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Thread: A Trafalgar Movie

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    Default A Trafalgar Movie

    On the movie side. One of my favorite movies is Master and Commander, followed by the Horatio Hornblower series.With all the CGI wiz kids out there , why has no one ever made a serious full length movie of the battle? Would be awesome to see 1st rates going at each other. If they could make a movie about Waterloo, why not Trafalgar??

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    Agreed Shane if they can do what they did in "Master and Commander" as far as technical stuff with tech advance since then it would turn out to be the basis for a real good movie

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    Great idea!
    Even if they did it as the Life of Nelson, I would settle for it.
    Rob.
    The Business of the commander-in-chief is first to bring an enemy fleet to battle on the most advantageous terms to himself, (I mean that of laying his ships close on board the enemy, as expeditiously as possible); and secondly to continue them there until the business is decided.

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    I caught "Elizabeth: The Golden Age" last weekend during a free Starz promotion on my satellite provider, and they did a decent job with Elizabethan ships during the Armada scequence (although the storyline wasn't historically accurate). Trafalgar should be doable too. I've always enjoyed the original Hornblower movie with Gregory Peck which inspired me to read all the novels and "Damn the Defiant" was good too.

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    Quote Originally Posted by stuh42asl View Post
    On the movie side. One of my favorite movies is Master and Commander, followed by the Horatio Hornblower series.With all the CGI wiz kids out there , why has no one ever made a serious full length movie of the battle? Would be awesome to see 1st rates going at each other. If they could make a movie about Waterloo, why not Trafalgar??
    Time scale -- first shots were fired at 11:15AM or so; _Victory_ didn't fire its first salvo until around noon; Nelson gets shot about 1:15PM, and doesn't die until around 4:15PM. There's going to be a *lot* of footage of Ships Moving Very Slowly (the battle was quite literally fought in The Calm Before The Storm...).

    Then there's all the stuff *around* the battle -- the fact that Villeneuve actually managed to sail to the West Indies and back before getting bottled up in Cadiz; the unending arguments between the French and Spanish (realize: Trafalgar would never have happened if one of the French admirals had not questioned the courage of the Spanish...); the storm that night which cost the British most of their prizes; the marginally-successful rescue attempt by the remainder of the Combined Fleet a day or so afterward. Any way it gets edited, this is going to be *at least* three hours of movie, which is going to limit the amount of times per day it can be shown, which subsequently limits its profitability; add to that it's not exactly a full-on Action Movie, but a niche-market Historical Film, and the chances of profitability are as near zero as makes no odds.

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    In 2013 it was reported that Warner Bros. had started work on a biopic about Nelson entitled 'Love and Glory' but there does not seem to have been any more articles about it. http://variety.com/2013/film/news/wa...ry-1200608308/

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    Well that would get around the problem of the boredom factor that Chris mentioned Dave, but what would the love angle do to the actual history line.
    We can all still remember Brave heart!
    Rob.
    The Business of the commander-in-chief is first to bring an enemy fleet to battle on the most advantageous terms to himself, (I mean that of laying his ships close on board the enemy, as expeditiously as possible); and secondly to continue them there until the business is decided.

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    With "Master and Commander" and all the technical details over come I thought this would be easy to make, but now I have my doubts due to the lack of a screen play (even without the love angle) and the difficulty of produceing such and to a reletivly small audience world wide, could the producers sustain the costs? it would be nice but is it practictical ? These a just some of my doubts

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    Okay.................now I will check my wallet for the ohhhh 100-120 million we need...................coff coff..................drat all I got was a 5 dollar bill , pocket lint and grain dust............well 'I guess I could settle for a
    cold one instead :)
    drinks:

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    Quote Originally Posted by Bligh View Post
    Well that would get around the problem of the boredom factor that Chris mentioned Dave, but what would the love angle do to the actual history line.
    [joke]

    Well, it explains why Nelson committed suicide at Trafalgar:

    He knew that if he got the battle he wanted, there would never again be a chance to command a fleet in battle -- only the unending drudge of Blockade. Nelson's infamous tendency to seasickness only made this prospect that much less appealing. So his idea was to have his One Great Battle, return home a hero, retire, and spend the rest of his days with Lady Hamilton. Problem: The Crown, and the Government, *hated* Hamilton, and did not want Nelson anywhere near her; it made the Navy, and the nation, look bad to have its best-known admiral shacking up with a glorified harlot. (There is at least one recorded instance during one of Nelson's last visits to Britain where King George very publicly blew him off -- said "hello", asked after Nelson's health, and turned away before Nelson could answer.)

    However, this wasn't a court-martial-worthy offense, so the Gov't and Navy had to find another way to punish him... did you ever wonder *why* Nelson spent so much time at sea after hooking up with Hamilton? It wasn't by choice -- the only way to punish Nelson for his relationship with Hamilton was to deny him the ability to be with her. And even if he did get his One Great Battle, the Gov't and Navy would not permit him to leave the service; instead, they would reassign him to sea, preferably as far from Britain as possible, to minimize the time he could spend with Hamilton, and repeat as necessary until Nelson was too old or infirm to serve... or, better, yet, until he died at sea.

    Nelson wasn't totally stupid -- he figured this out. Realizing he could not have what he wanted; and would never be permitted to do so; he took The Honorable Way Out, being killed by the enemy in the course of his greatest victory. His last hope was that his final wishes would be honored, and Hamilton and their kid would get the bulk of his estate; guess what -- *NOT* happenin'.

    In the end, it's a Tragic Lust Story -- the Hero dies; his lover ends up in the gutter (more or less); their daughter never acknowledges her maternity; in short, the sort of "rocks fall, everyone dies" ending Hollywood seems to be so f***ing fond of these days.

    [/joke]

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    Chris, referencing one of my favorite historical fictions, the "Flashman" series, and extrapolating on his views, I'm inclined to agree with him that the pre-Victorians were a bit less prudish about relationships like the Hamiltons and Nelson.

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    Seems to me that the at the time the upper echelons of Society were all O.K. about liaisons taking place as long as they were conducted behind closed doors and discrete. Nelson, unfortunately was the pop star of his day and nothing could be hidden for long.
    Rob.
    The Business of the commander-in-chief is first to bring an enemy fleet to battle on the most advantageous terms to himself, (I mean that of laying his ships close on board the enemy, as expeditiously as possible); and secondly to continue them there until the business is decided.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Bligh View Post
    Seems to me that the at the time the upper echelons of Society were all O.K. about liaisons taking place as long as they were conducted behind closed doors and discrete. Nelson, unfortunately was the pop star of his day and nothing could be hidden for long.
    Rob.
    Bingo -- this aspect of Nelson's problem wasn't that he was shacking up with Hamilton; it was that he was doing so *openly*. Add that to the other factors, and, well, "embarrassment" doesn't even begin to describe the situation.

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    Instead of Nelson as the main character................why not Villeneauve? Would be nice to see his story, we all know Nelsons. He had hard decisions to make, and had Napoleon breathing down his neck...someone who absolutely knew nothing about
    naval engagements and tactics. Would also give the French and Spanish the roles they deserve.

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    Always good to get a different perspective on things Shane.
    Rob.
    The Business of the commander-in-chief is first to bring an enemy fleet to battle on the most advantageous terms to himself, (I mean that of laying his ships close on board the enemy, as expeditiously as possible); and secondly to continue them there until the business is decided.

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    Besides folks...............Lady Hamilton is an ancestor of mine...............always knew I had a little rebel streak in me..............The Newman clan is related to the Hamiltons,found out
    during our family tree searches.:)

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    That must be something to be proud of, Shane. Does it add to your enjoyment of the game?

    The BBC have an animated map of the Battle of Trafalgar showing how the ships moved.

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/interac...ex_embed.shtml

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    God to see an animated map even if the commentary is rather basic. just seeing both parts of the battle in sync with each other gives a better understanding of the whole situation.
    Thanks for the link Dave.
    Rob.
    The Business of the commander-in-chief is first to bring an enemy fleet to battle on the most advantageous terms to himself, (I mean that of laying his ships close on board the enemy, as expeditiously as possible); and secondly to continue them there until the business is decided.

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    Shane I think that would work for a movie on Trafalgar lots of historical sub plots you could weave in. Good on ya mate.

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    How about something like Patrick O'Brian's "Golden Ocean, crossed with the movie "Restoration", where the plot follows a fictional character through the service, brushing with historical figures, culminating in Trafalgar?

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    Quote Originally Posted by stuh42asl View Post
    Instead of Nelson as the main character................why not Villeneauve? Would be nice to see his story, we all know Nelsons. He had hard decisions to make, and had Napoleon breathing down his neck...someone who absolutely knew nothing about
    naval engagements and tactics. Would also give the French and Spanish the roles they deserve.
    Sad to say, but: Villeneuve is not that interesting a character; apparently he was about like Monty Python's description of a chartered accountant.

    Perhaps Lucas, or Churruca, as a main character....

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    While talking about movies...what about series on DVD?

    Black sails...series 4 the last series.....

    BUT

    Wwho would have guessed more than one hint in series one to...... 'treasure island'?!

    They shot my fav girl at the end of series 2....gutted or what!

    Such is life..or the lack of it!

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    Quote Originally Posted by csadn View Post
    Sad to say, but: Villeneuve is not that interesting a character; apparently he was about like Monty Python's description of a chartered accountant.

    Perhaps Lucas, or Churruca, as a main character....
    True but Villeneuve is still a good character to portray, Nelson has been done to the NTH degree, but it would show the other side, and what they went thru especially the Captain of the Bucenture. The battle may have been a lot different if they had a more aggressive admiral, but that as they say folks is "history".

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    Quote Originally Posted by Ensign Patch View Post
    While talking about movies...what about series on DVD?

    Black sails...series 4 the last series.....

    BUT

    Wwho would have guessed more than one hint in series one to...... 'treasure island'?!

    They shot my fav girl at the end of series 2....gutted or what!

    Such is life..or the lack of it!
    Mine is still in its wrapper Simon IO must catch up with my viewing.
    Rob.
    The Business of the commander-in-chief is first to bring an enemy fleet to battle on the most advantageous terms to himself, (I mean that of laying his ships close on board the enemy, as expeditiously as possible); and secondly to continue them there until the business is decided.

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