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The
Mark of Zorro
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 Rathbone and Gale Sondergaard |
 J. Edward Bromberg and Rathbone |
Gale Sondergaard (The Spider Woman) is perfectly cast as Inez Quintero, the bored wife of the Alcalde. She is enamored with Don Diego Vega, a new face in Los Angeles, newly arrived from Madrid. Diego has been summoned home to California by his father. There he finds that his father is no longer Alcalde of Los Angeles, having been replaced by Don Luis Quintero. Diego's father had hoped that Diego could lead the caballeros against the despots, but Diego believes they are outnumbered and fears they would lose. Posing as a fop, Diego convinces everyone that he is no threat to the status quo, but disguised as Zorro he steals from the rich and gives to the poor (shades of Robin Hood). Zorro enlists the padre's help to dispense money to the poor.
 Zorro takes the tax money. |
 He was HERE! In this very room! |
Although he doesn't know Zorro's identity, Capt. Esteban Pasquale suspects that Zorro is one of the caballeros. Believing that an alliance with the caballeros will prevent trouble, Esteban schemes with Quintero to arrange a marriage between his beautiful niece Lolita and Don Diego Vega. Lolita, played by ravishing, dark-eyed beauty Linda Darnell, is in love with Zorro, and Don Diego reveals his secret to her.
Later Esteban discovers the stolen money in the padre's possession. He arrests the padre, knowing it will force Zorro to act. Diego pays a visit to Quintero and has just about frightened him into signing his resignation when Esteban interrupts. Diego goads Esteban into a duel and kills him. Quintero figures out that Diego is Zorro and arrests him. Through trickery, Diego escapes and leads the people to overthrow the government.
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The Mark of Zorro COLORFUL AND EXCITING MELODRAMA HAS STRONG GENERAL AUDIENCE APPEAL; SHOULD BE A SOLID B. O. ATTRACTION. The public wants entertainment and The Mark of Zorro fills the bill with a more than liberal helping. Romance, adventure, a colorful background, a swashbuckling hero and plenty of action are embodied in this remake of the Douglas Fairbanks hit of some years ago. It is a box office natural. Nothing is lacking in production opulence and technical skill to put the picture way above par on these two counts. And the cast is strong in name value. Kitting a good pace with the opening scenes, director Rouben Mamoulian has carried the story and players along to a rousing climax without any letup. The action moves smoothly throughout and each scene is nicely pointed. Tyrone Power, in the lead role, acquits himself with honors. The role suited him and he made the most of it. Miss Darnell is a lovely heroine for the story; Basil Rathbone is competently sinister in his characterization of the shrewd bully who dictates the policies of J. Edward Bromberg, political head of the territory, who also contributes a good characterization; and the rest of the cast is above par, with such capable performers as Gale Sondergaard, Montagu Love, Eugene Pallette and Janet Beecher prominent. Power, one of the best swordsmen in Spain, is summoned to his home in California by his father. He returns to find his father has been deposed as Alcalde by Bromberg and his swordsman army leader, Rathbone. With the odds heavily in the balance against any uprising because of the trained soldiers at Rathbone's command, Power assumes the role of a foppish dilettante as a cover-up for his masquerade as Zorro, the friend of the people. His father, Love, is naturally disgusted with him and only Pallette a priest, and Miss Darnell, learn his real identity before he discloses who is is at the end of the picture. Trapped by Bromberg after he kills Rathbone in a duel, Power and Pallette are candidate for a firing squad until he outwits the guard, breaks jail, lets the peons in through the gates and with the help of his father's friends and the peons defeats the soldiers. The climax is rousing and actionful and there is more than enough action through the entire picture. Credit a fine job of photograph to Arthur Miller and a nicely geared screenplay to Garret Ford and Bess Meredith. Direction: Fine, Photography: Expert —The Film Daily, November 6, 1940 |
The climactic fencing scene between Diego and Esteban is parodied in The Court Jester. When Esteban and Diego are about to duel, Esteban slices the top off of a candle with his sword. Tyrone also swipes at a candle with his sword but it appears as though he missed it. Esteban laughs and then Diego lifts the top of the candle off to show that he had sliced it so cleanly that the top hadn't fallen off. The dueling scene between Rathbone and Danny Kaye in The Court Jester was similar except that Danny Kaye sliced through a row of seven candles. When Rathbone laughed at him, Kaye turned his head and blew in the direction of the candles, and the tops fell off!
 Power: "The capitan's blade is not so firm." Rathbone: "Still firm enough to run you through." |
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Superb choreography by Fred Cavens can be enjoyed in the exhilarating dance with Lolita and Diego, and in the spectacular duel between Diego and Esteban. There is no grand staircase or knocking over furniture as in The Adventures of Robin Hood, but the duel is well staged, ending with Esteban run through and revealing the "Z" on the wall as he slides down the wall, dying. Rathbone was very skilled at fencing, having taken lessons since the age of eighteen. Power was extensively doubled in the duel by Albert Cavens, the son of choreographer Fred Cavens. Cavens also choreographed the duels between Rathbone and Errol Flynn in Captain Blood and The Adventures of Robin Hood.
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The Mark of Zorro Twenty years ago Douglas Fairbanks started his series of fantastic historical super spectacles with The Mark of Zorro, a tale of early California under Spanish roe, adapted from Johnston McCulley's story, The Curse of Capistrano. In presenting the remake of Fairbanks' original picture, 20th-Fox inducts Tyrone Power into the lead spot and invests the present offering with some sure-fire audience ingredients. Combo of original title and Power for marquee dressing insures healthy grosses in the regular runs, although holdovers will be the exception rather than the rule. The colorful background, detailing Los Angeles as little more than a pueblo settlement under the Spanish flag, is utilized for some thrilling melodramatics unfolded at a consistently rapid pace. Picture consumes a third of its footage in setting the characters and period, and in the early portion drags considerably. But once it gets up steam it rolls along with plenty of action and, despite its obvious formula of hooded Robin Hood who terrorizes the tax-biting officials of the district to finally triumph for the peons and caballeros, picture holds plenty of entertainment for general audiences. Power is no prototype of the original Fairbanks, but, fortunately, neither the script nor direction forces him to any close comparison. He's plenty heroic and sincere in his mission, and delays long enough en route for some romantic interludes with the beauteous Linda Darnell. But overall, it's a fanciful character done up in a neat enough package to hit public fancy for good biz. After an extensive education in the Spanish army in Madrid, Power returns to California to find his father displaced as Alcalde of Los Angeles by thieving J. Edward Bromberg. Latter, with aid of post captain Basil Rathbone and his command, terrorizes the district and piles on burdensome taxes. Power embarks on a one-man Robinhoodian campaign of wild riding and rapier-wielding to clean up the situation and restore his father to his rightful position. And there's a sweet romance with Miss Darnell, niece of Bromberg, who is unsympathetic to his policies. Supporting Power in the starring spot is a competent cast, with Rathbone and Bromberg particularly effective as the villainous officials. Miss Darnell is sweet and lovely as the virginal miss who falls in love with Power on sight. Eugene Pallette is a fat and friendly padre, and Gale Sondergaard is Bromberg's flirtatious wife. Montagu Love and Janet Beecher are Power's parents. Picture displays plenty of color of the period, in addition to wild riding and numerous hair-breadth escapes by Power. Sword duel between Power and Rathbone, running about two minutes, is one of the most spectacular ever staged, and a melodramatic highlight. Production mounting is A grade all through, with camera work by Arthur Miller of consistently high standard. Walt. —Variety, November 6, 1940 |
Watch the trailer for the film:
See Page Two for more pictures and reviews from The Mark of Zorro, and Page Three for posters, lobby cards and promo photos.
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Images on this page and pages 2 and 3 are from The Mark of Zorro, copyright 20th Century Fox
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