The Black Swan – 1942
The Special Effects for this movie were passable, but I’m glad it didn’t win the Oscar. Unfortunately, I can’t count Tyrone Power with his shirt off as a special effect. If I could, I would say it was an over-used effect. But seriously, there were some good composite shots that blended images fairly well, and some of the rear-projection was done well, though not all of it. The film’s best special effects were the choreography and stunts. There were also a few nice explosions, some fires, and a couple of really good scale models.
It all started with the opening sequence, in which a band of pirates attacked Jamaica. All the fast sword fighting was an exciting way to start the movie. But after that, there was very little action until the final ten minutes or so of the movie. Then the pirate ship battle took off. There were canons firing, blazing explosions, a lot of smoke, and a bit of mayhem.
But one of the best effects was when our hero cuts the rudder line of the Black Swan, causing the vessel to crash against the rocks. We see it approach the camera which is on the shore, then slam into the land. Then the camera switches to a shot from behind the galleon, and we see one of the giant masts break in half and collapse onto the deck, sails and all. It was a great effect!
After that, there was more fast-paced swashbuckling, pistol shooting, and sword-fighting. There were a lot of extras battling in the background as the two leads, Tyrone Power and George Sanders, madly fenced with each other. It really was impressive to see the speed with witch the two combatants faced off. One wrong move and either one of them could have lost an eye!
But as I implied earlier, not all the special effects were perfect. There was one little sequence in which the fiery damsel is riding in a carriage with one of the villains. It should have been a simple rear-projection effect as we see the buildings behind them go by. But it looked terrible, I’m sorry to say. Other contemporary movies were getting it right, so I don’t know why this little inconsequential scene was so poorly done. I think what caught my attention and pulled me out of the narrative was the fact that the buildings behind the actors were bouncing slightly, as if the camera filming them were being driven down a cobblestone street. But the actors themselves were completely motionless, not following the bounce of the projected background. It should have been the other way around with the buildings being stationary and the actors bouncing a little, right?
But aside from that, the effects were not too bad. The matte-paintings of the harbor at Maracaibo, which served as the backdrop for the climactic battle, was very pretty and looked good in the Technicolor film. Sure, the lighting effects were sometimes off, way too dark in the close-up shots and bright as day in the wide shots, but that is a minor complaint in an exciting pirate movie that was fun to watch! Eat your heart out, Erol Flynn!