From Our Vaults: Gregory Peck
Raoul Walsh directed in Technicolor this British naval swashbuckling war film, starring Gregory Peck (in a role initially planned for Flynn) and Virginia Mayo.
Grade: B
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The film is based on three of C. S. Forester’s Horatio Hornblower novels: “Beat to Quarters” (1937), “A Ship of the Line” (1938), and “Flying Colors” (1938), with the author credited with the screen adaptation.
In 1807, during the Napoleonic Wars, Royal Navy Captain Horatio Hornblower commands the 38-gun frigate HMS Lydia, tasked with secret mission to Central America. He is to provide arms to local warlord Don Julian Alvarado, who has organized rebellion against the colonial authorities of Spain, an ally of Britain’s enemy France. Alvarado is a bloodthirsty megalomaniac who calls himself “El Supremo” (“The Almighty”).
Hornblower learns that a powerful warship, the 60-gun Natividad, is about to suppress the rebellion. When it anchors, Hornblower and his crew capture it in a surprise night attack. He then reluctantly surrenders the ship to Alvarado, and they go their separate ways.
A Spanish lugger then delivers news to Lydia that Spain has switched sides, and Hornblower must deal with Alvarado personally.
Two passengers board the Lydia, over Hornblower’s objections: Lady Barbara Wellesley and her maid, fleeing a yellow fever epidemic. As Lady Barbara is the (fictitious) sister of the Duke of Wellington, Hornblower cannot refuse her request for passage to England.
Using superior seamanship and masterful tactics, Hornblower sinks the powerful Natividad, killing Alvarado and ending the rebellion. When the Lydia’s surgeon is killed during the battle, Lady Barbara tends the wounded; she falls gravely ill, and Hornblower nurses her back to health.
On the voyage back to England, they fall in love. However, when she speaks of her feelings, Hornblower tells her he is married. Back home, Hornblower learns that his wife has died in childbirth, leaving him an infant son.
Hornblower and first officer Bush are sentenced to hang for piracy in the center of Paris. They and Sutherland coxswain Quist escape and make their way to the port of Nantes, where they crash a party and commandeer the uniforms of three Dutch customs officers so they can board the Witch of Endor, a captured British ship. They overpower the skeleton crew, free British war prisoners and sail to England.
Hornblower is hailed as a national hero but learns that Leighton lost his life in the attack. Upon returning home to visit his young son, he finds Lady Barbara waiting for him.
Warner acquired the rights to the first three Hornblower novels as star vehicle for Errol Flynn. But due to the financial failure of the 1948 Adventures of Don Juan, the difficulties of working with Flynn, and his advancing age, he was not cast. Warner’s was building up Burt Lancaster as their new swashbuckling star, but the role of a British sea captain seemed outside his range, so Peck was cast on loan-out from Selznick.
Virginia Mayo was only cast after high-profile British actresses were not free or not interested. Peck’s personal choice was Margaret Leighton, but studio head Jack Warner found Mayo more attractive.
The film was shot at UK studios, on Mermaid Street in Rye, East Sussex, HMS Victory and on location in France.
To save costs, the Hispaniola set from the 1950 Disney film Treasure Island was reused as the frigate HMS Lydia.
The film had its worldwide premiere in the presence of Princess Margaret at the Warner Theatre, London on 12 April 1951, aiding King George’s Fund for Sailors and the “Foudroyant” appeal.
The studio’s most expensive film of 1951, it was nonetheless their most popular one, earning $2,598,000 domestically and $2,735,000 internationally.
Cast
Gregory Peck as Captain Horatio Hornblower, R.N.
Virginia Mayo as Lady Barbara Wellesley
Robert Beatty as First Lieutenant William Bush
Terence Morgan as Second Lieutenant Gerard
Moultrie Kelsall as Third Lieutenant Crystal
James Kenney as Midshipman Longley
James Robertson Justice as Quist
Denis O’Dea as Rear Admiral Sir Rodney Leighton
Richard Hearne as Polwheal
Michael J. Dolan as Surgeon Gundarson
Stanley Baker as Mr. Harrison
Alec Mango as El Supremo/Don Julian Alvarado
Christopher Lee as the Spanish captain of the Natividad
Diane Cilento as the voice of Maria, Hornblower’s wife
Credits:
Directed by Raoul Walsh
Screenplay by C. S. Forester, Ivan Goff, Ben Roberts, Æneas MacKenzie, based on Horatio Hornblower 1939 novel by C. S. Forester
Produced by Gerry Mitchell
Cinematography Guy Green
Edited by Jack Harris
Music by Robert Farnon
Production and Distribution: Warner
Release date: April 10, 1951
Running time: 117 minutes
Budget $2,462,000
Box office $5,333,000
