A British naval commander and his trusty medical sidekick find adventure – and themselves – in the treacherous waters off the cape of Tierra del Fuego. Based on the Aubrey-Maturin novels by Patrick O’Brian, this 2003 film was the next to last directorial work of Aussie director Peter Weir. The film is well-nigh universally hailed by maritime fiction enthusiasts as about as good as it gets in this genre, but was overshadowed on its November release by the blockbuster success of Pirates of the Caribbean a few months prior. Stars Russell Crowe and Paul Bettany have each expressed interest in a sequel but the prospects seem slim.

O’Brian’s twenty-one novels were initially published to general disregard but relaunched with great success in the US in the early 1990s, and the books exerted unmistakable influence on Star Trek: The Next Generation and subsequent Star Trek properties. It’s only logical, as the books were initially commissioned to serve the existing market fer the Horatio Hornblower novels of C. S. Forester. In creating Star Trek, Gene Roddenberry consciously modeled his Captain on Hornblower.

O’Brian and Forester both drew upon the real life career of several Royal Navy officers, most notably that of Admiral Thomas Cochrane. O’Brian’s fictionalizations didn’t end with his literary output, however. Late in his life it came to light that much of what had passed for his public biography was inaccurate and that at the age of 31, in 1945, he had changed his name from Richard Patrick Russ to Patrick O’Brian and severed ties with a previous wife and kids. His new wife was Mary Tolstoy, who had previously been married to Count Dimitri Tolstoy, a distant cousin of Russian author Leo Tolstoy.

This film is the genesis of the Offshore Quarantine project and thus we accord it flagship status as the first film screened in our watchparty format. I watched the film within about two weeks of having read straight through the Aubrey-Maturin books for the first time over about three weeks in fall 2020 and I found the film quite satisfactory and beautifully realized.

The ship that is primarily seen on screen in the film is the former HMS Rose, which is permanently moored in San Diego and can be boarded freely once one is within the Maritime Museum of San Diego, right downtown. A full-scale land-bound replica was also constructed as a shooting stage in Mexico in the course of the making of the film and she also remains standing, although weather-worn.

The film’s screenwriter, John Collee, has posted the screenplay to his website as a PDF for free! Have at it, me hearties.

Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World Action, Adventure, Drama, War | November 14, 2003 (United States) 7.4

Director: Peter WeirWriter: Patrick O'Brian, Peter Weir, John ColleeStars: Russell Crowe, Paul Bettany, Billy BoydSummary: In April 1805 during the Napoleonic Wars, H.M.S. Surprise, a British frigate, is under the command of Captain Jack Aubrey. Aubrey and the Surprise's current orders are to track and capture or destroy a French privateer named Acheron. The Acheron is currently in the Atlantic off South America headed toward the Pacific in order to extend Napoleon's reach of the wars. This task will be a difficult one as Aubrey quickly learns in an initial battle with the Acheron that it is a bigger and faster ship than the Surprise, which puts the Surprise at a disadvantage. Aubrey's single-mindedness in this seemingly impossible pursuit puts him at odds with the Surprise's doctor and naturalist, Stephen Maturin, who is also Aubrey's most trusted advisor on board and closest friend. Facing other internal obstacles which have resulted in what they consider a string of bad luck, Aubrey ultimately uses Maturin's scientific exploits to figure out a way to achieve his and the ship's seemingly impossible goal. —Huggo

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Source: imdb.com