Nonureva Really Surprised!

Invaderbank The film creates a perfect balance between action and depth of basic needs, in the midst of an infertile atmosphere.

Hayden Kane There is, somehow, an interesting story here, as well as some good acting. There are also some good scenes

Lachlan Coulson This is a gorgeous movie made by a gorgeous spirit.

Prismark10 The film starts off excitingly enough as Hornblower launches a successful surprise attack and captures the French supply ship La Reve.Captain Pellew orders Hornblower to sail La Reve with important papers that must not fall into enemy hands, accompanying them is the the widowed Duchess of Wharfedale (Cherie Lunghi) who has a common manner of talking.La Reve comes across the Spanish fleet and the crew despite their attempt to fool them are captured and imprisoned. The Duchess hides the dispatches and she also gets friendly with the Spanish commander of the garrison which gives Hornblower some privileges.Hornblower meets up with Midshipman Archie Kennedy who was set adrift in the first film of the series and thought to have perished. He is ill and Hornblower wants him to recover his health before attempting to escape. This upsets the hotheaded Midshipman Hunter who is forced to something impulsive while Kennedy has come across the Duchess once before.A fast moving opening segment which then slows down a lot unfortunately once the crew have been imprisoned. Hunter is portrayed rather two dimensional for my liking but the Duchess is fun and Hornblower is shown to be a sturdy, reliable and honourable sort of guy.

Leofwine_draca This was the first HORNBLOWER with Ioan Gruffudd I watched all the way through. As a massive fan of the Sharpe novels who's been disappointed by the cheapness of their subsequent TV adaptations, I had some idea of what to expect.This starts off strongly, with a good action-focused narrative propelling it along. Then there's a twist, and for an hour absolutely nothing happens. Things pick up again for an admittedly exciting climax, but by that time my interest had already waned.The pluses: decent acting (Ronald Pickup's dodgy Spanish accent aside). Gruffudd is a solid if unspectacular hero, and has a certain vulnerability about him which makes him a hit with female viewers. Robert Lindsay is strong, as are the supporting players like Christopher Fulford and Jamie Bamber. Cherie Lunghi overplays it a little for my liking, but at least she adds life to the film.With a better script, this could have been an excellent piece of television drama; as it is, it's merely okay.

TheNorthernMonkee SPOILERS As Shakespeare's Henry V once said "once more unto the breach dear friends, once more". Applicable in so many situations, this phrase feels particularly appropriate when considering the adventures of Horatio Hornblower. In this third and finest episode, Hornblower once more faces countless odds and once more he entertains throughout.Still serving aboard Captain Pellew's (Robert Lindsay) Indefatigable, Horatio Hornblower (Ioan Gruffudd) experiences a new side to life when he is invited to dine with the Governor of Gibraltar. Escorting the flamboyant Duchess of Wharfedale (Cherie Lunghi) back to England, Horatio is then captured by the Spanish as a Prisoner of War. Now with an obligation to escape, he ponders his next move, with the lives of his crew, old friend Archie (Jamie Bamber) and the Duchess all at stake.Led by yet another great performance by Gruffudd (it's slowly becoming expected), this episode is the finest episode of the series due to the majestic performances by one guest appearance and one reoccurring regular.As the extreme Duchess, Cherie Lunghi must surely give the finest performance of her career. Appearing in television series and films since 1973, Lunghi is at her best as she walks around in the classical outfits and works with Gruffudd and others.Not to be outdone however, Jamie Bamber is this episodes other shining reemergence. Back (by popular demand, not just due to the plot) from the apparent grave, Bamber's Archie is a shadow of his former self. Far from well, the character must not have been an easy role to play. Bamber performs brilliantly however and demonstrates an ability which science fiction fans come to love in the modern remake of "Battlestar Galactica".Compared with the slow pace of the previous episode, the scripting of this third encounter is a considerable improvement too. Not purely action based, it sustains enough moments of excitement to really keep up the intensity, but it also features some moments of comedy from Cherie Lunghi's Countess. Basically, this episode's plot manages to contain not only the intensity of the pilot and the grit of the second, but it manages much more too.In a near perfect series, it should be difficult to choose an episode which stands out. Amazingly though, the creators of the Hornblower series managed with "The Duchess and the Devil" to not only outshine their previous two episodes, but to create an episode which outshines all later episodes too. This is the finest of the series, and there's little else which can be said.

TexasRedge 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.