Hornblower movies 5 & 6
Apr. 9th, 2026 10:42 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
osprey_archerOnward I sail in my Hornblower movie adventures! Five and six are a pair, based on Lieutenant Hornblower, which features a mad captain who is convinced that his lieutenants are plotting to take over his ship. His lieutenants, in increasing fear for their lives, conclude that they’d better take over the ship.
It’s interesting to watch these so soon after reading the books, because you read the books and it seems like there’s plenty of dramatic incident, and then you watch the movies and you go “Ah, the producers decided they needed to juice this up a bit.” Example: in the movies, the entire action is framed by the lieutenants’ trial for mutiny. If they are found guilty they will be HANGED.
Example two: in the book, Captain Sawyer falls down the hatchway, hits his head, and basically is incapacitated ever after. In the movie, he still falls from the hatchway (obviously we’re not going to let go of the question “did Hornblower push him?”), but he recovers! retakes the ship! and then promptly sails it directly under the guns of a Spanish fort, which forces the lieutenants to take action to remove him from power!
While I was reading Lieutenant Hornblower, I entertained myself greatly with the speculation that Hornblower DID push Captain Sawyer. However, upon reflection I’ve decided that if he had pushed Captain Sawyer, literally every promotion would be accompanied by the reflection “This is only happening because I MURDERED my CAPTAIN, truly I am the WORST.” On the other hand, this might explain the great increase in neuroticism between Mr. Midshipman Hornblower and our return to Hornblower POV in Hornblower and the Hotspur? Feels so guilty he can’t even name his guilt…
Okay no, I really think that if Hornblower were guilty he would be naming his guilt to himself incessantly. Maybe he’s just more neurotic because of the stress of serving under mad Captain Sawyer who was convinced that all his lieutenants and especially Hornblower were plotting against him.
ANYWAY. Getting back to the movie adaptations. I can see why these films must have made Bush/Hornblower fans Big Mad. Bush is at long last introduced - and then he’s upstaged at every turn by established movie fan favorite Lt. Kennedy.
Kennedy, not Bush, is the one who is nice to young Wellard after Captain Sawyer whips him for no reason.
When Bush is wounded, Hornblower briefly cradles his head, then the doctor is like “Go away, there’s nothing you can do here,” and Hornblower’s like “okay” and drops Bush like a hot potato. He hotfoots it off to have a chat with Kennedy, who tells him unsteadily that the prisoners have been dealt with… “Is that your blood?” Hornblower asks.
Kennedy mumbles something about how he’s fine.
“IS THAT YOUR BLOOD?”
Kennedy lets his jacket fall open and we see that his white shirt is SOAKED in blood. END OF SCENE.
And then of course Kennedy dies for Hornblower! Shambles into a court, barely able to stand upright on account of his wounds, and insists that he’s the one who pushed Captain Sawyer down the hatch! (As we have seen in endless flashbacks, he wasn’t even in the vicinity.)
Hornblower is not in court that morning, having been decoyed away, which upon reflection doesn’t quite make sense: surely he has to be in attendance at his own capital trial? But obviously we can’t have Hornblower spoiling Kennedy’s dramatic gesture by popping up to yell “That’s a lie! I pushed Captain Sawyer!” (Possibly no one pushed Captain Sawyer! Maybe he just fell! Those hatches have no safety rails. Absolute death traps.)
Anyway, Kennedy is duly sentenced to death. But before they can hang him, he dies of his wounds. Hornblower, of course, is at Kennedy’s bedside, holding his hand as he dies.
One presumes that sometime in the final two movies, Bush will at last have a chance to repair to his sickbed, where Hornblower will tenderly brush his hair from his forehead. But even then, how can he compete with the guy who sacrificed his life for Hornblower? The filmmakers clearly decided to ride the good ship Hornblower/Kennedy into the sunset.
It’s interesting to watch these so soon after reading the books, because you read the books and it seems like there’s plenty of dramatic incident, and then you watch the movies and you go “Ah, the producers decided they needed to juice this up a bit.” Example: in the movies, the entire action is framed by the lieutenants’ trial for mutiny. If they are found guilty they will be HANGED.
Example two: in the book, Captain Sawyer falls down the hatchway, hits his head, and basically is incapacitated ever after. In the movie, he still falls from the hatchway (obviously we’re not going to let go of the question “did Hornblower push him?”), but he recovers! retakes the ship! and then promptly sails it directly under the guns of a Spanish fort, which forces the lieutenants to take action to remove him from power!
While I was reading Lieutenant Hornblower, I entertained myself greatly with the speculation that Hornblower DID push Captain Sawyer. However, upon reflection I’ve decided that if he had pushed Captain Sawyer, literally every promotion would be accompanied by the reflection “This is only happening because I MURDERED my CAPTAIN, truly I am the WORST.” On the other hand, this might explain the great increase in neuroticism between Mr. Midshipman Hornblower and our return to Hornblower POV in Hornblower and the Hotspur? Feels so guilty he can’t even name his guilt…
Okay no, I really think that if Hornblower were guilty he would be naming his guilt to himself incessantly. Maybe he’s just more neurotic because of the stress of serving under mad Captain Sawyer who was convinced that all his lieutenants and especially Hornblower were plotting against him.
ANYWAY. Getting back to the movie adaptations. I can see why these films must have made Bush/Hornblower fans Big Mad. Bush is at long last introduced - and then he’s upstaged at every turn by established movie fan favorite Lt. Kennedy.
Kennedy, not Bush, is the one who is nice to young Wellard after Captain Sawyer whips him for no reason.
When Bush is wounded, Hornblower briefly cradles his head, then the doctor is like “Go away, there’s nothing you can do here,” and Hornblower’s like “okay” and drops Bush like a hot potato. He hotfoots it off to have a chat with Kennedy, who tells him unsteadily that the prisoners have been dealt with… “Is that your blood?” Hornblower asks.
Kennedy mumbles something about how he’s fine.
“IS THAT YOUR BLOOD?”
Kennedy lets his jacket fall open and we see that his white shirt is SOAKED in blood. END OF SCENE.
And then of course Kennedy dies for Hornblower! Shambles into a court, barely able to stand upright on account of his wounds, and insists that he’s the one who pushed Captain Sawyer down the hatch! (As we have seen in endless flashbacks, he wasn’t even in the vicinity.)
Hornblower is not in court that morning, having been decoyed away, which upon reflection doesn’t quite make sense: surely he has to be in attendance at his own capital trial? But obviously we can’t have Hornblower spoiling Kennedy’s dramatic gesture by popping up to yell “That’s a lie! I pushed Captain Sawyer!” (Possibly no one pushed Captain Sawyer! Maybe he just fell! Those hatches have no safety rails. Absolute death traps.)
Anyway, Kennedy is duly sentenced to death. But before they can hang him, he dies of his wounds. Hornblower, of course, is at Kennedy’s bedside, holding his hand as he dies.
One presumes that sometime in the final two movies, Bush will at last have a chance to repair to his sickbed, where Hornblower will tenderly brush his hair from his forehead. But even then, how can he compete with the guy who sacrificed his life for Hornblower? The filmmakers clearly decided to ride the good ship Hornblower/Kennedy into the sunset.
no subject
Date: 2026-04-09 03:29 pm (UTC)Yup! In the books, it's a court of inquiry, and soon dismissed. In the movies, it's a full on court martial for mutiny. And so on and so forth.
I can see why these films must have made Bush/Hornblower fans Big Mad.
They made everybody big mad. Kennedy fans are mad at Bush fans, because the Hornblower estate required Kennedy to be written out so Bush could take his rightful place in the stories. Boom, now your fan favorite is dead! And you've nailed why Bush fans are mad: they gutted his best character moments and gave them all to Kennedy. It's a frustrating pair of films for a lot of the fandom.
But hey, we got to see Ioan Gruffudd's naked bum, so there's that!
no subject
Date: 2026-04-09 08:45 pm (UTC)I really didn't expect Ioan Gruffudd to get ALL naked and then he did. Impressed by the filmmakers! Pity for Hornblower that this is literally the moment when Captain Sawyer lurches onto deck and arrests all the lieutenants.
I did enjoy Kennedy's Tragically Heroic Death Sequence, but I can see why someone in the midst of an active Hornblower/Kennedy fandom would NOT be thrilled to have half their pairing die, no matter how dramatic and heroic it was.
no subject
Date: 2026-04-09 09:34 pm (UTC)Pity for Hornblower that this is literally the moment when Captain Sawyer lurches onto deck and arrests all the lieutenants.
Yes, ouch! Excuse the poor icon quality, but I love that shot of the three of them staring up at Sawyer in various states of undress and discomfiture.
no subject
Date: 2026-04-09 05:01 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2026-04-09 06:57 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2026-04-09 09:04 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2026-04-21 12:16 pm (UTC)I believe in one-sided unrequired Bush => Hornblower in the book, but I am not 100% convinced that Hornblower ever notices, or that if he did his reaction would be anything but "He loves ME? Recalibrating my estimation of Mr. Bush's competence, intelligence, and ability to judge character way way WAY downwards.
no subject
Date: 2026-04-20 08:22 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2026-04-21 12:14 pm (UTC)