The Black Swan (1942)

Director:

Henry King

Writers:

Ben Hecht (screenplay) and
Seton I. Miller (screenplay) ...

Release Date:

4 December 1942 (USA)

Genre:

Adventure | Family | History

Tagline:

Seas Ablaze...with black villainy, with fiery romance, with breathless deeds of daring...in the roaring era of Love, Gold and Adventure!

Plot:

When notorious pirate Henry Morgan is made governor of Jamaica, he enlists the help of some of his former...

Plot Keywords:

Governor | Pirate | Henry Morgan | Jamaica | English

Awards:

Won Oscar. Another 2 nominations

Cast

Tyrone Power	...	Jamie Waring
Maureen O'Hara	...	Lady Margaret Denby
Laird Cregar	...	Capt. Sir Henry Morgan
Thomas Mitchell	...	Tom 'Tommie' Blue
George Sanders	...	Capt. Billy Leech
Anthony Quinn	...	Wogan - Leech's First Mate
George Zucco	...	Lord Denby

Also Known As:

Rafael Sabatini's The Black Swan (USA) (complete title)

Runtime:

87 min (copyright time) | USA:85 min (current existing footage) | Portugal:85 min (re-release) (censored version)

Country:

USA

Language:

English | Spanish

Colour:

Colour (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Recording)

Certification:

UK:A (original rating) | UK:PG | Finland:K-16 | Sweden:15 | USA:Approved (PCA #8421)

Filming Locations:

Cuba

Company:

Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation

Trivia:

Although it is supposed to be based on Rafael Sabatini's novel "The Black Swan", in fact the story is completely original, and the only character retained from the original novel is the historical personage Henry Morgan.

Goofs:

Factual errors: Although the story is supposed to take place in the 17th century, Lady Margaret has a medallion with a colour photo inside. You can clearly see it's a photo when Jamie first finds the medallion and then opens it. Photography was not invented until the 19th century.

Quotes:

Jamie: I always sample a bottle of wine before I buy it. Let's have a sip, see if you're worth taking along.

Movie Connections:

Featured in 20 Dates (1998)

Soundtrack:

Heave Ho

Ty At His Swashbuckling Best

The Black Swan And The Mark of Zorro show Tyrone Power at the height of his career. This was the Tyrone Power that the public wanted to see, but who he got tired of being. He was constantly after 20th Century Fox and Darryl Zanuck to give him more challenging roles.

Jamie Warring is another of Power's patented hero/heel characterizations. When we first meet him, Power's a totally unrepentant scalawag who has but one virtue, loyalty to the former pirate leader Henry Morgan. Morgan by all accounts was an effective and charismatic leader both in this film and in history. But that leadership is put to the test when the British government decides he's the only man capable of dealing with his former compatriots.

Laird Cregar as Morgan makes a plea for the group to turn honest. But there's a fly in the ointment. A dissident group led by George Sanders and Anthony Quinn don't want to give up the pirate lifestyle. It's up to Morgan, Power and the rest to then eradicate them.

Power at his hero/heel best is not above forcing his attentions on Maureen O'Hara the daughter of the former governor of Jamaica. Those attentions gradually move from the unwanted to the very much wanted, especially after Power and O'Hara are captured by Sanders. For the rest, well as they you just have to tune in.

The Black Swan deservedly won Oscars for special effects and color cinematography. It's unfortunate that today there are so few actors capable of playing the swashbuckling hero the way Ty Power could. He may have wanted to do more, but Darryl Zanuck knew exactly what the public wanted to see Tyrone Power in. It's worth a look.