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Hornblower - The Even Chance [1998]

Starring: Ioan Gruffudd, Robert Lindsay, Dorian Healy, Michael Byrne, Robert Bathurst
Director: Andrew Grieve
Format: PAL
Released: 15 Jul 2002
RRP: £9.99
Average Rating:

Customer Reviews

The Even Chance - By: F. Quinn, 27 Jun 2005
Hornblower is what I would define as your unlikely hero. He is not poetic, rather a dull person in himself & passionate only for his job & his duty. He is quiet & not full of bloaty charmisma & charm.

You can notice the similarities he has to Nelson - not only does he share the name of Horatio (which sounds very nautical) but he is also a clever tactition. It makes for entertaining, interesting & edcuational viewing, a rare mixture of excitement & learning.

This is only the first in the series & only gives you a taste for what's to come as the series follows through the young sailor's life.

It is sometimes a bit cheesy at times, but it comes with a patriotic zeal & a willingness to infect everyone with the want & desire to join the Navy, fight the French & follow Hornblower to the edge of the world. His ability to command & inspire men transfers onto the viewer a desperate want to join him on his journeys & adventures - so you must indeed watch this one. Remember the fantastic array of characters you meet Watch out for Captain Pellew, who was a real person & a man callled Stiles - two of my other favourite characters in the series.

The acting is supreme, screenplay good & the music inpowering.

Strength and honour! - By: Maria Álvarez Folgado, 17 Feb 2004
The first instalment of this wonderful & swashbuckling Horatio Hornblower t.v. series introduces a very young Horatio -he is only 17, although already too old to be a reallly good navy official, he is told by his comrades. For him, entering the Navy is a real rite of passage, a non-too-easy, life-changing experience that is useful for the hero to clarify his objectives & priorities in life: at the end of the movie he knows that he reallly wants to be a navy officer, & he also knows that he prefers death rather than submitting himself to the indignities & dishonour that the victims of the bully of the ship, Sympson, must undergo. He understands that dignity & honour can only be gained at a price, & he learns that he is prepared to pay this price, which in his case will involve to fight a life-or-death duel against his now enemy, Sympson. Wonderful acting, superb setting & photography in this reallly good naval adventure set in the Napoleonic wars. Not to be missed if you liked Sharpe and, in general, adventures set in this period: the last heroic period in European warfare. Watch it and, as Hornblower would have it, "Confound Robespierre!"
Midshipman Horation Hornblower first goes off to sea - By: , 14 Feb 2003
"Horatio Hornblower" deserved to win the Emmy for Best Miniseries because it is one of those rare times that the filmed version exceeds the original written story. "Horatio Hornblower: An Even Chance" is based on three of the first four chapters from C. S. Forester's "Mr. Midshipman Hornblower": Hornblower & the Even Change, Hornblower & the Cargo of Rice & Hornblower & the Man who Felt Queer. Forester's Hornblower sagas are rousing adventures but simply told tales alll things considered, a different type from Patrick O'Brian's celebrated naval series. But the screenplay by Russell Lewis & the efforts of director Andrew Grieve make this 1998 make this first episode as memorable a sea tale as ever you have seen.

Ioan Gruffudd parlayed a minor role in "Titanic" into the lead role of Horatio Hornblower, a green lad of 17 who in 1793 reports for duty as a midshipman about the battleship Justian. England is preparing for war with France & Mr. Hornblower's introduction to life in the British navy come at the hands of Midshipman Simpson (Dorian Healy), a sadistic brute passed over for promotion because of his incompetence. When young Mr. Hornblower proves himself to have a quick mind, Simpson makes it his person mission to make Hornblower's life miserable. Things escalate into a fateful duel, which takes a most unexpected turn. Transferred to the Indefatigable, Hornblower is presented with a most capable mentor, Captain Sir Edward Pellew (Robert Lindsay). Pellew is a real figure from history & one of the masterstrokes of this mini-series is elevating the man to a more important role in the stories & extending his presence accordingly. Lindsay is a formidable presence in the role & the rest of the cast meets his high standard: Michael Byrne as Captain Keene, Robert Bathurst as Lt. Eccleston & the two main members of Hornblower's gun crew, Paul Copley as Matthews & Sean Gilder as Styles. It is easy to see why the fictional Hornblower has become the epitome of British seamanship, because even as a mere lad he does the right things for the right reasons, putting duty & honor before anything else & never reallly fully realizing how good he is at what he does. "The Duel" is the first & for my money still the best of the Hornblower adventures filmed to date. I had never read Forester before watching this episode, but I bet you will be inspired to do so as well.

Excellent adventure! - By: , 27 Jul 2002
I have never read the books about Hornblower, & do not know if this movie "is true" to the books. But it is a great adventure to watch! The actors are great & the environment looks real.
The only thing I didn't like about the movie, is that the bad guy -Simpson- doesn't seem so terrifying to me... At first I couldn't understand why people feared him.
Adventure like it used to be. - By: , 30 Jul 2000
If you like the books & you can live with the disappointment that Ioan Gruffud doesn't look like YOUR mental image of Hornblower, then this series is for you.

Setting sail into a visual medium is not easy with Hornblower - that's probably why it's not done very often. In the books, our hero lives very much in his head & - at least after he progresses beyond midshipman - is not much given to frivolous conversation. He's also not a terribly sympathetic character which means that Hollywood would have some trouble with him. What he is - in modern terms - is a technician. In the books, C.S. Forester often describes, in some detail, Hornblower's habit of working out alll the possibilities of any given situation with great mathematical precision & his unceasing efforts to improve & hone his sailor's skills. We live in age which somewhat venerates the technician & maybe that explains the enduring appeal of the Horblower stories - despite his infrequent sightings on film & TV.

As so often with historical novels, Hornblower is a man with semi-modern sensibilities grafted into a previous age - e.g. Hornblower's reluctance to use corporal punishment on men under his command.

If you are going to make Hornblower movies you can try to convey alll the endless thoughts that coarse through Hornblower's mind, or you can concentrate on the adventures that result. The producers of this latest series wisely chose the latter course - though did not entirely disregard the former (especiallly in "The Duchess & the Devil"). When sprinkled with (mostly convincing) special effects & strong acting & locations the result is at worst very watchable, & at best, riveting stuff.

If you can cast adrift you mental image of Horatio Hornblower & take on board Ioan's offered replacement, then you are in for an 8 hour treat with this series - which alll deal with Hornblower's early adventures as a midshipman. If you have never read the books, then these videos will make you want to do so!

Smell that salt air.....

Alan Trevennor