inspectors71 Henry Hathaway's dull, episodic, and talky The Black Rose does have the distinction of making me want to visit England. It appears to be a lovely land, but all the blather spouted by Jack Hawkins, Tyrone Powers, Cecile Aubrey, and Orson Welles about this, that, and your England, the discount psychology, the ridiculous accents, the over-complicated derring-do-very-little make this 1950 costumer almost unwatchable. I actually was talking to the screen during this interminable Normans versus Anglo-Saxons versus Muslims versus Mongols versus Chinese mishmash. "C'mon, already!I was hoping for something even a smidgen lively. What I got was a tedious exercise, with a college-educated dip (Powers) bailing on his homeland, traveling half way across the world to find a winning cause, acting bipolar with his BFF, and generally setting Anglo-Sino relations back 800 years. Yawn.

bkoganbing After finishing his run in Mister Roberts in London, Tyrone Power stuck around to film Thomas Costain's novel The Black Rose. Costain was a popular novelist of historical themes and high adventure. The latter is what The Black Rose has plenty of.Power is the illegitimate son of a recently deceased lord who left him some money to the distress of his wife Mary Clare and son Laurence Harvey because in effect in the will he acknowledged the affair that produced Power. In addition Power is still possessing those old prejudices of the original Saxon inhabitants against the Norman conquerors. A lot of people are telling Power to get over it, but he won't.In fact he takes off for adventure in the Far East with similarly minded Jack Hawkins who's most handy with an English longbow. A fact that impresses Mongol lord Orson Welles who gets Power and Hawkins into his service. Welles has intentions of conquering China, an ambitious task that has failed most in history.The title refers to Cecile Aubry the French accented daughter of a Crusader who is in Welles's harem. But she likes what she sees in the two exiled Englishmen. She's supposed to be English and that might throw a few people, but one must remember England at the time occupied a good deal of what is France. I'm sure Costain better explained it in the novel.Power is properly heroic, but also cynical at the same time. It takes a dose of Jack Hawkins's reawakened patriotism for Power to see where his duty lay.The real historical characters of King Edward I and Roger Bacon appear in the story. Edward I nicknamed Longshanks is played by Michael Rennie and it's far more favorable and civilized picture of Edward than Patrick McGoohan did in Braveheart. Henry Oscar plays Roger Bacon who was Power's teacher at ancient Oxford and one of the most brilliant minds of his time.Henry Hathaway one of the best action directors ever keeps the whole thing moving well. The book is a great deal more complex than what you see on the screen, it would probably make a good mini-series. The color cinematography is some of Jack Cardiff's best work.For those like myself who like the romantic Tyrone Power, The Black Rose is a medieval tale of high adventure and romance and not to be missed by Power's still powerful legion of fans.

Rob Muir (gazelam) Having seen this a number of times as a late-night or Saturday-afternoon movie growing up, I caught it again yesterday on television, and was pleasantly surprised. As other posters have commented on it's faithfulness to the book or as a historical setting, I won't comment on that.Probably due to an excellent cast, the movie manages to transcend many of the (at least now accepted) clichés and is very successful. Having Welles and Powers in leading roles obviously allows them to sell the story line in a very convincing manner. I am a big fan of swashbuckler movies, but this goes beyond the bravado with good character development. The large-scale shots were magnificent. Lots of extras, animals, etc. I was drawn into the story and quite dazzled by the cinematography.Although there is nothing profound here, this is an easy film to enjoy.

Neil Doyle Thomas B. Costain gave us CAPTAIN FROM CASTILLE, a much better historical romance than his THE BLACK ROSE, and Fox has spared no expense in bringing this version of his novel to the screen. It's handsomely photographed by Jack Cardiff in England and North Africa as it spins the tale of two Saxons (TYRONE POWER and JACK HAWKINS) who join a tribal war party enroute to meeting a Tartan general in the Far East (ORSON WELLES, in swarthy make-up), during a period in the 13th century of great unrest between Normans and Saxons.The plot thickens once they reach the Orient where a girl known as The Black Rose (CECILE AUBRY) is hiding out and needs rescuing from Power and Hawkins. All of the desert scenes are filmed in Morocco to great effect, but the script never allows any of the characters to come alive. Power struggles manfully with a part that seldom allows him to swing into action, while Jack Hawkins (as a skilled bowman who can hit his targets accurately) has a little more to do than Power and does it well. He's particularly effective in a scene involving his marksmanship while the Tartan general watches, the penalty for losing being losing his head.But all the other events provide nothing but the eye candy of seeing Tyrone Power and his fellow players wearing colorful costumes. As an action adventure, this one fails to deliver the goods and there is a less than robust background score by Richard Addinsell.Trivia note: Power does not even attempt a British accent while Hawkins, of course, already has one. Cecil Aubry should have been dubbed or replaced by someone who could be understood.Summing up: Too much talk, too little action for an historical romance of this kind.