Review of The Black Swan (1942) by Steve W — 27 Feb 2016

Although it won an Oscar for best color cinematography, The Black Swan is a rather lacklustre swashbuckler. Perhaps the genre was worn out after the 1930s and the era of Errol Flynn and all those Alexandre Dumas stories.

Indeed, this film shares strong similarities with Flynn's Captain Blood (1935) which is much better. Tyrone Power is good here, but although he was known for adventure films, I liked him better in later darker films such as The Razor's Edge (1946) or Nightmare Alley (1947).

Also, there are some funny character turns here: Laird Cregar as a mountainous Captain Morgan (yes, of the rum) and George Sanders unrecognizable in a wild red hair and beard as Captain Billy Leach. Maureen O'Hara is fine as Powers' love interest but her scenes are rather static.

All told, this is fine Saturday afternoon fare but look to the earlier decade for the good stuff.