The Black Swan
by Henry King
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DVD Cover Information
Actor: George Sanders, Laird Cregar, Maureen O'Hara, Thomas Mitchell, Tyrone PowerDirector: Henry King
Brand: Fox
Cinematographer: Leon Shamroy
Editor: Barbara McLean
Producer: Darryl F. Zanuck
Producer: Robert Bassler
Writer: Ben Hecht
Writer: Rafael Sabatini
Writer: Seton I. Miller
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown), Dolby Digital 1.0; English (Subtitled); Spanish (Subtitled); English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 1.0; Spanish (Original Language), Dolby Digital 1.0; French (Dubbed), Dolby Digital 1.0; Spanish (Dubbed), Dolby Digital 1.0
Format: Color, Dubbed, Full Screen, Subtitled
Picture Format: 1.33:1
Running Time: 85 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2006-07-11
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Studio: 20th Century Fox
Movie Reviews of The Black Swan
Movie Review: Excellent on so many levels
Summary: 5 Stars
I first caught The Black Swan several years ago on television and was immediately blown away. Sure, it's just a Swashbuckler, just a Pirate film - with the usual plot, the usual bits and pieces. There's nothing outrageously distinctive about The Black Swan, at least at first sight. Ty Power stars as Jamie Boy, expert pirate who ends up by plot machinations in the employ of ex-pirate and now governer of Jamaica, Captain Morgan Laird Cregar). Morgan's been given a pardon for his dastardly deeds and with his new title attempts to rid the seas of the dastardly buccaneers, sending Jamie Boy off to find George Sanders' Captain Leech. Only there's a twist in the mix - and some dastardly fop's out to make a mockery of Morgan by using Leech as his private pirate to ruin the governer. To make matters worse Jamie not only seemingly disappears - apparently in league with the nefarious Leech, but he also kidnaps the previous governer's daughter, played with feistyness by Catherien O'Hara.....
So it's all the usual stuff - kidnapping, sword-fighting, stealing, drinking, pacts with arch enemies and stock characters throughout. But you know what - it's not that you know what you're getting, it's that you get a whole lot more than you ever thought you would. Sure, everything's the same, but somehow strangely different. The story and characters are as seen before - but with the likes of Sanders, Power and O'Hara as the love interest, and the great character actor Cregar playing against type - you have life breathed into the character's that's so often lacking. And the original story by one Rafael Sabatini - who also brought us Captain Blood and The Sea Hawk - is a rip-roaring boys-own adventure.
Director Henry King - no stranger to producing similar adventure styled flicks - cracks the picture along with some sense of urgency. It's a spare, fluid film with a simple, but fun, narrative and visual splendour that puts other films, even those made today, out to pasture.
This DVD manages to capture that splendour in abundance - the technicolor photography is gorgeously rendered herein, with all of the detailed production and costune design seen at its best. Just check out the restoration comparison to see how good. In addition the disc also features a fine commentary from historian Rudy Behlmer.
If you want a cracking piece of entertainment that puts shame to modern counterparts of the genre, look no further.
Summary of The Black Swan
Tyrone Power and Maureen O??Hara cross romantic swords in this epic Oscar(r)-winning* swashbuckler about a pirate determined to reform his thieving ways ?" after he steals one last heart!Recently reformed pirate Jamie Boy (Power) is supposed to be helping the new Governor of Jamaica, Captain Morgan, rid the Caribbean of black-hearted buccaneers. But when Jamie falls head over keel for the heavenly ?" but hotheaded ?" Lady Margaret (O??Hara), he gives caution the heave-ho, kidnaps Margaret and sets sail for the adventure of a lifetime! Packed with ??action, excitement, thundering guns and a maiden in distress? (Variety), this ??brawny, blood-curdling? (Look Magazine) high-seas saga that remains a rollicking, ??timeless pleasure? (Los Angeles Times)! * Best Cinematography, Color: Leon Shamroy, 1942.
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