Movie Review: The Mark of Zorro (1940)

Let's face it: Swashbuckling action movies are awesome. Even the ones that aren't very good are fun to watch. The 1993 Disney version of The Three Musketeers has very little to do with the plot of the original Dumas book, but it's still fun to see Oliver Platt having the time of his life as Porthos, not to mention the mental gymnastics of watching Charlie Sheen play the pious Aramis. Talk about casting off-type.

But The Mark of Zorro, a black-and-white remake of the silent version starring Douglas Fairbanks, is a joy to watch. I actually found a colorized version of it, which actually improved the movie, although the color can't match the lush spectacle of The Adventures of Robin Hood. Still, it's another great swashbuckling movie, one that everyone should watch. Especially Batman fans, because Zorro was Batman before Batman was Batman.

The movie opens up in Spain, where the young caballero Diego de la Vega is summoned home to California on urgent business. When he returns, he is shocked to find that the Alcalde, his father, is reviled and feared by the peasants for his cruelty and usurious taxation. It's only when he goes to his old house that he finds out his father doesn't have that job anymore. He meets Governor Quintero and his henchman, Capitan Esteban, a fencing master with designs on the governor's wife. Realizing that things are not what he expected, Diego assumes the role of a foppish wastrel, refusing to heed his father's call to fight back against the governor's harsh policies.

Later, disguising himself with a black mask and cape, he becomes Zorro, doing Robin-Hood things like stealing from the governor and giving the money to the poor (in this case, the local friar, who bears a remarkable resemblance to Friar Tuck from Robin Hood, since they are played by the same actor, Eugene Pallette). He also exacts some revenge on the cruelest of the governor's soldiers, and even leaves a threatening 'Z' on the wall in the governor's house.

Meanwhile, he's also romancing the governor's niece, Lolita Quintero, played by the delightfully beautiful Linda Darnell (who, it turns out, was actually only 16 years old at the time), while fending off the advances of the governor's wife, who prefers him to the cold Esteban. The movie's climactic duel between Esteban and Diego (not Zorro) is one of the best fencing duels I've ever seen. Fast-paced, beautifully choreographed, it looks deadly, even more than the famous one in Robin Hood.

Like Errol Flynn in Robin Hood, Tyrone Power was born to play the role of Zorro. He's equally convincing as the foppish Don Diego, and the dashing and deadly masked vigilante. No wonder he inspired Bruce Wayne to don a cape and cowl many years later. Basil Rathbone gets to play the heavy again, and he even gets to win a fencing duel this time, against Pallette's Friar Felipe. And while Power and Darnell don't quite have the same level of chemistry that Flynn and Olivia DeHavilland had in their many screen pairings, they certainly go well together here, despite Darnell's youth.

Along with Robin Hood, this movie is essential viewing for any fan of swashbuckling adventure. It's a movie you can watch over and over again and still enjoy it. And it only runs for 94 minutes, a blink of an eye compared to today's overblown movies. It's available on YouTube, believe it or not, so check it out.

And, for more sword-fighting adventure, check out Arrival, the first book of the Meterra series, available in e-book or paperback now.