The Black Swan (1942)

User Rating:

7.0/10   

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 | Jamaica | Henry Morgan | 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 Blue
George Sanders	...	Capt. Billy Leech
Anthony Quinn	...	Wogan
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:

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 Pirates of Tortuga (1961)

Soundtrack:

Heave Ho

Romance and Adventure in Full Sail

This may be an "escapist" movie but it's one of my very favorites: rich technicolor, clever romantic repartee in the script . . . plus Tyrone Power in a red & black outfit "to die for." When old Ty wasn't trying to appear rough and tough with a few hairs and some stray wine drops on his chest, that is (I think they used to shave chests then, along with pit hair).

FUN! This movie proves you don't even have to have a sex scene to get your imagination working and then some.

Throw in some fencing (Tyrone did his own), plenty of tall ships, excellent secondary role actors, including George Sanders and Anthony Quinn. Wow, all I can say is this movie was so good, I bought it so I can see it over and over again.