Review of The Black Swan (1942) by Kurt T — 08 Feb 2011

I've got all the classics under my belt now that I have TMC (Turner Classic Movies), though my first shot with it wasn't too substantial. The Black Swan's first twenty-minutes begin with a hefty bit of action,--sword battles with some Pirates yelling argh and all that jazz--, and slightly develops the whole plot structure. Though with all this being said, many attractions I have with the genre are not fully explored.

The interwoven narrative is rather complex, yet easy to depict. This Academy Award winner starts with a man, Jamie Waring (Tyrone Power), on the threat of torture if he doesn't cooperate, and tell them where his Captain, sir Henry Morgan (Laird Cregar), is located. He diverts to the noble figure, and knocks off a couple witty jokes. Before his sentence to be tortured is fulfilled, Jamie's fellow pirates enter the building of which he was being held.

Jamie Waring is let go and sir Henry Morgan becomes King. Though with him being under the king's wing and having many treasures, Jamie falls in love with the previous king's daughter, Lady Margaret Denby (Maureen O'Hara).

The acting is not to my standards of good. Though the actors have a couple scenes of realism, they mostly delve into '40's melodrama. Jamie's love interest, played by Maureen O'Hara, can release her fair share of involving emotions. Though lightly, the main protagonist, played by Tyrone Power, can too; but, in hindsight, it all just seems so fake.

I did enjoy all the battle sequences that were the doing for its visual effects nomination, but the climax is very much unfulfilling, in my desire to seam the narrative together, and relentlessly dull. All together, I feel The Black Swan manages to lighten a realistic battle, but just never really follows through enough on characterization and narrative structure to be labelled an epic.