User Reviews

Tyrone Power was undoubtedly the most stylish and certainly the most handsome and articulate of the great Hollywood swashbuckers from the 30s to the late 50s. In this movie he coyld not have been bettered (Flynn and Douglas Fairbanks Jr. included), The starry cast,music,costumes and settings brought vividly to life the Spanish Main,Maracaibo and other Pirate ports of call.With a great family theatrical tradition behind him,Power's presence enriched every movie he made (what a twist of fate that he died exactly as his father Tyrone Power Sr.did,filming a duel scene -"Hamlet" and "Solomon and Sheba). I believe that Power's acting ability even today is not fully recognised,simply because the Studio System restricted his choice of film.Let anyone hear Power recite the poems of Byron (available on disc) and realise his premature death was a tragedy."THE BLACK SWAN" could be said to represent a golden period in the history of Hollywood swashbucklers.

The film is a nice pirate-adventure movie , being lavishly produced . This classic story of romantic adventure comes to life enriched by Technicolor cinematography in charge of Leon Shamroy . Breathtaking battle ships and sword-play and filled with badness , love story , swashbuckler and heroism . Spirited pirate fare in which seas ablaze with black villainy , with fiery romance, with breathless deeds of daring in the roaring era of Love, Gold and Adventure! . An ex-pirate named James Waring (Tyrone Power) contends with buccaneers and a love-hate relationship with an aristocratic woman , Margaret (Mauren O'Hara) , who's tougher than she seems . He is compatriot of the notoriously rowdy buccaneer Henry Morgan (Laird Cregar at 26-year-old and posing eldest) who is pardoned and sent to Jamaica as its new governor , if he can prevent his from associates from continuing their criminal ways , Morgan enlists Waring to help him fight renegades (George Sanders , Anthony Quinn) . Meanwhile ,Tyrone falls in love with governor's (George Zucco) daughter .

This is a story of the Spanish Main when villainy wore a Sash and the only political creed in the world was love , gold and adventure . Combination of overwhelming sea battles , lots of derring-do , and full of action , romance , swashbuckler , bravura and humor remarks . Master of swashbuckling , Tyrone could happily have found a better vehicle for his faculties than this entertaining adaptation . Tyrone 's sword flashes as often as his smile . Tyrone Power seems to happy as the adventurer pirate whose good looks and swordmanship were both at their peak and much competition with Errol Flynn in the swashbuckling stakes . Well played by Power who was nearly at his most agile and deft style , he starred various ¨Sword and Swagger¨ films and was superstar of Hollywood swashbucklers . More stylish villainy is provided by both , red-bearded nasty George Sanders and a black-patched Anthony Quinn . And Laird Cregar stands out as the stoutly suave pirate turned into governor ; furthermore , an oily sophisticated Edward Ashly and the ordinary nasty George Zucco . Interesting and stirring screenplay by Ben Hetch and Seton I. Miller , the story is completely original , and the only role retained from the original novel is the historical personage Henry Morgan . In fact , the film is partially based on historical events , as Henry John Morgan (born Welsh 1635, dead Port Royal, Jamaica 1688) was a known corsair , at death of pirate Edward Mansfield was appointed chief by the buccaneers . He conquered Providence island or Saint Catalina . Later on , he sacked the city of Panama , violating the truce between Spain and England . For that reason was imprisoned , but king Charles II freed him and named him governor of Jamaica .

Based on the novel by Rafael Sabatini , whose books have been adapted in ¨Captain Blood¨ with Warren Karrigan , the classic ¨Captain Blood¨ with Errol Flyn , ¨Fortunes Captain Blood¨ with Louis Hayward , ¨Son of Captain Blood¨with Sean Flynn , and ¨The sea Hawk¨ with Errol Flynn . Spectacular and impressive ship battles , and the ship in the film was also used in the movies ¨Lady Hamilton¨ (1941), ¨The princess and the pirate¨ (1944) and ¨Captain Kidd¨ (1945) . Colorful cinematography in Technicolor that deservedly won an Academy Award . Moving and thrilling musical score by the classy composer Alfred Newman , nominated to Oscar . Including luxurious and glamorous production by James Basevi . The motion picture was stunningly directed by Henry Koster . He made all kinds of genres , such as Biography : ¨Wilson¨ , ¨David and Bathsheba¨, ¨Hemingway's snows of Kilimanjaro¨, ¨Lloyds of London¨ , ¨Captain of Castile¨, ¨Stanley and Livingstone¨ ; Religious : ¨Song of Bernadette¨ ; Drama : ¨Carousel¨ , ¨Love is a Many-Splendored-Thing¨ , ¨Maria Galante¨, ¨Hell Harbor¨ ; Western : ¨Jesse James¨, ¨The gunfighter¨ ; Wartime : ¨Twelve o'clock high¨, ¨a Yank in the RAF¨, ¨She goes to war¨.

Well, this one really came as a surprise with Tyrone Power superb in a decent pirate movie - all tongue in cheek but in great fun. With lovely Maureen O'Hara playing the usual hard to get girl wanted by all, but destined for only one, everyone in the movie has a rollicking good time, and why shouldn't they when you consider some of the supporting stars, particularly Laird Cregar as Sir Henry Morgan and George Sanders "hamming" it up in his usual evil way. The Technicolor is magnificent, the settings superb, and as this film was made long before computer-generated effects, it was quite brilliantly done. The story was very predictable but who cares, as it represents great escapist entertainment for nearly a couple of hours!

This movie is so wonderful. I remember seeing it for the first time when I was around six years of age, and Tyrone Power became my first crush. After seeing the Black Swan I became ridiculously obsessed with pirates. (My mother wondered if there was something wrong with me, considering all the other girls on my block were playing with Barbies and I was watching movies about pirates.) I think the cinematography is just perfectly lovely in this film, and Tyrone Power truly is a great actor. People speak truthfully when they say he did not get the credit he deserved, (much like Johnny Depp) but I deeply respect the late actor, and he captured my heart. If you love films of mutineers, swashbuckling adventure, and roguish characters, then this film is for you. It will sweep you away to an old world where gallantry was sought after and pirates were the scum of the earth.....

Colourful swash-buckler starring Tyrone Power as a reformed pirate captain chasing George Sanders' treacherous renegade pirate Leech and posh Lord's daughter Maureen O'Hara around the Caribbean. Power gets to bear his chest a lot as he dispenses tough love to the promised-to-another O'Hara, whose stubbornness he naturally wears down by the end. As he displayed handsomely in "The Mark Of Zorro", Power makes for a dashing leading man, but his character here lacks charm, to say the least. In fact when he first encounters O'Hara, he first of all boorishly forces himself on her and then when she quite rightly resists, lays her out with a slap to the face. Later still he kidnaps her from her home to stop her marrying his scoundrel of a rival, not exactly Prince Charming-type behaviour.

That said, there is a likeable frisson between them in their scenes together plus I also detected some censor-baiting moments, especially when he jumps into her bed to keep up appearances under the watchful eye of the mistrusting Leech. The plot is fairly rudimentary involving the usual mixture of treachery on the high-seas with some nicely-staged sea-battle scenes and a decent climactic sword-fight to the death (guess whose?) between Power and Sanders, the latter barely recognisable in a set of orange whiskers. Also on board (ouch!) for the fun is the larger-than-life Laird Cregar as the famous Captain Henry Morgan, Power's old boss and role-model.

The direction though seems a bit rushed to me with some loose ends still untied by the end, (for instance, there's no retribution for O'Hara's traitorous former boy-friend) and lacks the winning touches of humour which distinguished "Zorro", but on the whole, an exciting enough pirate feature, easy on both the eye and brain.

Whatever Henry King made cannot be bad. Even this "half navy - half etc" movie was surprisingly entertaining. I can name few filmmakers so versatile and so reliable. In this instance I believe the method is to have an open mind - this is not just a navy or a pirate movie, there is romance and a little of everything. Bottom line, making a good film should be a simple thing if you have decency.

I saw this movie years and years ago, with my grandfather who was a huge fan of the beautiful Maureen O'Hara. i just revisited this film recently, and found it fun and entertaining.

For some reason, I never realized George Sanders was playing Leech! Wow. I hardly recognized him as the same actor who played Addison DeWitt in "All About Eve." Never knew he could play any role other than the sophisticated creep, but I was wrong. Also, I found that his famous voice sounded different in this film, but I'm sure that was done for the character.

I've only seen Tyrone Power in one other film, "Witness for the Prosecution," which is certainly a better showcase of his acting skills than this film. Nonetheless, he shows himself to be a capable fencer and athletic actor.

Unfortunately, Power lacks the chemistry with O'Hara that Errol Flynn had with Olivia de Havilland in the similar film "Captain Blood." However, to be fair, very few on screen couples (past or present) had the chemistry that Flynn and de Havilland did on screen- those two just ignited chemistry, even by just looking at one another. O'Hara is, as always, beautiful and appealing as the headstrong love interest of the lead character and her costumes are fantastic.

To me, though, the real star of the film is Laird Cregar as Henry Morgan. His character gives the film a bit of depth, and he steals every scene he's in. I had no idea he was only a year older than Power and that he died so young (only 31, just two years after this film!) but I suppose he always played older characters in films.

All in all, it's fun, but not fantastic. The dialog is not memorable, and the special effects have not aged very well. Still worth watching, though.

Ben Hecht wrote the screen play which powered this exciting movie. The direction fell under the talent of Henry King and tittled the movie " The Black Swan. " To date few actors at this time could wear the mantel of both heel and hero as does Tyrone Power who plays Jamie Waring a one time Pirate, now turned privateer working for none other than Capt. Henry Morgan (Laird Cregar). who in turn has been appointed Governor of Jamaica. Morgan's task is to take all of his former pirates and have them fight for the English crown. Most agree, but a few do not. It's these few renegades who decide to keep pirating. With such a task, the movie becomes a rousing sea laden battle royal between the King men and the sea fearing pirates. The cast is loaded with notable names such as Maureen O'Hara, George Sanders, Anthony Quinn (in small part) and Thomas Mitchell as Thomas Blue. Nevertheless, if you like Ship to ship war-fare, here is one you should see. It's become a Classic and you should mark it as such. ****

The very fact that Rafael Sabatini's tale is the source for this swashbuckling pirate adventure makes one wish it had the more vivid storyline and qualities of his more famous epic, CAPTAIN BLOOD. But Fox, although they've lavished color and pretty costumes and sets on THE BLACK SWAN, failed to invest it with the same witty script and believable situations.

The performances are all bigger than life, as they should be in this sort of thing. TYRONE POWER makes a dashing figure of Jamie, the pirate seeking to avenge the villainous Leech (an almost unrecognizable GEORGE SANDERS in heavy beard and wig). MAUREEN O'HARA is so authentically feisty in opposing Power's advances that one wonders whether they can ever make up in time for a happy ending. Nevertheless, hers is a one-dimensional role and she gives it no added dimension of warmth but remains an ice princess throughout, much to my disappointment.

The acting is uniformly competent--nothing more--and the entire tone of the more serious moments in the courtrooms makes you wonder whether to simply suspend disbelief or accept it as a tongue-in-cheek pirate adventure. LAIRD CRAIGAR makes an interesting buccaneer but chews the scenery with a vengeance. His energy gives the part believability most of the time but his actions are none too convincing in the final battle scene. THOMAS MITCHELL seems a little out of place as a fellow pirate.

TYRONE POWER and MAUREEN O'HARA make delicious eye candy as a couple, but when one thinks of how similar the same sort of tale was told in CAPTAIN BLOOD, they fail to register as strongly as Errol Flynn and Olivia de Havilland in the glorious old B&W classic. Something in their chemistry is missing. Perhaps they're too combative throughout before the final clinch in the sunset--and that, of course, is the script's fault.

Summing up: Admirers of pirate films will certainly enjoy the ride.

I do think The Black Swan is under-appreciated. It certainly isn't the best movie ever made, but on its own merits, it is a hugely enjoyable and truly remarkable swashbuckler. The cinematography is gorgeous, and thoroughly deserved the Oscar it won, with its perfect capture of the cleverly-choreographed swordplay, and you can also admire the beautiful costumes and sets, as well as the rousing music score that was beautiful. The sets and action sequences are the main merit of this film, very majestic and well-staged. You may think that any film with pirates would fall into predictability, but this one doesn't, it is original, funny at times and has a touch of romance in it. The performances were excellent. Tyrone Power is surprisingly good in the title role, though swashbuckling fans may be yearning for someone like Errol Flynn, and Maureen O'Hara is beautiful beyond words as Margaret. It is probably true that their romance isn't quite as convincing as the one in The Adventures of Robin Hood with Errol Flynn and Olivia DeHavilland, but it is still a convincing (and fairly witty) one, and rarely interferes with the focus of the film. As the mutinying Captain Billy Leech, if you put the awkward accent aside like I have, George Sanders (who is the expert of suave and smarmy menace) is excellent, who is surprisingly good at sword fighting. All in all, a stylish and very worthwhile swashbuckler, with a 9/10. Bethany Cox.

What fantastic fun this film is a swashbuckler of the highest order, fun and adventure on the high seas, a dashing hero, a damsel in distress, a dastardly foe, treachery, sword fights, great sea battles and more pirates than you can shake a cutlass at! What more could any adventure film fan ask? Tyronne Power really looks and plays the part matching those other swashbuckling hero's such as Errol Flynn in bravado and flair. Maureen O Hara is the damsel in distress and as well as stunning looks is more fiery than the usual heroins of these films. George Sander and Laird Cregar are also fantastic on opposite sides of the Pirate wars.

Lighthearted and full of fun this is Sunday afternoon entertainment of the best kind. The pace slows in places but the finale is more than adequate pay off.

A film that makes everyone want to be a pirate!!! 8/10

This is a beautifully shot piece of technicolor eye-candy. The naval battle scenes are sometimes impressive while some look like ships floating in a bathtub. I make a great effort to watch films and judge them by the standards of their era. But the romance side of this film takes "pin her down, mash-kiss her and force yourself on her because she really is just pretending to hate you" to the greatest extreme I have ever seen. I know Bond does it too but to a much lesser extent. I don't think we judge films by me-too standards but this would have been sadistic stalking in the 40s.

If not for the action, for the actors and the actress, for the story or for the direction, see this movie because it´s only one of the best action movies ever made in the USA. Just that! Many of the recent full-action movies, made with more money and resources, are not even 1% of this one.

"This is a story of the Spanish Main -- where Villainy wore a Sash, and the only political creed in the world was --- Love, Gold, and Adventure…" is an apt introduction to this swashbuckling story. "The Black Swan" was made while Tyrone Power (here as James "Jamie Boy" Waring) was at the peak of his second wave of popularity. This began with the re-make of "The Mark of Zorro" (1940), and Mr. Power was suddenly compared to Douglas Fairbanks; as a man, he was more like Rudolph Valentino, though not quite showing it all in "Blood and Sand" (1941). Each of these adventure films retains their sense of hokey fun.

In this one, Power's "sex symbol" status is complimented by a bare chest, stubble, and the beautiful Maureen O'Hara (as Margaret Denby). All in Technicolor. Director Henry King and friendly co-stars like George Sanders (as Billy Leech) helped keep both Power and the public happy. Power performs smoothly with sword in "The Black Swan" but felt he deserved more varied roles.

As an aside, a writer at Paramount in the late 1980s mentioned walking over to Tyrone Power's grave, which was near the studio, so I tagged along. It was a beautiful fall day, and the graveyard was deserted. At the time, I had only a vague notion of who Power was - probably from seeing movies like "The Black Swan" on television - and was startled to see the star's final resting place so well-kept, and adorned with fresh flowers. Three decades after his death, Tyrone Power was still missed and admired.

******* The Black Swan (12/4/42) Henry King ~ Tyrone Power, Maureen O'Hara, George Sanders, Laird Cregar

After peace between England and Spain, reformed pirate Henry Morgan (Laird Cregar) is made Governor of Jamaica for England. Captain Jamie Waring (Tyrone Power) is ready to ravage former governor's daughter Lady Margaret (Maureen O'Hara) when he's interrupted by Morgan. He and his right hand man Tom Blue (Thomas Mitchell) are happy to join Morgan but others do not.

Matinee idol Tyrone Power gets away with a lot back in the old day which wouldn't fly nowadays. This was good scoundrel fun back then. It's strictly off-putting now. On the other hand, Maureen O'Hara is great in any era. She is beautiful and charming and gutsy. This is an old fashion swashbuckling good times. If I had to guest, the movie's success has a lot to do with the escapist adventure fun after a year of real life war.

Interesting film. I admit, I've been on a bit of a classic movie kick recently, having seen several films on TCM which were either nominated for or won Academy Awards. This was one that was featured, having won for best cinematography.

It's an interesting, fun film, just pure entertainment. Maureen O'Hara is stunning, and her character is quite interesting- she's headstrong and quite stubborn, especially for a woman of the time period which the film takes place. She and Power, in my opinion, don't have great chemistry in my opinion but they are still interesting to watch.

George Sanders was completely unrecognizable in this role as well- never would have know that was him!

It's kind of sad to watch this movie today, knowing that two of its main stars (Cregar and Power) died so young and far too soon!

Rather stolidly directed by Henry King and not a patch on the sort of thing being made by Douglas Fairbanks Sr. in the twenties or Errol Flynn during the thirties, there's far too much talk and much of the action is plainly shot on a soundstage.

But it boasts rich Technicolor photography that won Leo Shamroy the first of three Oscars, with a young Anthony Quinn wearing a rather fetching eyepatch, George Sanders a ginger beard and the late lamented Laird Cregar a Van Dyke beard to go with Shamroy's lighting.

This is the story of the Spanish Main, when villainy wore a sash, and the only political creed in the world was, love, gold ........ and adventure!

The Black Swan finds Tyrone Power at his swashbuckling best, here as James "Boy" Waring, a pirate starting to find his conscience as he starts to find love, Power is devilishly handsome and swaggers about with knowingly comic abandon. Though this Henry King directed picture reeks of being an illegitimate child to "Errol Flynn's" superior "Captain Blood", it has such a great sense of fun and high production values, it really doesn't matter one jot.

The colour cinematography from Leon Shamroy rightly won an Academy Award, whilst the nominations for Alfred Newman's booming score and the one for the special effects team were very much deserved. The other thing to note is the fabulous costumes courtesy of Earl Luick, splendid attire, none more so than evidenced by Laird Cregar's joyous Henry Morgan. George Sanders and a ravishing Maureen O'Hara are in on the fun and really it's a film that to me is impossible not to enjoy, so avast yee lubbers and buckle up your swash. 8/10

I'm a big fan of Tyrone Power in "The Mark of Zorro," which is perhaps my favorite escapist film of all time. Unfortunately, I haven't been able to find another movie with Power that's quite as good.

And "The Black Swan," I'm afraid to say, is markedly inferior to Zorro. Everything about this film is worse - the script, the acting, the direction, and especially the choreography for the sword-fights (Zorro does not, for instance, feature such obviously sped-up footage in the fight scenes!)

Another disappointment is that "The Black Swan" spends way too much time developing its often tedious romance subplot. Maureen O'Hara is nice to look at, and she does have some chemistry with Power, but she rebuffs him again and again in scenes that get repetitive really fast.

I don't want to sound too negative, since there are aspects of this movie that I like. The plot deals with the compelling issue of pirates being forced to turn "legitimate" after Britain and Spain make peace. Some of them decide to work for the British crown, while others go renegade. Watching this schism develop in the pirate community is pretty interesting.

There are also a few good guest actors - notably Laird Craiger as Captain Morgan (the guy on the rum bottle?) His flamboyant costumes and over-the-top dialog give the movie some life during segments when it might otherwise be slow and draggy.

But, despite a few good points, "The Black Swan" is essentially just a lightweight action movie - the "Pirates of the Caribbean" of its day. A more literate and witty script might have elevated it to a higher level, but alas, the only line of dialog I can remember offhand is "the English dog still barks!" Hardly Shakespearean, is it?

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.

Although it's not often recognised as such, the swashbuckler is itself like a little genre of classic Hollywood. Not nearly as prolific as, say, the Western or the gangster movie, but nevertheless possessing certain recurring features, conventions and even actors that make it more recognisable than simply another kind of historical movie. In the genre's heyday (roughly 1935 – 1943) the undisputed king of swashbuckling was Errol Flynn of Warner Brothers, but studios would often compete with each other star-for-star, and Fox Studios gave Flynn his toughest competition in the form of Tyrone Power.

One of the conventions of the classic swashbuckler is, sadly, the incredibly misogynistic approach to romantic subplot, which is quite startling even by the standards of the day. Over at Warner Brothers Errol Flynn would all but kidnap his unwilling intended (usually the daughter or niece of the villain – e.g. a piece of treasure to be won) until she finally gave in and realised that, all along, she was into biastophilia. For The Black Swan however this goes to a whole new level, removing the words "all but" from the previous sentence for one thing. Leading lady Maureen O'Hara is slapped, threatened with swords and eventually bound hand and foot by a lecherous Power. That's not to mention other creepy behaviour such as wandering around her room sniffing her possessions. All that can be said of this in mitigation is that Tyrone Power is of course exceptionally handsome (the moustache he sports here cancelling out his thick eyebrows) and the fact that, when he gets going, the villain played by George Sanders is in fact even creepier. But that doesn't really make it alright.

Handsome as he is, Tyrone Power is not an amazing actor. He does however have that ability to look poetically dashing in a bare chest and bandana, which is pretty much all your swashbuckling hero needs, and the effectiveness of it for the movie should not be underestimated. But what's really fun to watch here is the battle of the booming theatricals. I'm talking about big Laird McCregan, sounding suitably Welsh for Captain Morgan and swaggering about like a rotund Shakespearean, versus booable, hissable George Sanders, giving a credible baddie pirate performance from the days before Robert Newton made us think they all came from Cornwall. These two should have been given more scenes together. Also good fun to see is Thomas Mitchell in an Alan Hale-type sidekick role.

The best things about The Black Swan really are in its technical construction. The cinematography by Leon Shamroy is breathtaking, weaving layers of light and shadow in a way that is normally associated with monochrome but that works here in Technicolor. The director is Henry King, who of all the American-born directors in Hollywood at the time was one of the few to emphasise sets and settings as the European émigrés did. But King's shots are not oppressive and claustrophobic as, say, Michael Curtiz's or Fritz Langs. Take for example that series of outdoor scenes when Power is "courting" O'Hara. He tightly encloses the shots with trees pressing in on all sides, but by the way they are lit and arranged he gives the scenery a beautiful and very characteristic feel. Another trick of King's is to use lines of people in a v-formation to draw your eye in on a focal point. You can see an example of this in the torture rack scene.

And style over substance does count for something. After all this is a genre movie. But one can't help but feeling that The Black Swan is merely ticking swashbuckler boxes and perhaps trying just a little too hard, without enough extra business to really keep the viewer interested. Yes, Powers was the right star for the job, yes it's nicely shot, but it is simply lacking in the spirit of fun and adventure that really makes the swashbuckler what it should be.