Horatio Hornblower: The Wrong War
Original title: Hornblower: The Frogs and the Lobsters
- TV Movie
- 1999
- 1h 40m
IMDb RATING
7.9/10
4.3K
YOUR RATING
Lt. Hornblower and his mates are sent to accompany a doomed royalist invasion of revolutionary France.Lt. Hornblower and his mates are sent to accompany a doomed royalist invasion of revolutionary France.Lt. Hornblower and his mates are sent to accompany a doomed royalist invasion of revolutionary France.
- Won 1 Primetime Emmy
- 2 wins & 9 nominations total
- Director
- Writers
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaCaptain Pellew's line, "As idle as a painted ship upon a painted ocean," is a quotation from the second part of 'The Rime of the Ancient Mariner' by Coleridge. It was first published, anonymously, in 1798.
- GoofsEarly in the movie Captain Pellew and Lieutenant Hornblower board their ship's boat to return to the ship. Pellew boards the boat before Hornblower. This is contrary to naval customs of the day (and present). The senior officer always boarded a boat last (and left it first).
- Quotes
Major Edrington: [Watching as Hornblower struggles to mount a horse] Now I see why you chose the Navy.
- ConnectionsFeatured in The Story of the Costume Drama: The Greatest Stories Ever Told (2008)
- SoundtracksThe Girl I Left Behind Me
Traditional
Featured review
Superb!
This is a wonderful finale to a wonderful series. It is not, in my opinion, the best of the lot, but that does not mean that it doesn't have it's strong points.
I skimmed Mr. Midshipman Hornblower, the book that these four films are based on. Consequently, as someone who enjoyed this particular chapter immensely, I could have skipped the love story - but then again, I'm not a romantic by any stretch of the imagination. I thought that because of time constraints, the whole thing was rather rushed. Falling in love in the course of a day is something for a sitcom, not a serious movie, but the actors did an amazing job with what they were given.
The good greatly outnumbers the bad. Ioan Gruffudd did a wonderful job as Horatio throughout the series and he remained consistent throughout this episode. I consider him to be a wonderful actor - the perfect one to play the young, gangly seventeen year-old who comes into his own gradually.
Gruffudd's performance was only accentuated by the brilliance of his dynamic co-star Robert Lindsay, himself an amazing actor. Lindsay's performance as the indomitable (and indefatigable) Captain Pellew was right on the mark.
The rest of the cast was wonderful, including poor Mariette, played by Estelle Skornik. I will never tire of watching Matthews, Styles and Oldroyd and Paul Copley, Sean Gilder, and Colin MacLachlan fit these roles perfectly. Jamie Bamber as Midshipman (Acting-Lieutenant) Kennedy also did very well. John Shrapnel as Charette affected a decent French accent, as did Antony Sher as the infamous Moncoutant.
One last praise goes out to the fabulous Sam West, admitibly one of my favorite actors. West does an amazing job portraying Major Edrington and that dry, upper-class sarcastic wit never fails to earn a grin from me. The character of Edrington is one of my favorites in the book and West does an amazing job portraying him.
I find it a horrible pity that wonderful actors such as these listed above have trouble finding roles in internationally acclaimed films. After seeing this particular film, I performed an extensive search for the above actors. Armed with a list of some of the ones I desperately wished to see, I visited all of the local movie stores. Apart from Howard's End (Sam West), Fierce Creatures (Robert Lindsay), and 102 Dalmatians (Ioan Gruffudd), I came up empty-handed. So, here I am, armed only with a taped version of the Frogs and the Lobsters.
You will not be disappointed with this film - at least I doubt you will. I have yet to find someone who didn't enjoy it throughly. The costuming is accurate, the characters wonderful, the story is gripping and the acting is phenomenal. I highly recommend it to just about anyone.
I skimmed Mr. Midshipman Hornblower, the book that these four films are based on. Consequently, as someone who enjoyed this particular chapter immensely, I could have skipped the love story - but then again, I'm not a romantic by any stretch of the imagination. I thought that because of time constraints, the whole thing was rather rushed. Falling in love in the course of a day is something for a sitcom, not a serious movie, but the actors did an amazing job with what they were given.
The good greatly outnumbers the bad. Ioan Gruffudd did a wonderful job as Horatio throughout the series and he remained consistent throughout this episode. I consider him to be a wonderful actor - the perfect one to play the young, gangly seventeen year-old who comes into his own gradually.
Gruffudd's performance was only accentuated by the brilliance of his dynamic co-star Robert Lindsay, himself an amazing actor. Lindsay's performance as the indomitable (and indefatigable) Captain Pellew was right on the mark.
The rest of the cast was wonderful, including poor Mariette, played by Estelle Skornik. I will never tire of watching Matthews, Styles and Oldroyd and Paul Copley, Sean Gilder, and Colin MacLachlan fit these roles perfectly. Jamie Bamber as Midshipman (Acting-Lieutenant) Kennedy also did very well. John Shrapnel as Charette affected a decent French accent, as did Antony Sher as the infamous Moncoutant.
One last praise goes out to the fabulous Sam West, admitibly one of my favorite actors. West does an amazing job portraying Major Edrington and that dry, upper-class sarcastic wit never fails to earn a grin from me. The character of Edrington is one of my favorites in the book and West does an amazing job portraying him.
I find it a horrible pity that wonderful actors such as these listed above have trouble finding roles in internationally acclaimed films. After seeing this particular film, I performed an extensive search for the above actors. Armed with a list of some of the ones I desperately wished to see, I visited all of the local movie stores. Apart from Howard's End (Sam West), Fierce Creatures (Robert Lindsay), and 102 Dalmatians (Ioan Gruffudd), I came up empty-handed. So, here I am, armed only with a taped version of the Frogs and the Lobsters.
You will not be disappointed with this film - at least I doubt you will. I have yet to find someone who didn't enjoy it throughly. The costuming is accurate, the characters wonderful, the story is gripping and the acting is phenomenal. I highly recommend it to just about anyone.
helpful•220
- quadrophenia718
- Nov 22, 2001
Details
- Release date
- Country of origin
- Languages
- Also known as
- Hornblower: Las ranas y las langostas
- Filming locations
- Production companies
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
- Runtime1 hour 40 minutes
- Color
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By what name was Horatio Hornblower: The Wrong War (1999) officially released in India in English?
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