Review of The Mark of Zorro

As beloved as the 1940 Tyrone Power version is, this prototype of all Zorro movies is a must see, even for viewers who don't usually watch silent films.The movie makes up for its lack of aural excitement by staging the sword fights as rousing, comic duels, rather than deadly encounters. Who can forget the image of the black clad Zorro sitting cross legged on a tavern table, eating from a bowl of nuts with one hand, while fending off Sergeant Gonzales with his right? Zorro's dashing escapes and clever tricks are definitely played for comedy in most scenes. Douglas Fairbanks, Senior also plays Zorro's quieter moments with a rascally humor as well. In one memorable scene, he climbs over the garden wall of a beautiful senorita and kisses her, much to her surprise. When she slaps him, he laughs heartily. This seems to me the essence of Fairbanks in one image. The movie doesn't play everything for laughs, however. The villains are dastardly and wicked in an old fashioned melodrama way, and many romantic and adventure scenes are played completely straight. But it is the image of the masked, cigar smoking, laughing Zorro taunting his enemies, though outnumbered twenty to one ,that remains with me. Fairbanks also has a fine comic turn as the insipid, ineffectual fop Don Diego, pretending to admire Sergeant Gonzales' boasts that he'll show that bandit, if he can ever find him. Noah Beery Senior is a marvelous Gonzales, rowdy, boisterous, hard drinking, crude and macho. He makes a great comic villain for Zorro to oppose, while Robert McKim has a more serious bad guy role, as the lecherous soldier who attempts to steal the heroine's virtue, and is soundly defeated in a duel by the enraged Diego. A delightful musical score accompanies the movie, with tango rhythms and tender romantic themes. This is a true classic, that deserves to be seen by all lovers of adventure movies and dashing, romantic heroes coming to the rescue of beautiful ladies.