Main Cast: Tyrone Power, Linda Darnell, Basil Rathbone, Gale Sondergaard, Eugene Pallette
Release Year: 1940
Country: US
Run Time: 93 minutes
Plot
This is perhaps the best of the many Zorro films as Tyrone Power gives an outstanding performance as the alternately swishing and swashbuckling son of a 19th century California aristocrat. As a champion of the oppressed, Zorro must face a wicked governor portrayed by J. Edward Bromberg, who, of course, has a beautiful niece whom our hero loves. Basil Rathbone is a delightfully evil assistant to the governor. Based on Johnston McCulley's novel The Curse of Capistrano, The Mark of Zorro was a remake of the 1921 silent film and by far superior to all the Zorro incarnations. Interspersed with humor and one-liners but still keeping up with the highest of swashbuckling traditions, it is an action-packed story of one man standing against a corrupt, oppressive government on behalf of those less able to bear their burdens. ~ Tana Hobart, All Movie Guide
Review
The Mark of Zorro is just about as much fun as a picture can be. A true swashbuckling adventure, Zorro is one of the finest costume adventure stories ever filmed, one that's laced with a healthy dollop of romance and more than a smidgen of comedy. It's all wildly improbable, of course, one of the ancestors of the superhero comic strip/film, and anyone who is bothered by a woman's inability to recognize her lover in a simple disguise should just look elsewhere. But anyone who is willing to dispense with logic and just accept things at face value will have a great time with Zorro. (One caveat: the portrayal of the peasants is decidedly stereotypical and will definitely offend some.) Director Rouben Mamoulian has a fine old time with this film, jettisoning his more experimental tendencies and concentrating simply on presenting a story that is all about excitement and delivering the goods in spades. He's helped enormously by the stellar performance of Tyrone Power, who was clearly born to play the role. He gets it all right -- the charisma, the courage, the foppishness, the desire -- it's all there in all the right proportions. Power picks Zorro up and carries it on his manly shoulders without breaking a sweat. He even manages -- just barely -- to keep Basil Rathbone from stealing the film away from him, which is no mean feat. Rathbone is in absolutely superlative form, all elegance and ice, the kind of villain that audiences truly love to hate. There's also some nice moments from the wicked Gale Sondergaard, and Linda Darnell makes Lolita a prize worth fighting for. Zorro leaves its mark, indeed; it's a delightfully good film. ~ Craig Butler, All Movie Guide
Based on the Johnston McCulley story The Curse of Capistrano, originally published in 1919, which introduced the masked hero Zorro, the movie's story is set in Southern California during the early 19th century. It deals with the apparently foppish son of a wealthy ranchero, Don Alejandro Vega (Montagu Love) who returns to California after a sojourn at school in Spain, only to be horrified at the way the common people are being mistreated by Governor Quintero (J. Edward Bromberg). Don Diego (Tyrone Power) adopts the guise of Zorro ("Fox"), a Robin Hood-like outlaw who becomes a defender of the people. In the meanwhile, he romances the governor's beautiful niece, Lolita (Linda Darnell), and also flirts with the governor's wife Inez (Gale Sondergaard), filling her head with all the pleasures of Madrid and raising her desire to move there — with her corrupt husband. He also has to fend off the governor's ablest henchman, the malevolent Captain Pasquale (Basil Rathbone).
The hero's calling card is the letter "Z" slashed with a saber into whatever surface is handy. In one gag out-take, Power cuts the letters "DZ" into the upholstery of a stagecoach while a terrified onlooker exclaims, "The Mark of Zanuck!"
This film is essentially a remake of the 1920United Artistssilent version, The Mark of Zorro, which starred Douglas Fairbanks. Its largest claim to fame is the climactic duel toward the end between Zorro (Power) and Captain Pasquale (Rathbone). Rathbone was known already in hollywood as an outstanding Classical fencer, but moviegoers were treated to the surprise of Power being excellent in his own right. The fight duel is extremely ornate and full of finesse, as opposed to Rathbone's more famous duel with Errol Flynn in Robin Hood, and the duel in The Mark of Zorro is considered by many movie buffs to be the finest swordfight in cinema. Rathbone suffered two scratches on his forehead during its filming, and later said of Power, "He could fence Errol Flynn into a cocked hat."
In the DC Comics continuity it is established that The Mark of Zorro was the film which the young Bruce Wayne had seen with his parents at the cinema, moments before they were killed in front of his eyes by an armed thug. Zorro is often portrayed as Bruce's childhood hero and an influence on his Batman persona. There are discrepancies regarding which version Bruce saw, The Dark Knight Returns claims it was the Tyrone Power version whereas a story by Alan Grant claimed it to be the silent Douglas Fairbanks original.
In the animated series Justice League Unlimited, a flashback of the fateful night establishes that for DCAU continuity, the young Bruce and his parents also were attending The Mark of Zorro, though there is nothing to indicate which version.
In the 'new' Warner Bros. movie continuity established by Batman Begins (which ignores the events of the previous four Warner Bros. Batman movies) events are changed so that young Bruce and his parents were watching the opera Faust, and not The Mark Of Zorro.
DVD
Cover of the 2003 DVD
This version of Zorro has come out twice on DVD. The first was released on Oct 7, 2003 and featured the movie in its original Black+White form, as part of 20th Century Fox Studio Classics Collection. The second was released on Oct 18 2005 as a Special Edition, and featured both a new restored Black+White version as well as a colorized one, prepared by Legend Films. Both versions contain "Tyrone Power: The Last Idol" as seen on Biography on the A&E Network, and a Commentary by film critic Richard Schickel. A trailer for the Special edition can be seen at http://www.legendfilms.net under Family Classics.
