Main Cast: Tyrone Power, Maureen O'Hara, Laird Cregar, Thomas Mitchell, George Sanders
Release Year: 1942
Country: US
Run Time: 85 minutes
Plot
Perhaps unintentionally, the 1942 Technicolor swashbuckler The Black Swan is a bondage fetishist's dream, with hero and heroine Tyrone Power and Maureen O'Hara taking turns being tied up and imprisoned throughout the film's brisk 85-minute running time. Very loosely adapted by Ben Hecht and Seton I. Miller from a novel by Rafael Sabatini, the film casts Power as rogueish, hot-tempered buccaneer Jamie Waring, who considers the day wasted when he hasn't sacked a Spanish galleon or plundered a rich coastal town. Jamie's partner in crime is pirate king Henry Morgan Laird Cregar, an alliance that comes to an end when Morgan is appointed governor of Jamaica. Disgusted by this defection, Jamie considers joining the scurrilous Redbeard George Sanders, but eventually decides to reform his ways when he falls in love with Margaret Denby Maureen O'Hara, the gorgeous daughter of the former Jamaican governor Lord Denby George Zucco. Before the final obligatory sail into the sunset, however, Margaret is kidnapped and manhandled on a seemingly hourly basis, while Jamie is subjected to even more abuse at the hands of pirates and officials alike. Henry King handles the derring-do in Black Swan with commendable sobriety, leaving the story's tongue-in-cheek elements in the capable hands of the cast and the screenwriters. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Review
One of the best pirate movies ever made, The Black Swan is full of swashbuckling action heroes, saber-rattling swordfights, and plenty of derring-do. Laird Cregar stars as Morgan the Pirate, who is made governor of Jamaica and enlists the help of a fellow buccaneer (Tyrone Power) to help restore law and order to the Caribbean seas. The love interest is Maureen O'Hara, and the plot is an excuse for rousing adventure sequences both on land and at sea. Cinematographer Leon Shamroy won an Oscar for his majestic color photography, and the film proved popular with World War II American audiences looking for escapism. Veteran crowd-pleasing director Henry King was at the helm. ~ Michael Betzold, All Movie Guide
After England and Spain make peace, notorious pirateHenry Morgan (Laird Cregar) decides to reform. As a reward, he is made Governor of Jamaica, with a mandate to rid the Caribbean of his former comrades, by persuasion or force if necessary. He replaces the former governor, Lord Denby (George Zucco), but is not trusted by either the lawful residents or the pirates.
Captain Jamie Waring (Tyrone Power) and his lieutenant, Tom Blue (Thomas Mitchell), reluctantly give up their "trade" out of friendship with Morgan, but others of the Pirate Brotherhood, such as Captain Billy Leech (George Sanders) and Wogan (Anthony Quinn), refuse to change. Meanwhile, Waring takes a liking to Denby's daughter, Lady Margaret (Maureen O'Hara), who happens to be inconveniently engaged to an English gentleman. As it turns out, her fiancé is secretly providing information about ship sailings to the unrepentant pirates.
When Morgan is unable to stop the depredations of his old shipmates, he is suspected of still being allied with them. It is up to Waring to set sail to get to the bottom of things (kidnapping Lady Margaret in the process so she can get to know him better).
