Emblem of sadness The story of an ardent medieval young man who did not accept the fact that his native England was ruled by the Normans - although two hundred years have passed since the Conquest. Together with his friend, he leaves the country and goes in search of wealth and adventure, and finds love.
Such a simple plot, spoiled by an unsuccessful casting. Neither Tyrone Power nor Jack Hawkins are suitable for their roles. When 36-year-old Power is called a schoolboy, immediately recalls the “eternal student” Petya Trofimov. But the main problem, not to say “disaster” is the performer of the central female role. I may be biased, but if the heroine is beautiful, then the actress should at least be pretty, not flaunt horse teeth.
The advantages of “Black Rose” include the fact that the film is very vivid. In addition, Henry Hathaway collected an excellent background: Michael Rennie – the wise King Edward I, trying to reconcile the Normans and Saxons, veteran Finlay Curry – the stern grandfather of Walter, savage merchants Alfonso Bedoya and Herbert Lom and, of course, the magnificent Orson Welles in the role of a Mongolian commander with the name Bayan caress the Russian ear. The trouble is that in “Black Rose” there is no one to empathize: neither the “schoolboy” who renounces his homeland, nor the girl who blackmails her to take her to England, cause the slightest sympathy.
Tyrone Power is certainly one of the most unrealized actors in Old Hollywood. Another “cloak and sword hero” – Errol Flynn – in the filmography there are “Morning Patrol”, “Doubtful Glory”, “The Private Life of Elizabeth and Essex”, “False Alert”. The same “Adventures of Robin Hood” is an order of magnitude higher than most of Power’s paintings. And the fact that he starred in the unconditional masterpiece, “Witness to the Prosecution” by Billy Wilder, is very weak consolation, since this work was the last for the actor.
The black rose is good only in the poems of Alexander Blok. In the filmography of Tyrone Power, it turned into another dark spot.
6 out of 10