Tyrone Power, Jr.

THE BLACK SWAN

20th Century Fox, 1942.  Directed by Henry King.  Camera:  Leon Shamroy.  With Tyrone Power, Jr., Maureen O'Hara, Laird Cregar, Thomas Mitchell, George Sanders, Anthony Quinn, George Zucco.

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In 1674, pirate James Waring is captured during a raid on a Jamaican town.  The Spanish Don Miguel puts Jamie on the rack to question him about his commander, Captain Henry Morgan, who Jamie maintains is in England about to be hanged for piracy.  Jamie is rescued by his compatriot, Tommy Blue, but they are stopped from torturing Don Miguel by Lord Denby, the English governor of Jamaica.

Jamie does not believe it when Denby tells them that Spain and England have signed a peace treaty, and he decides to hang Denby for sending Morgan to trial.  Jamie also tangles with Denby's high-spirited, beautiful daughter Margaret but, before he can carry out his plans, Morgan arrives.  At a meeting of the pirates that evening, Morgan explains that he has received a pardon from King Charles II and has been made the new governor of Jamaica.  In return, Morgan has promised to rid the Caribbean of pirates and maintain the peace between England and Spain.  Morgan tells the men that if they will lay down their arms, they will receive a pardon and one hundred acres of land, but that if they do not, he will hunt them down.  Captain Billy Leech and his second-in-command, Wogan, refuse to join and vow to take their ship, the Black Swan, to Maracaibo.

Morgan takes Jamie and Tommy with him to the Government House in Port Royal, where he is sworn in by the reluctant assembly, which makes clear its animosity.  Jamie attempts to romance Margaret, but she states that she prefers her fiancée, Roger Ingram.  Unknown to Margaret, Ingram has leaked information about an English treasure ship to Leech and, soon after, Leech plunders the ship and gives the captain's share to Ingram.  Determined to capture Leech, Morgan sends Jamie after him, but Leech is able to elude him and plunder more English ships with Ingram's help.

When Jamie returns to Port Royal to report his failure, the assembly votes to impeach Morgan, and Ingram states that he and Margaret will sail to England to take the news to the king.  Morgan orders Jamie to capture Leech, and Jamie, determined to prevent Margaret's marriage to Ingram, shanghais her.  They soon run into Leech, and in order to apprehend him, Jamie pretends to join him.  Jamie and Leech sail to Maracaibo, where Morgan, who has had to flee Port Royal due to the outcry over Margaret's abduction, awaits them.  Morgan believes that Jamie is in league with Leech but, after a fierce battle between the opposing forces, Jamie kills Leech and convinces Morgan of his loyalty.  Morgan still insists that Jamie be hanged because of his treatment of Margaret, but she declares that she accompanied him of her own free will.

Soon after, during their return to Jamaica, Margaret lovingly calls Jamie "Jamie Boy" three times, as he had predicted that she would.

American Film Institute Catalog

Additional photos courtesy of Gary, and poster artwork courtesy of Dieter