought to have perished. He is ill and Hornblower wants him to recover his health before attempting to escape. This upsets the hotheaded Midshipman Hunter who is forced to something impulsive while Kennedy has come across the Duchess once before.A fast moving opening segment which then slows down a lot unfortunately once the crew have been imprisoned. Hunter is portrayed rather two dimensional for my liking but the Duchess is fun and Hornblower is shown to be a sturdy, reliable and honourable sort of guy.

This was the first HORNBLOWER with Ioan Gruffudd I watched all the way through. As a massive fan of the Sharpe novels who's been disappointed by the cheapness of their subsequent TV adaptations, I had some idea of what to expect.This starts off strongly, with a good action-focused narrative propelling it along. Then there's a twist, and for an hour absolutely nothing happens. Things pick up again for an admittedly exciting climax, but by that time my interest had already waned.The pluses: decent acting (Ronald Pickup's dodgy Spanish accent aside). Gruffudd is a solid if unspectacular hero, and has a certain vulnerability about him which makes him a hit with female viewers. Robert Lindsay is strong, as are the supporting players like Christopher Fulford and Jamie Bamber. Cherie Lunghi overplays it a little for my liking, but at least she adds life to the film.With a better script, this could have been an excellent piece of television drama; as it is, it's merely okay.

This is a comment not only on the superb production as a whole, which is very authentic from a historical perspective, and gives the viewer a true sense of what life was like in the Royal Navy during the Napoleonic Wars, but also to praise an excellent performance by Robert Lindsay, who plays Captain Sir Edward Pellew. As a student of military history, I was very pleased with this production as a whole, and Griffudds' Hornblower is well done. But Lindsay, as the redoubtable Sir Edward is priceless. Just the right blend of old navy correctness, upper-class haughtiness, and berely concealed pride in his young protegee. Hornblower, with whom he is careful not to appear overly fond, is most determined to do his job and please his captain, whom he worships. Pellew recognizes the seeds of greatness in the young man and sheperds him along with scant vocal praise but strong career-enhancing opportunities. Lindsay is very likaable and proper, and I want to see more o of his work. I hope to see more of the Hornblower series in the future, as Ioan Griffudd continues to grow and prosper.

I thoroughly enjoyed "Duchess", and in fact all of the Horatio Hornblower movies. They were well written, well filmed, and well acted, particularly in the cases of Ioan Gruffud and Jamie Barber (Horatio & Archie Kennedy) who also, I happen to think, are both very attractive. I like the fact that M'Man Kennedy was brought back into the story. Cherie L. was also very good as the "Duchess."