Hornblower: The Examination for Lieutenant

Review courtesy of The Napoleonic Guide

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The second telemovie in the Hornblower series has our young hero (Ioan Gruffudd) learning that life is not all beer and skittles for a young officer.

The nasty old Spanish have done the dirty and allied themselves with Revolutionary France and - to make matters worse - have sneakily attacked Royal Navy supply ships.

One supply vessel - carrying the fiery Captain "Dreadnought" Foster (Denis Lawson) - makes a suicidal bid to avoid the enemy getting their hands upon the foodstuffs and is sunk with most hands. Picked up by the Indefatigeable, Foster impresses our lad with his ruthlessness.

Meanwhile, the lack of food has caused near mutiny in the ranks of Britain's jolly jack tars as the fleet is placed on almost starvation rations until more can be brought in.

The breakdown in discipline leads to Hornblower escorting a thieving sailor on "the gauntlet" around the Indefatigeable. This means that every sailor has a whack at him with a whip to punish him for stealing from them.

Sent by Captain Edward Pellew (Robert Lindsay) to Oran to pick up live cattle and wheat, Hornblower discovers he's entered a plague city and needs to serve three weeks in quarantine.

On his return to the fleet, our hero runs foul of Captain Foster who is determined to break Hornblower's quarantine and grab some of the food for his ship.

He is exceedingly unhappy with the young acting-lieutenant and when he shows up on the promotion tribunal Hornblower fears he is sunk.

Then fate takes a hand to give him a chance to pass his most severe examination yet.

The Examination for Lieutenant is a first-rate follow-up to The Even Chance and maintains the original's excellent production values. Again the acting is top-notch, with guest star Lawson being slightly pipped at the scene-stealing post by Ian McNiece, who plays the diplomat Mr Tapling forced upon Hornblower.

So haul the old anchor in and settle back for some more entertaining escapades at sea.

Conclusion: Movie 90%, Extras 40%

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