The Black Swan (1942)

Directed by Henry King; produced by Robert Bassler

The famous privateer Henry Morgan (Laird Cregar) has been made governor of Jamaica, with a commission to impose peace on the Caribbean in the wake of a treaty between England and Spain. Some of his old comrades are reluctant to give up their piratical ways, so Jamie Waring (Tyrone Power), one of Morgan’s best captains, is given the task of bringing them to heel. Complicating matters is a treacherous nobleman (Edward Ashley) and a beautiful woman (Maureen O’Hara).

Inspired, rather than based, on the book by Rafael Sabatini (a polymath so adept at languages he chose to write in English, which he learned only as an adolescent), the prolific writer of historical fiction, The Black Swan possesses a script by Ben Hecht and Seton I. Miller; the story is a good one. Ample scope is given for sea-battles, sword-play and romance.

The performers are equal to the authors, with popular leading players Power and O’Hara, with excellent support from Cregar and Thomas Mitchell (in an unlikely role as Waring’s first mate). And yet The Black Swan is not quite a satisfying movie. Why not?

I think one of the problems is Tyrone Power. It’s not that he isn’t a fine actor. His many rôles demonstrate that he was always more than a matinée idol. In fact, I have found that he is better in heavier drama (such as The Razor’s Edge) than in lighter work, like The Black Swan. As well, his dark, brooding appearance, always giving the impression of something troubling him, lends itself better to the former genre than the latter. A comparison may be made to Errol Flynn, who was cast in two other screen adaptations of Sabatini’s work, The Sea Hawk and Captain Blood. In each of these, there is the typical Flynn devil-may-care attitude to the character, which is missing in Power’s Jamie Waring. In short, Waring is simply not an engaging character.

O’Hara, too, gives a strong but almost unsympathetic performance. (She and Anthony Quinn, who plays a Leech’s first mate, re-united almost fifty years later for Only the Lonely (1991).) More interesting are Cregar’s Morgan and George Sanders as Bobby Leech. The remarkable Laird Cregar, who died at thirty-one but always seemed cast as much older men, gives an excellent performance as the erstwhile privateer. As interpreted by Cregar, Morgan strives to achieve something loftier than mere battle and pillage, to justify society’s new faith in him, but always with an eye to happier days. This is the most intriguing character in the movie.

Sanders is unrecognizable in red curls and a full ginger beard, playing an atypical role as a privateer who was never far from piracy. His Leech is a world away, yet just around the corner, from most of the villains Sanders otherwise portrayed. As the hero’s adversary in The Black Swan, Sanders, too, added to the picture.

Another disadvantage is the script, rather than the story. Though written by two of the best screenwriters in Hollywood, it nonetheless omits much of what could have made the lead characters sympathetic, especially Power’s. The first we see of Jamie Waring, he and Leech are destroying a Spanish colonial town, carrying off gold and women as prizes. Unlike Flynn’s Peter Blood, there is no regret in Waring, no remorse for his misdeeds. Further, we know nothing of his past. At one point, he starts to relate his history but progresses only a few sentences before he is interrupted.

In its favour, The Black Swan has some fine action, though this is slow to work its way to the screen. The 1930s and ‘40s seemed to contrive realistic and exciting film from the combined effects of models and live-action that computer-graphics certainly can’t match. And the inevitable sword-fight between Waring and Leech is conducted so vigorously that their blades can barely be seen.

Even so, The Black Swan, for its high-powered stars, vibrant colour (for which O’Hara’s red hair and green eyes could have been made) and exuberance is missing something that other pirate movies seemed to find almost by default. As entertainment, it can’t quite rise above adequate.