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By
NICK ZEGARAC
Based on Thomas B. Costain's
novel, Henry Hathaway's The Black Rose (1950) is
an absurd and wholly unconvincing epic. It starts
in England where Saxon bastard, Walter of Gurnie
(Tyrone Power) has returned to his father's house
for the reading of his will, only to discover that
he has been left nothing but his father's boots
and a last request to join the alliance of the new
Normand king of England, Edward (Michael Rennie).
At least, that's how things appear on the surface.
Bitter, Walter vows to leave England forever with
fellow social outcast and superb archer, Tristram
Griffin (Jack Hawkins).
Together, the men journey all the way to the Far
East where they encounter the ruthless marauding
desert pirates overseen by the Bayan (Orson
Welles). Impressed with Walter's gallantry --
though nevertheless not understanding it -- the
Bayan employs Walter as his scholarly guide to aid
in his crusade of conquering China after Tristram
wins an archery contest in the Bayan's camp.
If you think the story is already weird, it gets
positively ridiculous with the introduction of
Maryam (Cecile Aubry); a white girl who speaks
broken English and is imprisoned by the Bayan;
known only to others in the camp as 'the black
rose.' Impersonating a servant boy, Maryam escapes
the Bayan and hides in Walter and Tristram's tent
which will spell certain death for all if she is
discovered. But who has time to go searching for
an errant girl when there is the whole of China to
conquer?
Tristram and Walter quarrel and part company, the
former leaving with Maryam while Walter pursues
the Bayan's campaign of slaughter across the
Chinese countryside. Eventually, the Bayan sends
Walter on a mission to enter the Forbidden City.
But Walter is apprehended by the Chinese and
imprisoned along with Tristram and Maryam in the
palace by the Empress, who believes that their
white skin is an omen of sacred protection for her
people against the Bayan's forces.
The narrative, such as it is, is condensed so that
no time is allotted for explanation of any of its
individual threads. Instead, the audience is moved
from one plot line to the next in a rapid
succession of vignettes that are episodic at best
and really do not make much sense when strung
together.
As the Englishman who renounces his country, then
miraculously comes to his senses and rejoins his
people and his king back home, Power looks quite
silly and unconvincing in his Arab garb. Orson
Welles is barely recognizable as the Bayan,
overplaying his hand with charismatic, though
overwhelming aplomb. Cecile Aubry is not a very
compelling heroine. There is virtually no sex
appeal to the scenes she shares with Power and
their on-screen chemistry is practically
nonexistent. Quite frankly, there's more of an
emotional attachment between Walter and Tristram
than there is between Walter and Maryam.
Fox Home Video's DVD is a tad disappointing.
Little has been done to restore or preserve the
film's original lush Technicolor palette. Colors
are inconsistently rendered and can appear quite
blocky and thick at times. Flesh tones are either
garishly pink or overly orange. The image
fluctuates from reasonably sharp and nicely
contrasted, to darkly rendered with clotted up
colors and an inherent loss of fine detail. The
audio has been rechanneled to stereo. The original
mono is also represented. A brief featurette with
the surviving members of Tyrone Power's immediate
family, a stills gallery and theatrical trailer
are the only extras. |
