CAPTAIN HORATIO HORNBLOWER brought C.S. Forester’s fictional British nautical hero to the screen in 1951, and since Warner Brothers was coughing up the $2,462,000 for 19th-century naval battles in Technicolor, they put Gregory Peck, assuredly  American, in the lead, with another homegrown box office lure, Virginia Mayo, gowned up and tamed down, as his non-combat interest. Neither bother with accents (maybe just as well), skeptical Brits went along with another dose of upstart Yanks, and since there’s a frigate load of overly emphatic declaiming from the rest of the English, Irish and Scottish cast, the two colonials had nothing to sulk about: they acquit themselves better than most of the manor-born rest. Who cares about intonations when the main reason to join this crew is to witness thundering broadsides?

1807. England and Spain are fighting France, and the action extends to the Pacific, where the Royal Navy has sent dutiful but daring Hornblower and the HMS Lydia to provide arms to a Latin warlord. During ensuing actions, Hornblower is compelled to escort ‘Lady Barbara Wellesley’ (Mayo) back to England. Sure enough, giving Napoleon repeated black eyes isn’t sufficient glory, not when the real prize is a blond babe related to a bigshot general. Key members of the supporting cast must be sacrificed.

Manly Action vet Raoul Walsh directed, shooting in England and France. Ivan Goff, Ben Roberts and Æneas MacKenzie wrote the script after Forester prepared the adaptation of pieces from his first three Hornblower novels, “Beat To Quarters”, “Ship Of The Line” and “Flying Colors”. The literate books get essentially comic-book treatment, with some absurd overacting in the ranks, especially from Alec Mango, going bananas as ‘El Supremo’. A bombastic score from Robert Farnon adds to the somewhat forced zest.

What does command attention are the sequences where the ships (and a fort) duke it out, done with a mixture of real vessels, neat models and a 140-foot, 50-ton mockup on hydraulics for use in the studio. The sound effects lads get a workout with all the cannon blasts, and the special effects of the results (collapsing rigging and splintered masts) are quite well executed.

Reviews were salutary, and a $7,400,000 haul earned 24th place in States. Audiences in the U.K. placed it 9th in ’51.

With Robert Beatty, James Robertson Justice (doing ‘hearty’), Moultrie Kelsall, Terence Morgan, James Kenney, Denis O’Dea (being a nasty twit) and Stanley Baker (barking orders). If you have eyesight fit for a crows nest try and spot Christopher Lee (as a Spaniard) and Richard Johnson (23, debut). 117 minutes.