As a kid, I thoroughly soaked up the Horatio Hornbliwer books. Loved this movie. I was always curious why this one didn’t get more attention. Perhaps the all white cast? But I was cautiously optimistic about a follow up movie because Part 2s don’t have a very good track record.
The author (O’Brian) wrote something like 12 books in this series.
My husband gobbled them all up - said they were wonderful. He was also a big Horatio Hornblower fan when young.