The Black Swan

"Seas ablaze...with black villainy, with fiery romance, with breathless deeds of daring...in the roaring era of love, gold, and adventure!"

1942 1h 27m EN

👍

6.5

SOLID

🍅

83%

FRESH

⭐

6.7

IMDB

★6.5TMDB · 98🍅83%Rotten Tomatoes★6.7IMDB · 5,389

AdventureRomance

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

When notorious pirate Henry Morgan is made governor of Jamaica, he enlists the help of some of his former partners in ridding the Caribbean of buccaneers. When one of them apparently abducts the previous governor's pretty daughter and joins up with the rebels, things are set for a fight.

“Seas ablaze...with black villainy, with fiery romance, with breathless deeds of daring...in the roaring era of love, gold, and adventure!”

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Cast

Tyrone Power
Jamie Waring
Maureen O'Hara
Lady Margaret Denby
Laird Cregar
Captain Henry Morgan
Thomas Mitchell
Tommy Blue
George Sanders
Captain Billy Leech
Anthony Quinn
Wogan
George Zucco
Lord Denby
Edward Ashley
Roger Ingram (uncredited)

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Henry King
Writers: Ben Hecht, Seton I. Miller
Languages: Spanish, English
Countries: United States of America

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

RUNTIME

Did you know

87 minutes exactly — the "classic feature" runtime most directors aim for.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

MONEY

Did you know

Shot for just $1.5M — micro-budget by Hollywood standards.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

MONEY

Did you know

Made its money back 3.8× over at the box office.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

ERA

Did you know

84 years old — a genuine piece of film history.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

WORLD

Did you know

Dialogue crosses 2 languages: Spanish, English.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Henry King, shot by Leon Shamroy. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Original score by David Buttolph. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Barbara McLean shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Henry King directs. Leon Shamroy behind the camera. David Buttolph scores. Barbara McLean cuts. Runs lean at under 100 minutes. Made its budget back several times over at the box office. Produced in United States of America. Dialogue in Spanish, English.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

187 minutes exactly — the "classic feature" runtime most directors aim for.
2Shot for just $1.5M — micro-budget by Hollywood standards.
3Made its money back 3.8× over at the box office.
484 years old — a genuine piece of film history.
5Dialogue crosses 2 languages: Spanish, English.
6Directed by Henry King, shot by Leon Shamroy. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
7Original score by David Buttolph. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
8Editor Barbara McLean shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
9Tyrone Power and Maureen O'Hara and Laird Cregar carry the top of the cast.
10Marketing tagline: "Seas ablaze...with black villainy, with fiery romance, with breathless deeds of daring...in the roaring era of love, gold, and adventure!".
11IMDB entry: tt0034522 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
12Only 98 TMDB ratings — you're getting ahead of the curve on this one.
13Classified under 26 themes, including "based on novel or book", "horseback riding", "kidnapping", "venezuela".
14Released under 29 different titles around the world.

The technical file

Cinematography: Leon Shamroy
Original score: David Buttolph
Editing: Barbara McLean
Costume design: Earl Luick
Makeup / hair: Guy Pearce
Runtime: 87 min · 1h 27m
Status: Released
Budget: $1,493,800
Box office: $5,727,000
Return: 383% of budget
Original language: EN
IMDB: The Black Swan (1942)
Rotten Tomatoes: 83% 🍅 Fresh
IMDB rating: 6.7/10 · 5,389 votes
MPAA: Approved

Awards

Won 1 Oscar. 3 wins & 2 nominations total

Academy Award for Best Cinematography, Color

Individual records documented via Wikidata; the summary above may count more.

Also by

Henry King

Trailers & featurettes

Watch the pieces

Community reviews

What people are saying

John Chard2019-12-21
★ 8/10
Clear the deck for action, Henry. Here comes the lass broadside! This is the story of the Spanish Main, when villainy wore a sash, and the only political creed in the world was, love, gold ........ and adventure! The Black Swan finds Tyrone Power at his swashbuckling best, here as James "Boy" Waring, a pirate starting to find his conscience as he starts to find love, Power is devilishly handsome and swaggers about with knowingly comic abandon. Though this Henry King directed picture reeks of being an illegitimate child to "Errol Flynn's" superior "Captain Blood", it has such a great sense of fun and high production values, it really doesn't matter one jot. The colour cinematography from Leon Shamroy rightly won an Academy Award, whilst the nominations for Alfred Newman's booming score and the one for the special effects team were very much deserved. The other thing to note is the fabulous costumes courtesy of Earl Luick, splendid attire, none more so than evidenced by Laird Cregar's joyous Henry Morgan. George Sanders and a ravishing Maureen O'Hara are in on the fun and really it's a film that to me is impossible not to enjoy, so avast yee lubbers and buckle up your swash. 7/10
CinemaSerf2022-06-26
★ 7/10
Tyrone Power and Maureen O'Hara are on good form for this 17th century pirate tale. When Sir Henry Morgan (Laird Cregar) is appointed Governor of Jamaica by the king, he is charged with bringing order to the lawless seas of the Caribbean. United with his friend "Capt. Jamie" (Power) he takes over from George Zucco's "Lord Denby", who just happens to have a rather feisty daughter "Margaret" (O'Hara). Pretty quickly the dashing "Jamie" is a bit smitten with her and the two develop a sort of can't stand to be with/without you sort of rapport! Meantime, sceptical fellow captain "Leech" (a slightly out of shape George Sanders) is having none of this new world order, and working in cahoots with a well placed spy is hoovering up the loot from some prize merchant ships. Facing impeachment in Kingston, it falls to Morgan and his loved-up sidekick to impose law and order. It's quite an enjoyable swashbuckling adventure, this. There are some good character parts for Zucco, Cregan and the always reliable Thomas Mitchell ("Billy Blue") with plenty of sword play and the romance between the two stars is entertaining rather than sentimental. Nobody's best work, but still a perfectly watchable 90 minutes of colourful and entertaining action on the high seas.