disinterested_spectator My first introduction to the character Zorro was in an old serial they showed on television in the early 1950s when I just a kid, to wit, "Zorro's Fighting Legion" (1939). Needless to say, I was fascinated by the parts where Zorro was all decked out in his black outfit, complete with cape, sword, and whip. The television station followed up by presenting an earlier serial, "Zorro Rides Again" (1937), and though I didn't care for his mask, I still paid more attention to the parts where he was in costume and not so much to the parts where he is in ordinary dress pretending to be weak and lazy. And I was thrilled when Disney studios produced a television series entitled simply "Zorro" in 1957. As before, it was the parts where I got to see Zorro gallivanting about that I was interested in, not so much the part where he is Don Diego de la Vega.Whether I preferred the parts where Zorro is doing stuff was because I was a child or whether it was because these two serials and the television series were juvenile in nature, I cannot say. But it was quite a surprise for me when, as a college student, I saw "The Mark of Zorro" for the first time. Of course, it had the star quality of such actors as Tyrone Power and Basil Rathbone, as well as the production values of a major studio, all of which were bound to make it much better than what I had seen previously. But what really struck me was the fact that the parts of the movie featuring Zorro constituted a relatively small amount of screen time, which was greatly exceeded by the amount of time devoted to Don Diego. The emphasis on Don Diego in this movie even went so far as to have him fight the climactic duel as Diego and not as Zorro. In this, the movie followed the 1920 version with Douglas Fairbanks. But most movies do not do this, choosing instead to have the climactic duel fought by Zorro. For example, the made-for-television version starring Frank Langella has the actor in full Zorro regalia in the final showdown.The amount of screen time given to Zorro versus Diego determines the kind of movie it is. A costumed character is exciting to watch, but he is all action and external appearance. He must be in constant motion, running, riding, fighting, and so forth. If he stands still for too long, he begins to look silly, especially if he is wearing a cape. It is with his secret identity, Diego in the case of Zorro movies, that we get to know the man, to learn what he thinks and feels. Moreover, we get to watch him acting a part in order to keep people from suspecting that he is the one who wears the mask. In this case, the part is that of a fop. It is a pretense also used in "The Scarlet Pimpernel" (1934), starring Leslie Howard as the title character and as Sir Percy Blakeney, but Howard's performance in that role was over the top and irritating. Diego's foppery as performed by Tyrone Power, on the other hand, is so good that we find ourselves impatiently waiting for the Zorro scenes to end so that we can have more Diego.

gavin6942 A young aristocrat must masquerade as a fop in order to maintain his secret identity of Zorro as he restores justice to early California.I did not really know much about Zorro. I was not aware his secret identity had his as sort of a buffoon and ladies man. But I like that about him. And I like that, just like Superman or other heroes, it creates the scenario where someone can be attracted to one personality and not the other... or sometimes both, without even knowing! Some people have compared this to the "Adventures of Robin Hood". Is that fair? I do not know. But the consensus is that this is the better of the two. With that, I would have to agree. It is a fun story with all sorts of political intrigue that Robin Hood just cannot match.

Spondonman And the unbeatable version of this story; after seeing this when young no other version made before or since would do for me. It's a masterclass in telling an exciting adventurous romantic story intelligently in an artistic not Arty manner, for popular not highbrow consumption.Dashing young swordsman Tyrone Power is recalled from Spain to his deflated father Montagu Love's ranch in California where he finds the downtrodden peons steeped in taxes and misery and ready to revolt against their oppressive rulers led by the incisive Basil Rathbone and his stooge J Edward Bromberg. Times don't change much. He decides to become a masked avenger for the People and plays a tired fop to all as a disguise for his unlawful machinations. It's a fantastic story delivered by a fantastic cast in a fantastic Mamoulian/TCF production, even down to Alfred Newman's splendid score and the gleaming nitrate black and white photography. Eugene Palette unfortunately reprised his Friar Tuck role but was completely forgivable whilst to put it charitably Linda Darnell added some new aspects to DeHavilland's Maid Marion character. The screen is full of big characters and big faces which really are best served on a big screen.It's a wonderful roller-coaster ride all the way to the Big Duel with Sir Guy, sorry, Captain Pasquale and climax; I've always preferred Flynn's Robin Hood but this is a heart-stirring companion piece to it and a film I've seen so many times I've lost count. It has certainly left its mark on me.

jpdoherty The best swashbuckler ever made is how many regard 20th Century Fox's THE MARK OF ZORRO. Produced in 1940 for the studio by the uncredited Raymond Griffith and Darryl Zanuck the picture was Fox's answer to Warner Bros. who up to that time had, more or less, cornered the market with their finest array of swashbuckling adventures. With the perfect hero in Errol Flynn, who swept across our screens in such classics as "Captain Blood", "The Adventures Of Robin Hood" and "The Sea Hawk" and all to the brilliant music of Erich Wolfgang Korngold, other studios found it difficult to equal Warner's expertise in creating such flagship adventures. But Fox's THE MARK OF ZORRO was one that did and in its star Tyrone Power they even had a comparable hero to Flynn. From a story "The Curse Of Capistrano" by Johnston McCully it was splendidly adapted for the screen by John Taintor Foote, crisply photographed in black and white by the great Arthur Miller and the whole thing was adroitly handled by Russian director Rouben Mamoulian.It is 1820 and a nobleman's son Don Diago Vega (Tyrone Power) returns home to California after spending some years at a military school in Spain. But he finds the province has greatly changed and has fallen under the dictatorship of an autocratic governor Don Luis Quintero (J.Edward Bromberg) and his ruthless sword wielding army Captain Estaban Pasquale (Basil Rathbone). The people are heavily taxed and oppressed. Don Diago covertly takes up their cause and dons the guise of a masked avenger while maintaining a foppish and carefree persona to his family and friends. He raids the army coffers, returns to the peasants their meagre funds and avenges any harm that they incur. The picture ends with the people rising up against their oppressors, regaining their freedom from tyranny and Don Diago and Pasquale locked in an outstandingly staged sword fight to the death.Performances are superb from the entire cast. The swashbuckling Don Diago Vega is one of Ty Power's most likable and best remembered roles. It also revealed his fine flair for comedy. As the fop he could be quite amusing (on being informed that the villainous Captain Pasquale was once a fencing instructor in Madrid Don Diago looks through his monocle at Pasquale, sighs wearily and quips "How exhausting"). It's a shame he didn't do more movies like this. Two years later he was a pirate on the high seas in the enjoyable "The Black Swan" and in 1947 he appeared in Fox's colourful epic on the Conquistadores "Captain From Castile" but that was all. Historical roles in "Prince of Foxes", "The Black Rose" and "Son Of Fury" were also enjoyable but none of these films ever gained any swashbuckling status. Excellent too was Basil Rathbone. His villain almost as sly and as cunning as his Guy of Gisbourne in "Robin Hood" two years earlier. And supplying the love interest was the lovely Linda Darnell who the following year would again star with Power in the Fox classic "Blood And Sand" again directed by Mamoulian. Also of interest is the casting of Eugene Palette as the church friar almost exactly the same role he played in "The Adventures of Robin Hood".Of some note also is the brilliant score put together and conducted by Alfred Newman. The exciting main Zorro theme was written, not by Newman, but by the uncredited Hugo Friedhofer. It is an exhilarating heroic motif that the great Korngold himself would be proud to have written for Flynn. Great music is but one element that makes THE MARK OF ZORRO an unforgettable movie. Its popularity has endured since it was made almost 75 years ago and no doubt it will continue thrilling audiences for a long time to come.