Despite what many reviewers say here, sadly there is very little swashbuckling in this movie, which is it's major failing for me.
A few arrows are fired, but there is no mano-e-mano sword fighting of any note, or effective battle scene action.
Just broad brush shots of cities burning in the far distance and some of warriors riding around on mopping up excersises.
Most of the opportunities for action seem to be poorly developed or curtailed.
Also the sprawling Marco Polo-esque story does not flow along as well as it might.
It's great that they actually filmed on location in the Morocco, but the director appears to have become infatuated with the exotic scenery to the detriment of moving things along.
A few too many shots of the caravan making it's way across the desert, interspersed with tent bound conversation.
On the other hand the exotic settings are also one of the films great strengths, with some actual music with massed singing by locals, along with various horse and camel sports, which are a highlight.
And rumour has it that the two bodies seen hanging were real hanging bodies, donated by the local French military strongman!
Acting wise Tyronne Power is fine, Jack Hawkins and Orson Wells are exceptional, but Cecile Aubry is, for me, strictly an aquired taste.
Her face and manner seem too childlike for a romantic lead, no wonder that Power's character seems distinctly uncomfortable with her romantic advances for most of the movie.
She is undeniably "cute", but like a fluffy bunny rabbit, not an exotic "black rose" of the desert (who is actually blond).
However clearly the son of the local potentate felt otherwise, a he was secretly married to her for 6 years and they had a son together.
The minor roles are well inhabited, with the likes of Michael Rennie, James Robertson Justice, Herbert Lom and Finlay Currie, with a particularly memorable turn from Alphonso Bedoya (apparently dubbed over by the incomparable Peter Sellers no less)
So overall, an interesting artifact of it's time with much to recommend it, but which also left me with a feeling it could have been quite a bit better.
Review of The Black Rose
