Captain Horatio Hornblower - DVD

C.S. Forester's Hornblower novels have been favorites of mine since 1978, when I started reading them after learning that Hornblower was one of Gene Roddenberry's models for the captain on Star Trek (the original captain, Christopher Pike was modeled on Hornblower.  Kirk, on the other hand, was definitely not - but the character of an isolated ship captain remained the focus of the series).
This 1951 movie adaptation of the three central books of the series (Beat to Quarters, Ship of the Line and Flying Colours) has been a favorite for a long time (originally because it was about Hornblower - more recently because it features Virginia Mayo - who is actually not terribly well dressed or coiffed during the film, and it still stunning) and when it finally came out on DVD I pre-ordered it.  I wasn't disappointed - although they are virtually no extras, and it has only mono sound and a 4:3 screen ration (which is actually a plus in the movie room, since it means the picture is about double the size of a widescreen movie).  The picture and sound quality are good, and I really enjoyed watching it again.  It shouldn't be confused with Ioan Griffud's Horatio Hornblower, which is better all around (except for the romance, but again they left off one book before this movie starts, it hadn't actually started yet), and Peter Weir's Master and Commander is a far more accurate and realistic version of essentially the same story as the first third of the movie (again, sans the romance), but it is still a solid, enjoyable movie that I never get tired of watching.