Hornblower: The Examination for Lieutenant (1998) (TV)

User Rating:

8.2/10   

Director:

Andrew Grieve

Writers:

Mike Cullen (screenplay)
C.S. Forester (novels)

Release Date:

11 April 1999 (USA)

Genre:

Adventure | Drama | War

Plot:

While Lt. Hornblower studies for his promotion exam, he is distracted by the serious supply problems that face his crew.

Plot Keywords:

Plague | Horatio Hornblower | Quarantine | Promotion | Bubonic Plague

Awards:

Won Primetime Emmy. Another 1 win & 2 nominations

Cast

Ioan Gruffudd	...	Acting Lt. Horatio Hornblower
Robert Lindsay	...	Capt. Sir Edward Pellew
Denis Lawson	...	Capt. 'Dreadnought' Foster
Ian McNeice	...	Tapling
Andrew Tiernan	...	Bunting
Jonathan Coy	...	Lt. Bracegirdle
Ian McElhinney	...	Capt. Hammond
Paul Copley	...	Matthews
Chris Barnes	...	Finch
Sean Gilder	...	Styles
Simon Sherlock	...	Oldroyd
Colin MacLachlan	...	Master Bowles
Rupert Holliday-Evans	...	Steward
Frank Boyce	...	Midshipman Cleveland
Peter Corey	...	HM Consul Duras

Also Known As:

Horatio Hornblower: The Fire Ship (USA)

Runtime:

USA:93 min

Country:

UK

Language:

English | French

Colour:

Colour

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Certification:

Singapore:PG | UK:PG

Filming Locations:

Yalta, Crimea, Ukraine

Company:

A&E Television Networks

Quotes:

Lt. Bracegirdle: [Observing Hornblower as he stares out to sea] Something disturbs your thoughts, I fancy.
Acting Lt. Horatio Hornblower: Just thinking of the distances we travel and yet how far we've still to sail as men.

Movie Connections:

Follows Hornblower: The Even Chance (1998) (TV)

Soundtrack:

The British Man-of-War

If America only knew how good this was.

If America only knew how good this was,it would be the highest rated Made-For-TV movie series of all time(hard to believe there are more people out there that would rather watch "The Columbo Mysteries" than Horatio Hornblower- that just goes to show the power of major network name-brand advertising.

The Hornblower movie series has been television at its finest. I have seen all 6 of the A&E Horatio Hornblower movies,"The Duchess and the Devil" is my favorite of the 6 films. However I tune in to A&E everytime they air a new Hornblower movie. So far all 6 movies have been based on the Horatio Hornblower adventure novels written by C.S. Forester(the same author who wrote African Queen). Each Movie chronicles the on-going adventures of Horatio Hornblower who is a Brittish Lt. in the Brittish Navy during the late 1790's-to early 1800's during the Napoleonic era in Europe. I sincerly believe that each one of these 6 Films has been good enough to have shown at the movie theaters,if the producers had wanted to. Unlike other Made-For-TV films,The Hornblower films do not have that Made-For-TV feeling to them,like most television movies have.

A common misconception that people who havent seen these movies have is that all 6 of these films go to gether as a mini-series- that is not true. The Hornblower movies are not a mini-series,all 6 of these films are individual movies about the same charactor- with all the same actors playing the same roles in each film(EXAMPLE:think of the James Bond films-They are not sequels, but they are all about the adventures of James Bond- that same principle applies to the Hornblower movies) I give the entire Horatio Hornblower movie series 5 out of 5 stars. Its Perfect entertainment- but you cant please everyone, so for those of you dont like epic battleship battles,historic style drama,high stakes adventure, and danger on the high seas,if you dont like stuff like that-there is always Columbo re-run for you to watch.