Here is some information
over the Series Hornblower.
The movies of Hornblower are based on the book of Cecil Scott Forester Mr. Midshipman Hornblower. Forester was born in 1899 in Cairo, in Egypt.
Forester wrote many books about Horatio Hornblower. Who first starts as a shy teen-age boy, who climbed up in the ranks to Admiral. The characteristics of Horatio Hornblower are wonderful described what makes it a terrific novel. Forester didn't write them in a chronological order though.
The movies were shoot at many places; they've spent twelve weeks in the Ukraine, nine weeks in Portugal, three weeks in the U.K. and eight weeks of model shooting. What comes together as fifty or sixty locations.
They only had two real ships and models that are 20, 25 feet long and 30, 40 feet high. (6 meter, 7,5 meter long and 9 meter, 12 meter high), fully masted and a complete recreation of the period. Those models were made in a Russian Shipyard. Because the people there have the skills, of making them out of the traditional material used in that time. Than they where brought to Pinewood studio's, in the U.K. There in the huge open-water tank they could create the wonderful scenes we see now in the movies, as ship fights and sinkings.
Ioan Gruffudd who played Horatio Hornblower, also played in Titanic as Fifth Officer Lowe, an impetuous young Welshman, who has gotten Boats 10, 12 and Collapsible D together with his own Boat 14. He's had everyone hold the boats together and is transferring passengers from 14 into the others, to empty his boat for a rescue attempt. He saved six people from the water, including Rose.
(The man mostly on the right is Ioan Gruffudd)
Ioan insisted to do the stunds himself. He dived serval times into the icy depths of the Black Sea, for a scene where he inspects a whole in the side of a ship who's filled with rice and treathens to sink. It did left him a sore ear, and a slight sea-ashing noise.
Ioan find one of the pinnacles of the whole shoot standing on top of the foremast topsail yardarm with Jamie Bamber, Mr. Midshipman Kennedy, in the middle of the Atlantic while a helicopter circled around them.
But some things of the shoot he didn't like, the hair stile. He was relived when his pig tail could be cut of after the scene's. He was not the only one, the local people weren't used to the hair style so they did get some weird reactions. Like Robert Lindsay, who played Captain Pellew; His daughter refused to get into the same car with a father who has a pig tail.
Between the sets, it was very companionable esspecially when many people of the crew were going to swim. Robert pushed, just for fun, a kid overboard and discovered he couldn't swim. So he dived after him in his full uniform.
When Lindsay had to play one of the most serious scenes of the whole series, his hat flyed straight to the other end of the ship. Lindsay had to look horrified and distraught, but all he could do was laughing. It took a lot of scenes before this was shot good and without laughing.
Hornblower's favorite poem is The Rime Of The Ancient Mariner. Pellew must have read this poen also, because he citates two lines from that poem; As idle as a painted ship upon a painted ocean. If you like to read the full version of that poem
click here (6 pages).Because of these huge succeses they decided to tape 2 more movies! When and on what book these are based on, I do not know. But I'll inform you when I do.
Script of The frogs and the Lobsters ~ Information over the series ~ Links ~ The Cast ~ Thanks
Sailman's dictionary ~ downloads