THE BLACK ROSE
US, 1950, 116 minutes, Colour.
Tyrone Power, Orson Welles, Cecile Aubrey, Jack Hawkins, Michael Rennie, Finlay Currie, Herbert Lom, Mary Clare, Robert Blake, James Robertson Justice, Laurence Harvey.
Directed by Henry Hathaway.
The Black Rose was made at the same time as Prince of Foxes, a film about the Borgias, also starring Tyrone Power and Orson Welles. This film gets the Technicolor treatment and is set in the clash of Saxons and Normans. Two brothers, Tyrone Power and Jack Hawkins, leave England and go to the east, to the kingdom of the Bayan. There they are educated, are attracted by Maryam (Cecile Aubry), the Black Rose herself.
Eventually, of course, in this kind of action drama, it leads to confrontations and battles.
Tyrone Power was popular at 20th Century-Fox? around 1950 and appeared in very many films including another action feature of the late 40s, The Captain from Castille. Orson Welles had appeared as Cagliostro in Black Magic and as Harry Lime in The Third Man in the preceding year. Jack Hawkins was emerging as a strong British lead actor and the British cast includes Michael Rennie who was going to move to Hollywood, the veteran Finlay Currie, the ever-present Herbert Lom as well as James Robertson Justice and Laurence Harvey in an early role. Robert Blake appears as a youngster.
The film was directed by Henry Hathaway who had directed the first Technicolor western, Trail of the Lonesome Pine, directing many action adventures, often with John Wayne including his Oscar-winning role in True Grit as well as The Sons of Katie Elder.
1. How enjoyable and interesting a film? Its serious intentions, entertainment intentions?
2. The appeal of Mediaeval films to the modern audience? Another world, another outlook, costumes and pageantry? The demands on the mediaeval person?
3. The use of colour, sets, England, the cast? The quality of spectacle in the film, though not an emphasis on great adventure?
4. Comment on the issues presented in Norman/Saxon England. Political questions, families, hostility, suspicion? The effect on Walter and Tristram? The detailed characterizations of the characters involved in these clashes?
5. Walter as the hero of the film? Saxon background, his place in the family, loyalty to the King, the trickery in the family, the purposes and motivations? Walter’s decision to be a soldier of fortune, the mediaeval man wandering Europe and the east? The series of adventures, heroism, relationships? The influence of the Bayan, the relationship with the Black Rose? Fighting, scientific discoveries? An exotic way of life? The contrast with Tristram? How had he changed when he returned?
6. His strong vindication of himself at his return? His change of character, the revelation of the truth, his vengeance? The ending?
7. The contrast with the character of Tristram? In England, his abilities as a bowman? Travels, shared with Walter? The influence of the east, of the Bayan? Friendship, the parting of the ways, rescue and death? The qualities of character in Tristram?
8. The characterization of the Bayan? The exotic atmosphere of the east? His power and manipulation? His being tricked?
9. The Black Rose herself? Exotic, a mixture of east and west? A heroine? For this film?
10. The creation of the eastern atmosphere, the desert, the wanderers, battles, scientific adventure? The legends of people like Marco Polo? The characters at the Court of the Bayan?
11. The strength of the delineation of the characters in the east and the western segments of the film?
12. Themes of adventure, heroism, power, honour, vindication of oneself?
