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

Color:

Color (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:

The ship in the picture was also used in the films That Hamilton Woman (1941), The Princess and the Pirate (1944) and Captain Kidd (1945).

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:

Capt. Sir Henry Morgan: You do not *vote* pirates off the seas. You engage them, rake, and scuttle them. My lords and gentlemen, we have ships, brave captains, and fine crews. How do you stand on that, lads? Are you ready to do a little law-abiding killing for king and country?
Tom 'Tommy' Blue: It's better than none!

Movie Connections:

Featured in Pirates of Tortuga (1961)

Soundtrack:

Heave Ho

What is that?..........the devil looking after his own!

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. Tho this Henry King directed picture reeks of being an illegitimate child to Errol Flynn's fabulous 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 nomination for Alfred Newman's booming score and the one for 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. 7/10