One of my all time favorites.

best movie i've ever seen.

Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

It is an exhilarating, distressing, funny and profound film, with one of the more memorable film scores in years,

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.

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.

Having a great start with the first movie, falling into a dump for a second movie, I was very curious about the outcome for this third movie in the made for tv-series! For the third time we have again brilliant production values, as we have come to expect, after the previous ones! Story-wise it is a much better story than the second and a little better than the first! What makes this movie exceptional is the presence of Cherie Lunghi! Cherie Lunghi is one of Britain's most underrated actresses! She gives a terrific performance. It is a delight to see her in this movie! BTW this movie has a continuation of the homo-erotic tension between Hornblower and Kennedy as hinted in the first movie!

The Horatio Hornblower series of TV movies is not the usual A & E culture vulture stuff. It's actually fun! Based on the novel about a dashing and ambitious young sailor in the Royal Navy in the 18th century, it's not exactly subtle, but it's great action-adventure genre stuff. Handsome Iaon Gruffud (Kate Winslet's rescuer in Titanic) stars as the too-gallant-to-be-true hero, continually getting into sticky situations. The script is witty, the characters real, and the period is shown convincingly. I guess it's kind of corny, but it's so much fun to watch you really won't care. I'm not really a costume drama person, but this one changed my mind. Catch it on A & E.