6.9 | / 10 |
Users | 4.0 | |
Reviewer | 3.0 | |
Overall | 3.3 |
Recently reformed pirate Jamie Boy 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, he gives caution the heave-ho, kidnaps Margaret and sets sail for the adventure of a lifetime!
Starring: Tyrone Power, Maureen O'Hara, Laird Cregar, Thomas Mitchell (I), George Sanders (I)History | 100% |
Drama | Insignificant |
Adventure | Insignificant |
Family | Insignificant |
Action | Insignificant |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.37:1
English: DTS-HD Master Audio Mono
Spanish: Dolby Digital Mono
French: Dolby Digital Mono
English SDH, Spanish
25GB Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Region free
Movie | 3.5 | |
Video | 3.0 | |
Audio | 3.5 | |
Extras | 2.0 | |
Overall | 3.0 |
Maureen O’Hara was supposed to have made her on screen debut pairing with Tyrone Power in Fox’s Son of Fury, which shot throughout mid- to late 1941 and which premiered on January 1, 1942. O’Hara was initially cast as Isabel, cousin to Ty’s Benjamin Blake, the putative but duplicitous romantic interest for the film’s hero (yes, kissin' cousins indeed) until Gene Tierney’s island girl Eve entered the picture. Shortly after having been cast in the role, however, O’Hara came down with appendicitis and had to be replaced (in a kind of comedy of errors, her replacement, Cobina Wright, Jr., developed health issues of her own and was ultimately replaced by Frances Farmer, who gave a splendid performance in the film and then promptly dove off the deep end, spending the rest of the decade in and out of various mental institutions—which may indicate that Son of Fury was not conducive to its actors’ physical or mental health). Power and O’Hara were soon reteamed after O’Hara’s recovery in another Fox film which had actually been on the drawing board at least as long as Son of Fury had, but which for various reasons did not really get under production until 1942, and this time the teaming took. The Black Swan is based on a novel by Rafael Sabatini, whose work provided the sources for a number of classic swashbuckling films that appeared both before (The Sea Hawk, Captain Blood) and after (Scaramouche) this particular film. Like many of Sabatini’s other offerings, The Black Swan touches upon real historical elements (albeit in a highly fictionalized way) while also providing exotic locations and characters galore. Power, for all of his popularity during his heyday (and he was Fox's biggest male star during this period), simply didn’t have the same level of machismo that Errol Flynn, who became famous in a couple of those other Sabatini adaptation, did. Power had an almost feminine beauty, and he often seemed too much of a pretty boy to authoritatively pull off rougher hewn characters. That may be one reason why The Black Swan, for all its pleasures, doesn’t quite kick up the dust in the same way that other Sabatini sparked tales did on the screen. This is still an incredibly lavish Fox production that won an Oscar for its Technicolor cinematography, as well as nominations for its special effects and music, and it’s an enjoyable romp which provides both Power and O'Hara good showcases, while also giving great character actors like Laird Cregar, George Sanders (who had co-starred in Son of Fury) and Thomas Mitchell ample opportunity to not only chew put perhaps even digest large swaths of the very pretty scenery.
The Black Swan is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.33:1. As Maureen O'Hara mentions in the commentary track, she was actually stunned at what low light levels Leon Shamroy utilized for much of this shoot, as well as his then revolutionary technique of aiming colored gel lights at white walls in order to "paint" backgrounds with colors. Unfortunately, much of that original luster is lost in this high definition presentation from the many times mentioned tragedy of Fox discarding many of their original Technicolor elements in the 1970s. We've seen this same sad situation in previous vintage Fox Technicolor releases like Drums Along The Mohawk, and in some ways The Black Swan looks better—at least relatively speaking—than that film does. Flesh tones are a bit more pleasing and some of the hues—notably purples, blues and yellows, look fairly good, even if they're lacking those beautifully creamy three strip Technicolor highlights (reds, as they so often tend to do in restorations like this, just don't have the original Technicolor pop and look slightly orange or even brown-orange some of the time). The dupe elements here are awfully "contrasty" at times, and unfortunately Shamroy's low light cinematography often ends up looking murky and ill defined, with little if any shadow detail. I'd actually rate this a quarter point or so higher than Drums Along the Mohawk, if only because the brightly lit sequences achieve a minimal pop at times which at least hints at the original three strip Technicolor look. All of this said, this is not a horrible looking transfer, and Fox has no doubt done the best it could with extremely problematic elements. While there may have been some minimal sharpening done (perhaps to help with some of the aforementioned problems), nothing looks overly digital and there is a healthy layer of grain in evidence.
The Black Swan's lossless DTS-HD Master Audio Mono mix can't completely overcome the limitations of that era's recording technologies, especially with regard to Alfred Newman's obviously Erich Wolfgang Korngold inspired score, which sounds a bit boxy and tinny. Dialogue fares much better, with a clean if not expecially boisterous rendering. Given reasonable expectations, no one should be surprised or disappointed with the sound of this track.
The Black Swan may not have either the action or romantic energy of some of the other Sabatini inspired films, but that doesn't mean it isn't quite enjoyable on its own merits. Power may not be overly believable as a pirate, but he does just fine in his romantic skirmishes with O'Hara, who is her typically tempestuous self. The supporting cast is one of the chief pleasures here, as is the cinematography of Shamroy and the music of Newman (even if neither quite makes an easy transition to high definition). Recommended.
Warner Archive Collection
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Limited Edition to 3000
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