The Black Swan (1942)

Information from IMDb

Plot Summary
When notorious pirate Henry Morgan is made governor of Jamaica,
he enlists the help of some of his former partners in ridding the Carribean 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.
Written by Jeremy Perkins

Full Cast
Tyrone Power .... Jamie Waring
Maureen O'Hara .... Lady Margaret Denby
Laird Cregar .... Captain Sir Henry Morgan
Thomas Mitchell .... Tom Blue
George Sanders .... Captain Billy Leech
Anthony Quinn .... Wogan
George Zucco .... Lord Denby
Edward Ashley .... Roger Ingram (uncredited)
Fortunio Bonanova .... Don Miguel (uncredited)
John Burton .... Captain Blaine (uncredited)
Rita Christiani .... Dancer (uncredited)
Helene Costello .... Woman (uncredited)
Bryn Davis .... Woman (uncredited)
William Edmunds .... Town Crier (uncredited)
Charles Francis .... Captain Higgs (uncredited)
Willie Fung .... Chinese Cook (uncredited)
Jody Gilbert .... Fat Woman with Tommy (uncredited)
Arthur Gould-Porter .... Assemblyman (uncredited)
Keith Hitchcock .... Majordomo (uncredited)
Olaf Hytten .... Clerk Reading Proclamation (uncredited)
Boyd Irwin .... Assemblyman (uncredited)
Charles Irwin .... Sea Captain (uncredited)
George Kirby .... Assemblyman (uncredited)
Frank Leigh .... Sea Captain (uncredited)
Cyril McLaglen .... Captain Jones (uncredited)
Charles McNaughton .... Mr. Fenner (uncredited)
Clarence Muse .... Margaret's Servant (uncredited)
Stuart Robertson .... Captain Graham (uncredited)
C. Montague Shaw .... Assemblyman (uncredited)
Arthur Shields .... The Bishop (uncredited)
David Thursby .... Sea Captain (uncredited)
Frederick Worlock .... Speaker of Assembly (uncredited)

Writing Credits
Rafael Sabatini (novel)
Seton I. Miller (adaptation)
Ben Hecht (screenplay) and
Seton I. Miller (screenplay)

Produced
Robert Bassler .... producer
Darryl F. Zanuck .... executive producer (uncredited)

Original Music
Alfred Newman (also song "Heave Ho")

Trivia
To help out the war effort, the actors tried hard to keep the number of takes low so as to conserve film. Roughly thirty of the scenes were done in one take.
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The ship in the picture was also used in the films That Hamilton Woman, The Princess and the Pirate and Captain Kidd.

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.

Three of the cast-members in "The Black Swan" won Supporting Actor Oscars at some point in their careers: Thomas Mitchell for Stagecoach, George Sanders for All About Eve, and Anthony Quinn for both Viva Zapata! and Lust for Life.

The original ending was scrapped and a new one shot so that the film would pass the censor. The original ending had both Tyrone Power's and Maureen O'Hara's character jumping into the sea.

"Heave Ho" (1942)
Music and Lyrics by Alfred Newman
Played during the opening credits and sung by an offscreen chorus

Awards: Won Oscar. Another 2 nominations

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.

Anachronisms: The ships are fairly authentic looking for the era, but they are being steered by a wheel. This came into fashion some 25 years after the story takes place. A common error in pirate movies.

Revealing mistakes: When the pirate ship runs aground in the climax, the island moves.

Anachronisms: The story is set in 1674, during the reign of King Charles II. But throughout the film the British flag is the familiar "Union Jack," not in use until the union of England and Scotland in 1707.

Anachronisms: In an scene of this movie, which is set in 1674, Jamie tells Lady Margaret not to be a snob. According to Webster's Dictionary, the first recorded usage of the word snob comes from 1781.

Revealing mistakes: The movie is set in 1679. But one of the maps is mislabeled to indicate the year is 1697.

Continuity: At the beginning of the film, when Jamie is on the stretching board the camera angle repeatedly switches from a close-up to a wide angle and back again. Every time the close-up is shown, Jamie is looking over his right shoulder. When the camera switches to wide angle, Jamie is always looking straight forward.

Audio/visual unsynchronized: When Jamie slaps Lady Denby, the sound effect for the slap comes noticeably late - Jamie's hand is long past her face when the effect is played.

Continuity: About 2/3 of the way into the movie, Jamie and Captain Leach are talking on the deck of Jamie's ship. Lady Denby opens the door to the cabin to observe. This door is then shown several times over the course of the scene and the door is closed. Near the end of the scene Lady Denby is shown closing the door; the same door which had just been shown several times as closed.

Continuity: About 2/3 of the way into the movie, after Lady Denby exits the cabin to come out on deck, she is standing next to, and then directly behind Jamie. She is standing so close as to be touching him. The camera angle then changes to show her at least a foot behind Jamie, no longer touching him.

Memorable Quotes

Filming Locations
Cuba
Florida, USA
Griffith Park - 4730 Crystal Springs Drive, Los Angeles, California, USA
Honduras
Mexico
Port Royal, Jamaica
Stage 6, 20th Century Fox Studios - 10201 Pico Blvd., Century City, Los Angeles, California, USA

The Black Swan is a 1942 swashbuckler Technicolor film by Henry King,
based on a novel by Rafael Sabatini,
and starring Tyrone Power and Maureen O'Hara.
It was nominated for three Academy Awards,
and won one for Best Cinematography, Color.

An exciting swashbuckling drama on the high seas.
Tyrone 'Jesse James' Power, and our girl Maureen.
A number of Duke's co-stars in here,
Thomas Mitchell,as Tom Blue,
George Sanders, Anthony Quinn, Arthur Shields,
and Cyril McLaglen, brother of,
yes, you've guessed it, Victor!

User Review

Author: bkoganbing

Quote

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

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Just watched this again.
It's OK, it's all too 'studio' based
to be takem seriously, and having seen Maureen with Duke,
it was not anywhere near as compelling with Tyrone!!