During the reign of King George III, in Bristol, England, young Benjamin Blake (Roddy McDowall), son of the deceased Baronet of Breetholm is taken from his commoner grandfather, gunsmith Amos Kidder (Harry Davenport), and forced to serve his vengeful uncle, Sir Arthur Blake (George Sanders). Arthur inherited the title and land from his brother Godfrey, and fears that Ben may not have been born out of wedlock and might claim his inheritance. He compels the boy to become his ward and bonded servant, giving Arthur life-and-death power over the lad. Ben vows to endure whatever he must in order to one day prove himself a "true Blake" and recover his birthright.

Now a young man, Ben (Tyrone Power) has fallen in love with his cousin, Isabel (Frances Farmer), Arthur's haughty and scheming daughter. Arthur discovers the relationship. Ben flees, but his grandfather is imprisoned.

Ben stows away on a ship bound for the South Seas, where he can make his fortune, prove his claim, and release his grandfather from prison. Ben and shipmate Caleb Green (John Carradine) jump ship at a Polynesian island. There he wins the trust of the native islanders, finds a fortune in pearls, and takes a new love, a native girl he calls "Eve" (Gene Tierney).

With his treasure, Ben returns to England under an assumed name to prove his birthright with the help of noted "man of influence," Bartholomew Pratt (Dudley Digges). Ben is betrayed after he goes to Breetholm to see Isabel, and is convicted by jury for the earlier offenses. Just as his death sentence is about to be pronounced, he is saved by Pratt, who proves that no crime was committed by showing that Ben's father and mother were married aboard a ship to India, and that "Sir Benjamin Blake" was in law the rightful baronet at the time. Ben discovers that it was Isabel who betrayed him and also repays the beating he received from Arthur. He emancipates the bonded tenants of Breetholm and divides the estate among them, deeding the manor house to his grandfather. Ben then returns to the Polynesian island to live out his life with Eve.

A 1942 American Black & White south seas adventure film (a/k/a "Son of Fury: The Story of Benjamin Blake") directed by John Cromwell, produced by Darryl F. Zanuck, screenplay by Philip Dunne, based on Edison Marshall's historical novel "Benjamin Blake" (1941), cinematography by Arthur C. Miller, starring Tyrone Power, Gene Tierney, George Sanders, Frances Farmer, Roddy McDowall, John Carradine, Elsa Lanchester, Harry Davenport, Kay Johnson, Dudley Digges, Halliwell Hobbes, Martin Lamont, Arthur Hohl, Pedro de Cordoba, Heather Thatcher, Lester Matthews, Charles Irwin, Dennis Hoey, Robert Greig, Mala, and Cliff Severn. Screen debut appearances of Marjorie Raymond, Dolores Lamar, Rosita Delva, and Rosemary Wilson.

Tyrone Power played Ben's father in a prologue in which he and his wife were done away with by Ben's uncle, but the scene was cut from the film to add more suspense.

This is the first movie partnering Gene Tierney with Tyrone Power. They would be reunited for "The Razor's Edge" (1946), and "That Wonderful Urge" (1948).

Gene Tierney's character was meant to die in the original script but Daryl F. Zanuck decided to change the ending to be happier.

Fox remade the picture in Technicolor, "Treasure Of The Golden Condor" (1953), starring Cornel Wilde and Constance Smith.

This is the last film Frances Farmer made before the first of a series of arrests, jailing and psychiatric confinements, which continued until 1950. Through the efforts of her sister-in-law, a deputy sheriff in Los Angeles County, Farmer avoided jail time and was instead transferred to the psychiatric ward of Los Angeles General Hospital. Her mother, Lillian, became her legal guardian from 1943-53. While Farmer was facing those problems she made another film, "I Escaped from the Gestapo" (1943). She returned to work in television and film in 1951. In 1931, while a senior at West Seattle High School, Farmer entered and won "The Scholastic Art & Writing Awards" contest sponsored by Scholastic Magazine, with her controversial essay "God Dies". During her final year of college in 1935, Farmer won first prize, a trip to the Soviet Union, in a subscription contest for the leftist newspaper "The Voice of Action". Farmer accepted the prize, despite her mother's strong objections, so that she could see the pioneering Moscow Art Theatre.

A rousing period adventure given the A-list treatment by 20th Century Fox, and one of the most fondly remembered adventure films from Hollywood's Golden Age that revels in Tyrone Power's stunning profile, manly arms, mop of thick black hair, friendly eyes and infectious smile. One of classic Hollywood's best. Tyrone Power would have been a superstar in any era. Piper Laurie said, "Tyrone Power was Saturday afternoon at the movies." An impressive rip-roaring romantic swashbuckler. Entertainingly and lavishly made, with bright, full-blooded performances.