Dad's Movies: "The Black Rose" (1950)

Up today:  The Black Rose (1950)

There are some definite holes in my classic movie viewing experience. Some are famous movies and some are important or famous actors that I have somehow missed.

One of these stars is Tyrone Power. I'd definitely heard about Power over the years; he was in a lot of successful films, including the original "Zorro" film in 1940. However, I somehow managed to miss his movies so let's Power Up! (sorry)

The Black Rose is one of those classic Hollywood studio historical adventure stories, not terribly different from my last entry, actually. As was typical, white actors played many of the leading "foreigner" roles. Like other examples of this, you just to take it all in context.

Power is fine as the lead but, we'll see how he is in other films, he seems kind of dull during many of the action scenes. He often seems to be slightly annoyed to be where he is but he is somewhat believable in the part (although most of the other English characters have accents, he definitely doesn't).

I always enjoy seeing Jack Hawkins in classic films but he seems a bit too old for the longbow-wielding sidekick part.

And then we get to Orson Welles.

Welles plays a Mongol warlord general, complete with Asian costume and makeup. It's pretty bad by any modern standard but Welles does his thing. It seems like when Orson Welles acted in other people's films, he either played the part genuinely or just played "Orson Welles" in the film in whatever costume he was given (and often a fake nose). I am a fan of Welles but he doesn't really do much for the warlord character besides lend it his always-solid authoritative delivery of lines.

And finally we have the character of Maryam, played by Cécile Aubry. The part is supposedly half English, half-Mongol woman who as escaped from a harem....uh, ok!  She tries but her French accent, with whatever other affectation she was trying to do doesn't do the performance any favors.

If it sounds like I am being too hard on this movie, I have to mention that I often forgot a much of the oddness or weaknesses of the performances and was able to get into the movie. The film has great cinematography (Jack Cardiff!) and even has location work in England (it looks like the other scenes are done on stages).

So, I liked this one well enough to cross another Welles performance off the list and make me look forward to seeing what some of Power's other films are like.