whistle in Master and Commander...

[ChrisLaughlin]

Actually, B, I think I'd probably love the book. I grew up sailing, used to be a sailing instructor, am very into maritime history, etc. I think I'll probably pick the book up someday. I've heard it's quite good.
Best,
chris

[GaryKelly]

Well, I guess I'm spoiled. My grandfather was in the Royal Marines, my father was in the Royal Navy, I went to the Royal Navy boarding school in Ipswich, and lived a fair chunk of my life in and around Portsmouth. Naturally I trod the planking of HMS Victory on many occasions.

I liked Chris's review of the movie, and have to say I agreed with it muchly.

It was jolly convenient that a member of the crew was married to an American girl whose cousin took him to see the Acheron being built ("in a yankee shipyard")...thus enabling him and his oppo the carpenter's mate to knock up a meticulously detailed model of the enemy ship...

Haven't read the books on which the film was based. But I still commend the "Horatio Hornblower" series.

Oh and I owned an India Pattern Brown Bess musket and used to compete with it at Bisley. The doctor would not have survived the hit he took. Little Lord Blakeney would've been incredibly lucky to survive the loss of his arm (wasn't he sweet?) and the old gadger surviving a trepanning at sea in those days would've rightly earned the salty nickname of "Lucky Old Bugger" and no mistake

[blackhawk]

My summary of Master and Commander:
Something almost happens....
But doesn't....
You think something might happen...
It almost does....
But doesn't....
A character you don't care about at all dies....
You don't care....
Something almost happens....
But doen't....
Finally something kind of happens....
But not really...
You don't care...
Three hours later you walk out wondering why the hell you sat for 3 hours waiting for something to happen, all the while suffering through horrible acting, an unintelligible storyline, excruciatingly bad "character development", etc. You just wasted 3 hours of your life.
So, no, I didn't like it very much.
And I LOVE boats, the sea, adventures, epic movie, etc.

Chris

Wow, you missed a lot. That's a shame.

[The Weekenders]

Because I love reading about the age of sail, and Capn Cook in particular, I liked the movie. I didn't think all that much of the story and noticed some of the observations above but tell me: has any other movie conveyed what must have been the horror to be on the firing deck in battle?

The flying splinters and all, the sheared masts and rain of riggin' was just awesome. I am pretty sure that's how it really was...

And yeah, I am a Hornblower fan. Read all those books years ago and like the tv series too. Funny to contemplate that they were WW2 propaganda to bolster English spirits.

[DazedinLA]

Yup, naff. Like, the stupidity of a Royal Marine even considering shooting an Albatross (particularly after all the Jonah nonsense in prior scenes) with a Brown Bess (which would've been .75 calibre). And accidentally hitting the doctor on deck (even though the bird was flying over the rigging). And the doctor being mildly discomfitted by being hit with a three-quarters-of-an-inch ball weighing a tenth of a pound doing 800fps. And said doctor not only just being mildly discomfitted (oh gosh, there's a bit of shirt in the wound which might cause an infection...!) but later operating on himself to remove the ball. Brings a whole new meaning to "physician, heal thyself".

Yes, this was one of the disappointing revisions to O'Brian's original writing, where Maturin is injured not on ship by a Brown Bess, but on land, in a duel, by a pistol-shot. And in fact, before the duel, Maturin removes his shirt precisely because he wishes to avoid infection from fibers entering the wound. In the book, he does still operate on himself, so the movie got that right.

I am enjoying the Aubrey-Maturin series very much. However, O'Brian's style is not that of Cussler or Clancy, so a fascination with the history of the Age of Sail is rather essential to making it through these books.

[burnsbyrne]

Dazed,
I agree with you completely. There is another nautical series written by Dewey Lambdin whose hero, Alain Lewry, is one of those extremely lucky British naval officers like Hornblower and Aubry. But Lewry is an unrepentant ladies' man which attribute gets him in trouble over and over. Lewry, like Aubry, is also a musician. He plays the tin whistle! And he associates with his Irish seamen for impromptu sessions. On one occasion he even parries a mutineer's saber thrust with his tin whistle. I think you'd enjoy the series.
Mike

[PhilO]

Unfortuneately, Chris, I did see part of Battlefield Earth, but then I had to, er, um, go to the bathroom...Try Lynch's first, Eraserhead, a film with truly no redeeming value whatsoever...I guess we got to a point of understanding...really bad stuff...or did you like Eraserhead?

PhilO

[Kar]

Hey, I liked Eraserhead...or at least, I was interested in it. It certainly is weird.

Back to M&C, I had no previous knowledge of the books or really the Age of Sail, but I liked the movie immensely. And as far as it dragging, or nothing happening, this was a topic of discussion last weekend. When I was on the HMS Surprise, and the docent & I were talking--he explained that Jack Aubrey, the character, was based on Liet. Cochrane, a real person who, in a relatively smallish ship, took some 50 prizes in one year, including the Gama (the Acheron inspiration) that was dispatched specifically to hunt him down.

Anyway, the docent's idea was that the movie should have stuck to the action more, and not gotten dragged down by the characterization & sub-plots. I disgareed. I think what makes this movie so good is precisely the fact that Peter Weir, instead of making YET ANOTHER action/epic/battle picture, infused this with some actual drama, and did his best to capture the flavor of the books, which, by most accounts, is centrally based on the Aubrey/Maturin relationship. I'm only on Book Three but so far that seems to be true.

I don't know how to bring this thread back to whistling except to say I was bummed I didn't know any sea shanties to play on board and had to content myself with some Bach and early Renaissance tunes. It was still fun.

[madfifer9]

Just wanted to mention I happened to love M&C and was on the edge of my seat the whole time. However, when it comes to Hornblower, the books are 200% better than the A&E movies. The first four TV movies were enjoyable, relatively good and true to the book, but the last two movies were far off the mark. Nothing like the book. I would like to say that I have never seen Royal Navy officers spend so much time on land before.

If A&E can't afford the money to give us good convincing sea battles, they shouldn't do the series. Sea battles are what Hornblower is all about. If I want to see land battles, I'll watch Sharpe. Sadly, seeing the movie version of M&C spoiled the Hornblower TV movies for me.

Linda S.
madfifer9

[DazedinLA]

Sharpe! I saw only a few episodes of that series...they were excellent, though I got the impression that Sharpe an his unit somehow managed to play a pivotal role in every important engagement in every campaign the Kings army ever waged. Sokay with me.

Was this playing on A&E? Is it coming back anytime soon? I'd love to see all the episodes from the beginning.

[blackhawk]

Sharpe! I saw only a few episodes of that series...they were excellent, though I got the impression that Sharpe an his unit somehow managed to play a pivotal role in every important engagement in every campaign the Kings army ever waged. Sokay with me.

Was this playing on A&E? Is it coming back anytime soon? I'd love to see all the episodes from the beginning.

The books are fantastic if you're into military history. I only saw one episode of the TV series and thought it was well done. That same author wrote about the battle at Trafalgar and it complements the M&C movie very well, explaining in typical detail how life was back then.

[Hoovorff]

The Sharpe series is on DVD, available through Barnes and Noble (www.bn.com). I know because I became addicted to the series and had to eventually purchase all the episodes! In a few of the Sharpe episodes, Sharpe's sergeant, an Irish man, plays the tin whistle.

Besides the tin whistle in Master & Commander, they also show a glimpse of a flute in the French captain's cabin. You have to be looking closely to see it, though, because the camera shows only a glimpse of it.

I thoroughly enjoyed Master & Commander, the Hornblower series, and Sharpe. But then, I'm addicted to British history!

J

[madfifer9]

LOL! It's great to see how many other people have enjoyed the Sharpe series! It was shown on A&E in the early 90's, I think. Most of the time it is only shown in England and makes periodic reappearances. I wish A&E or at least BBC America would bring it back, it's a great series. The first four are my favorites, though. I have all the DVDs, there were 14 in all. The music for this series is also very good. John Tams wrote new lyrics for period songs, and he sings a lot of them in character in the movies.

And to bring it back on topic, in the movies Harper (Sharpe's sgt) does "play" the whistle a little bit. Appropriately, "Salamanca" is one of the tunes, it's a tough one. Also, as Cornwell mentions in more than one of the novels, Sharpe hopes that someday when the wars are over, he can settle down in one place and maybe learn how to play the flute. Does Sharpe ever learn it? Well, we never find out directly, but... his son does happen to carry one around in his saddlebag.

Linda S.
madfifer9

[GaryKelly]

Rifleman 'Arris (what is your name, 'Arris?) was based on a real chap, who survived the wars (unlike his fictional counterpart in Sharpe) and finally settled down to life as a cobbler. His memoirs (although somewhat short) make for truly fascinating reading.

I believe the book about his life as a Rifleman is called "The life and times of Rifleman Harris" but it's so long since I read it I can't be 100% sure. I'll check (the local library ordered it for me especially, so it should still be there) and post the correct title later on if I've got it wrong.

It really is worth the read for those interested in Sharpe, or in British military history generally, and I've no doubt that it was a prime source of research for the Sharpe series.

[DazedinLA]

Also, as Cornwell mentions in more than one of the novels, Sharpe hopes that someday when the wars are over, he can settle down in one place and maybe learn how to play the flute.

NOOOOOOOOOOOO...so the Sharpe series was based on a series of NOVELS???.... AAAARRRRRRRGGGGHHHH. Only yesterday did I finish the Surgeons Mate, book 7 of the Aubrey-Maturin series, I havent even touched the Hornblower series, AND NOW I find out that there is a SHARPE series as well? I thought the Sharp movies were just a BBC written and produced thing, but NooOOOOoooOOoo, now there has to be another ten or twenty cool books that I have to read.

OK, I think I'll be the first to officially diagnose Historical Warfare Novel Obsessive Acquisition Distorder.