Horatio Hornblower - The Complete Adventures

Rating:
Summary: Very, Very Well Done
Review:
I just read the Hornblower novels and happened to see "Loyalty" on my on demand cable. I was blown away and then learned that there were seven more episodes, so I purchased this set. This has to be the best mini-series I have ever seen. Its production standards are almost equal to a feature movie, including the sets, the photography, the actors, the costumes, etc. My wife, who has no interest in the royal navy, even got hooked.

Don't hesitate to purchase these DVDs, especially if you have read the Hornblower novels. Even if you haven't, you may well decide to read them after watching this series.

Rating:
Summary: Just fabulous!
Review: Although the Horatio Hornblower DVDs derive from an A&E "made for television" miniseries, all of the episodes are of movie quality. The acting is just great, the stories are wonderful, and each one stands very well on its own, although the episodes are best if watched sequentially. The sets and effects are very well done.
For those who don't know, the Horatio Hornblower series of books was written by British author C.S. Forrester, and deals with the career of a fictional British naval officer during the Napoleonic Wars. The series is somewhat faithful to the books, but significantly departs from the books in a number of places. But this is all to the good--purists (such as myself) will not be offended by this.
This is a "must have" for anyone who likes war movies. Each episode contains a solid storyline and chronicles Hornblower's growing leadership abilities. These are tails of adventure, leadership, hardship, and war. Very little gratuitous violence--young children and adults alike will enjoy this series.

Rating:
Summary: Beat to Quarters!
Review: Before Patrick O'Brian (who is justly due all accolades) there was the Hornblower series by C.S. Forrester, which has screamed for big screen treatment for decades. Before A&E tackeled the series, the best we have had is the old B&W Gregory Peck version caled "Captain Horatio Hornblower" which merges several of the middle books (the oldest ones) together. It was a good movie, but standard Hollywood stuff.

The A&E series starts with Book 1 "Midshipman Hornblower" and works up from there. The charcterizations are good and the screenplays, while taking inevitable liberties, are more or less faithful, especially in the characters of Hornblower and Bush. (My favorite was "Lieutenant Hornblower", Forrester's most complex novel in which Hornblower is caught up in a mutiny against a paranoid captain, and then has to extemporize an assault on a Spanish fort. The A&E series is at its best in this story, and keeps us guessing, as does the book, whether the ambitious Hornblower pitched his captain down the larbord stairs to save his neck and that of his fellow officers.)

Ioan Gruffudd (not a household name, although he had a small part in Titanic) is a supurb young Hornblower. There is strong support by the Kennedy and Bush characters, as well as Captain Pellew.

There will be inevitable comparisons with "Master and Commander," which I deem unfair. By the time "Master" begins, Cameron Crowe's Jack Aubrey is already a seasoned captain. In "Hornblower", we see Gruffudd's Hornblower evolve into his rank, making mistakes and learning. The Aubrey-Maturin novels are more complex, but Hornblower is one of the finest characters ever developed in the genre, and the success of the A&E series is how this is captured.

The A&E series was not a theatrical release and is not nearly as big on scale or special effects. None of ships actually used in the Hornblower series are particularly large, and do not match their historical counterparts.

Recommendations: I loved both the Foerrester and O'Brian series, and re-red them from time to time. They are like Port and Madiera, each have their use.

Rating:
Summary: Beat to Quarters!
Review: Before Patrick O'Brian (who is justly due all accolades) there was the Hornblower series by C.S. Forrester, which has screamed for big screen treatment for decades. Before A&E tackeled the series, the best we have had is the old B&W Gregory Peck version caled "Captain Horatio Hornblower" which merges several of the middle books (the oldest ones) together. It was a good movie, but standard Hollywood stuff.

The A&E series starts with Book 1 "Midshipman Hornblower" and works up from there. The charcterizations are good and the screenplays, while taking inevitable liberties, are more or less faithful, especially in the characters of Hornblower and Bush. (My favorite was "Lieutenant Hornblower", Forrester's most complex novel in which Hornblower is caught up in a mutiny against a paranoid captain, and then has to extemporize an assault on a Spanish fort. The A&E series is at its best in this story, and keeps us guessing, as does the book, whether the ambitious Hornblower pitched his captain down the larbord stairs to save his neck and that of his fellow officers.)

Ioan Gruffudd (not a household name, although he had a small part in Titanic) is a supurb young Hornblower. There is strong support by the Kennedy and Bush characters, as well as Captain Pellew.

There will be inevitable comparisons with "Master and Commander," which I deem unfair. By the time "Master" begins, Cameron Crowe's Jack Aubrey is already a seasoned captain. In "Hornblower", we see Gruffudd's Hornblower evolve into his rank, making mistakes and learning. The Aubrey-Maturin novels are more complex, but Hornblower is one of the finest characters ever developed in the genre, and the success of the A&E series is how this is captured.

The A&E series was not a theatrical release and is not nearly as big on scale or special effects. None of ships actually used in the Hornblower series are particularly large, and do not match their historical counterparts.

Recommendations: I loved both the Foerrester and O'Brian series, and re-red them from time to time. They are like Port and Madiera, each have their use.

Rating:
Summary: Beat to Quarters!
Review: Before Patrick O'Brian (who is justly due all accolades) there was the Hornblower series by C.S. Forrester, which has screamed for big screen treatment for decades. Before A&E tackeled the series, the best we have had is the old B&W Gregory Peck version caled "Captain Horatio Hornblower" which merges several of the middle books (the oldest ones) together. It was a good movie, but standard Hollywood stuff.

The A&E series starts with Book 1 "Midshipman Hornblower" and works up from there. The charcterizations are good and the screenplays, while taking inevitable liberties, are more or less faithful, especially in the characters of Hornblower and Bush. (My favorite was "Lieutenant Hornblower", Forrester's most complex novel in which Hornblower is caught up in a mutiny against a paranoid captain, and then has to extemporize an assault on a Spanish fort. The A&E series is at its best in this story, and keeps us guessing, as does the book, whether the ambitious Hornblower pitched his captain down the larbord stairs to save his neck and that of his fellow officers.)

Ioan Gruffudd (not a household name, although he had a small part in Titanic) is a supurb young Hornblower. There is strong support by the Kennedy and Bush characters, as well as Captain Pellew.

There will be inevitable comparisons with "Master and Commander," which I deem unfair. By the time "Master" begins, Cameron Crowe's Jack Aubrey is already a seasoned captain. In "Hornblower", we see Gruffudd's Hornblower evolve into his rank, making mistakes and learning. The Aubrey-Maturin novels are more complex, but Hornblower is one of the finest characters ever developed in the genre, and the success of the A&E series is how this is captured.

The A&E series was not a theatrical release and is not nearly as big on scale or special effects. None of ships actually used in the Hornblower series are particularly large, and do not match their historical counterparts.

Recommendations: I loved both the Foerrester and O'Brian series, and re-red them from time to time. They are like Port and Madiera, each have their use.

Rating:
Summary: An Officer and A Gentleman!
Review: Don't hesitate! Get these movies! Then sit down with a bowl of popcorn and your family and have a blast. If only there were more characters like Hornblower, and more movies like these. Our family LOVES this series, and has watched it more than once. You have to adore Horatio--the perfect action hero because he's not quite perfect and he knows it--if he were a real person you'd want your daughter to bring him home. Anyone who sails or likes military (naval) history will have a special treat watching these.

Rating:
Summary: the real master and commander
Review: Great plot filmed in rich detail and color. I loved the Aubrey maturin stories, the Hornblower series are extremly close to what I imagined as I was turning pages. Great gun battles and extremly likeable characters. Worth every penny.

Rating:
Summary: This is the real "Must See" ...
Review: Having recently bought the 6-DVD set of Horatio Hornblower, I was not disappointed with any of the episodes. All are excellently written and directed, and you are caught in the romanticism of Hornblower's passions and principles. Ioan Gruffudd fits perfectly into the lead role of Horatio Hornblower. Supporting cast is excellent too.

Of course, having no 'commercial breaks' in the stories is great too. Sound is surprisingly good knowing that it comes from a cable TV show.

The three extra documentaries are good but the "Making Of Horatio Hornblower" is the first one you want to see. Disappointed that the they didn't have a documentary about author C.S. Forester (they have an interactive menu) or about the real Hornblower (what is fact and what is fiction), but these are minor when compared to the whole set.

This Horatio Hornblower DVD set is reasonably priced and one of the few DVDs you can watch with the entire family. Television rarely gets this good.

Rating:
Summary: WONDERFUL -- But a Warning on Which to Purchase
Review: Here's the combined version of the original four A&E Hornblower movies with the two recent sequels. Great movies, all...

Rating:
Summary: We were hooked!
Review: I bought this set because my father is really intrigued with Captain Cook and the Endeavor. This was the closest thing we could find. We were hooked from the beginning! We could not wait to see what happened to our hero Horatio! We have shared this with all our friends and they love it too!!