Seas ablaze...with black villainy, with fiery romance, with breathless deeds of daring...in the roaring era of love, gold, and adventure!
When notorious pirate Henry Morgan is made governor of Jamaica, he enlists the help of some of his former partners in ridding the Caribbean of buccaneers. When one of them apparently abducts the previous governor's pretty daughter and joins up with the rebels, things are set for a fight.
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Classical in form, resolved, effortless and nostalgic.
- classical in formformally daring
- resolvedopen-ended
- effortlessdemanding
- contemporarynostalgic
- character-ledplot-driven
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“Is Tyrone Power the best thing in The Black Swan?”
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Reviews on TMDB
Written by TMDB members; each links to the original. Not part of Tastebuds's numbers.
- CinemaSerfon TMDB · Jun 20227/10
Tyrone Power and Maureen O'Hara are on good form for this 17th century pirate tale. When Sir Henry Morgan (Laird Cregar) is appointed Governor of Jamaica by the king, he is charged with bringing order to the lawless seas of the Caribbean. United with his friend "Capt. Jamie" (Power) he takes over from George Zucco's "Lord Denby", who just happens to have a rather feisty daughter "Margaret" (O'Hara). Pretty quickly the dashing "Jamie" is a bit smitten with her and the two develop a sort of can't stand to be with/without you sort of rapport! Meantime, sceptical fellow captain "Leech" (a slightly out of shape George Sanders) is having none of this new world order, and working in cahoots with a well placed spy is hoovering up the loot from some prize merchant ships. Facing impeachment in Kingston, it falls to Morgan and his loved-up sidekick to impose law and order. It's quite an enjoyable swashbuckling adventure, this. There are some good character parts for Zucco, Cregan and the always reliable Thomas Mitchell ("Billy Blue") with plenty of sword play and the romance between the two stars is entertaining rather than sentimental. Nobody's best work, but still a perfectly watchable 90 m
Read the whole review on TMDB - John Chardon TMDB · Dec 20198/10
Clear the deck for action, Henry. Here comes the lass broadside! 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. 7/10
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Cast
- Tyrone PowerJamie Waring
- Maureen O'HaraLady Margaret Denby
- Laird CregarCaptain Henry Morgan
- Thomas MitchellTommy Blue
- George SandersCaptain Billy Leech
- Anthony QuinnWogan
- George ZuccoLord Denby
- Edward AshleyRoger Ingram (uncredited)
- Bonnie BannonLady in Waiting in the Courtroom (uncredited)
- Fortunio BonanovaDon Miguel (uncredited)
Crew
- Henry KingDirector
- Ben HechtScreenplay
- Seton I. MillerScreenplay
- Rafael SabatiniNovel
- Leon ShamroyDirector of Photography
- David ButtolphOriginal Music Composer
- Hugo FriedhoferOriginal Music Composer
- Alfred NewmanOriginal Music Composer
- Barbara McLeanEditor
- Robert BasslerProducer
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