The Black Rose (1950)

Touches You

In truth, there is barely enough story here to make a film.

The film creates a perfect balance between action and depth of basic needs, in the midst of an infertile atmosphere.

Worth seeing just to witness how winsome it is.

Who cares and who knows about the Black Rose? I don't.Tyrone Power comes home from Oxford. It has been 200 years since the Norman invasion of England and Power leaves the school when his father dies. He is very much anti-Norman and comes home to a hostile Norman widowed stepmother. He is left a pair of boots and his service to the Norman king is promised. Michael Rennie co-stars as the understanding Norman king who Power rejects, gets gold coming to him and goes off to the near east with companion Jack Hawkins to seek adventure and fortune.The theme of the picture is that in meeting up with Moslem warlord Orson Welles, he shall develop an understanding of Norman England. He meets up with Miriam, the latter keeps talking about some kind of miracle. Miriam is ridiculous at best.The grandfather is Finlay Currie who converses with Power via a servant. Totally ridiculous fanfare, not worth wasting a moment over.

What did Tyrone Power do to deserve appearing in a movie like this? Orson Welles might have angered some god of cinema or other, but I really can't understand why poor Power was condemned to this kind of slop. The movie is practically unwatchable. It's amazing that a lot of the same talent was at work on this film as on the excellent "Prince of Foxes" starring the same two talents. Even the inexplicable presence of Cecile Aubry as the leading lady is not enough to explain the complete idiocy and boredom of this picture, which was enough to put me to sleep the first time I tried to watch it.But Aubry is a wonder to behold. Her obnoxious voice paired with a ridiculous backstory about her being part English and part Arab is an insult to the audience's intelligence. I knew nothing about Cecile Aubry before seeing the movie, but it's completely obvious that she's a 20th century French girl. There's also nothing sexy or intriguing about her whatsoever. There's not even a tiny spark of chemistry between Power and Aubry.Orson Welles in the movie... oh boy. He looks like some kind of weird caricature, some doll for tourists of what an "oriental" person looks like. As it is, his performance brings some of the only human warmth to the film. Jack Hawkins also displays some humanity, although it would be a crime if he didn't given the amount of screen time.The conclusion of the film is like the final insult to the audience. In a war film that showed us long lines of medieval garbed troops, we've seen not a single battle scene. The strangest thing about the essential dynamic of the film is the way that Power's character is played against the racist pride of the Hawkins and Aubry characters. He wants nothing but to free himself of England's grasp because he feels betrayed by the Normans, but he's drawn back by personal honor to the desire of Hawkins' "bowman" to spread the science and knowledge of the Chinese to the British instead of to Welles' Mongolian type. Welles' character rewards him -- because he respects his conviction (bourne of loyalty to a deluded racist friend?) -- and returns his lady love to him. Queue closing music and credits roll.

Tyrone Power stars in "The Black Rose," a 1950 adventure film also starring Jack Hawkins, Orson Welles, Cecile Aubrey, and Michael Rennie. Power plays Walter of Gurney, an Oxford scholar who hates the ruling Normans, takes off for Cathay with his friend Tris (Jack Hawkins). They wind up traveling with General Bayan (Orson Welles) and hiding a young girl, Maryam, known as The Black Rose.The film is based on Thomas Costain's novel, and thanks to Tyrone Power, I became a fan of Costain's and read many of his books as a teenager. Very romantic, they'll get you through puberty. I seem to remember a lot of hotter encounters between Walter and Maryam, though the film does contain some romance."The Black Rose" was made at a time when 20th Century Fox and all of the other Hollywood studios were going through major changes since the government had broken the alliance between the studios and theater chains. Even with their problems, there is no expense spared on "The Black Rose." It is a sumptuous production, done on location and in color, with a top cast even in the minor roles: Herbert Lom, Laurence Harvey, Robert Blake, and famously, the voice of Peter Sellers dubbing the role of Bedoya.The acting is uniformly good. Orson Welles played Bayan to fund one of his film projects. Normally he phones these performances in, using his formidable technique to get him through - he probably did the same here; sometimes it's hard to tell. He's excellent and underplays, being smooth in his role rather than barbaric, and he and Power have good screen chemistry. Off the screen, the two went back to the early '30s in New York when both were cast in a tour of Romeo and Juliet - this tour is captured in a roman a clef, "Quicksilver" by Fitzroy Davis. During the filming of "The Black Rose", director Hathaway needed some time away from Welles and, after being harassed by him in the company dining room, had a table set up in another room for himself, his wife, Tyrone Power and Linda Christian, so they could eat in peace. Welles became convinced they were getting special food and showed up. "We don't want special food," Hathaway informed him. "We want quiet." But Welles got his own table in this area, and the Powers and the Hathaways headed back to the main dining area.Jack Hawkins is immensely likable as Tris. Cecile Aubrey, who would abandon her career and become a very accomplished screenwriter in France, is the gamine here. Some may find her a little too young-looking and a little too bubbly, but she is quite lovely as the childlike Maryam. Actually, she reminded me a little of Power's first wife, the French actress Annabella. Power is excellent as the adventurous Walter. One thing interesting about Power is that he never asked for scripts to be changed to reflect his age, and 20th Century Fox gave him scripts during this period that called for him to play characters anywhere from 10 to 15 years younger than he was, which in this movie is 36. It doesn't detract here; it's more obvious in "Rawhide," when he's supposed to be a green kid, and in "The Sun Also Rises." During their long working relationship, Zanuck apparently never thought of Power as anything but the young man he first hired in 1935. Walter is the kind or role the actor was sick of playing; he would shortly begin doing more stage work and form his own production company.This is a sweeping adventure that many boomers will recall from "Saturday Night at the Movies" - like Power's swashbucklers, it's one of the previous generation's Saturday afternoon at the movies type films that young people remember fondly. I certainly do and am grateful for all the historical fiction I read as a result. Thankfully, this and other heretofore unreleased Power films will soon be available in a DVD collection.

A real Robin Hood style of movie but relax, not a green stocking Errol Flynn one! Jack Hawkins (Little John?) emerges with Tyrone Power (Robin Hood?) from a conquered and not so merry England to travel east towards well east I guess!Together they interact well against a tapestry of "olde" England, Norman conquest and the discovery of the Mongol and Chinese on the way as the two displaced adventurers travel ever onward! Pity their poor horses I say. So much to see so little time, the plot appears rushed and awkward.I love the interplay of Jack Hawkins with his bow, not! Well it isn't exactly Excalliber now is it?The superior acting of Orson Welles however makes this a memorable movie, a fine contribution from a great actor which gives an unusual and lucky gravitas to the plot.The film's vivid colours and scripts genuine attempt to capture some moment in history (when emerging powers of their time (Mongolia and France) contrast against the demands of a conquered citizen of Saxon England is sympathetic but not of course historic accuracy.Frankly it's very naive.Cecile Aubrey( Robin Hoods' Marylyn perhaps? ) is dreadful and spoils a good film, so bad in fact that I feel her role should have been edited out (or banished not from a kingdom but to an Alladin panto!). The film still has just enough plus points that one can forgive this crass attempt at creating a silly love interest for an ageing Tyrone Power. The film end appears hurried it's untidy. There may be a better end and a longer film left somewhere on the editors cutting room floor perhaps?This then is more than just a fragile British attempt to copy lavish Hollywood costume drama. I did almost enjoy it! (Even smiling at the awkward Miss Aubrey).I wouldn't however stop in for this but wait for a DVD copy to emerge and watch it without distraction on your lap top. On the lap top? Well I can't believe that any of your family under 35 would want to watch it with you on the plasma! It would embarrass you to admit to wanting to watch this one!