| The Mark of Zorro | |
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1940 US Theatrical Poster |
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| Directed by | Rouben Mamoulian |
| Produced by | Darryl F. Zanuck |
| Screenplay by | John Taintor Foote |
| Story by | Garrett Fort Bess Meredyth |
| Based on | The Curse of Capistrano by Johnston McCulley |
| Starring | Tyrone Power Linda Darnell Basil Rathbone |
| Music by | Alfred Newman |
| Cinematography | Arthur C. Miller |
| Editing by | Robert Bischoff |
| Distributed by | 20th Century Fox |
| Release date(s) | November 8, 1940 |
| Running time | 94 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English Spanish |
The Mark of Zorro is a 1940 American adventure film directed by Rouben Mamoulian and produced by Darryl F. Zanuck for 20th Century Fox. The action movie stars Tyrone Power as Don Diego Vega (Zorro), Linda Darnell as his love interest, and Basil Rathbone as the villain. The cast also includes Gale Sondergaard as the scheming wife of the corrupt local governor, Eugene Pallette as Zorro's local friar, and J. Edward Bromberg as the governor, along with Montagu Love, Janet Beecher, Robert Lowery, and Chris-Pin Martin.
The film was Nominated for Academy Award for the Best original score in the 1941 Academy Awards. In 2009, it was named to the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress for being “culturally, historically or aesthetically” significant and will be preserved for all time.[1]
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The film is based on the story The Curse of Capistrano written by Johnston McCulley, originally published in 1919, which introduced the masked hero Zorro. The story is set in Southern California during the early 19th century. The plot deals with Don Diego Vega (Tyrone Power), the apparently foppish son of wealthy ranchero Don Alejandro Vega (Montagu Love), who returns to California after his education in Spain. He is horrified at the way the common people are mistreated by alcalde Luis Quintero (J. Edward Bromberg). Don Diego adopts the guise of El Zorro ("the fox"), a masked outlaw who becomes the defender of the common people. Meanwhile, he romances the Alcalde's beautiful niece, Lolita (Linda Darnell). He simultaneously flirts with the Alcalde's wife Inez (Gale Sondergaard), filling her head with tales of Madrid fashion and culture and raising her desire to move there with her corrupt husband. In both his guises, Don Diego has to contend with the governor's ablest henchman, the malevolent Captain Pasquale (Basil Rathbone).
The film features a climactic duel between Zorro and Pasquale. Rathbone was known already in Hollywood as an outstanding classical fencer, but Power's own excellent skills are displayed here for the first time. The duel is ornate and full of subtlety, as opposed to Rathbone's duel with Errol Flynn in The Adventures of Robin Hood, and the duel in The Mark of Zorro is considered by many movie buffs to be the finest swordfight in cinema. Staged by Hollywood's resident fencing master Fred Cavens and atmospherically shot by cinematographer Arthur Miller and director Rouben Mamoulian, the scene takes place in a single room and forces actors to fight rather than jump around in the scenery. In key shots, Cavens' son, Albert, doubles for Power (such as the shot where he plunges his saber through the bookcase). Scenes of fast fencing were undercranked to 18-20 frames per second, requiring that all the sound for the scene be post-synchronized. Rathbone suffered two scratches on his forehead during its filming, and later said of Power, "He could fence Errol Flynn into a cocked hat."
The movie is a successful remake of a lavish 1920 smash hit silent version starring Douglas Fairbanks, Sr. and Noah Beery, Sr., in which Zorro's costume originated before short story author Johnston McCulley incorporated the iconic outfit into his additional future Zorro stories. The influential original The Mark of Zorro was the first in an extremely popular array of swashbuckler action pictures starring the acrobatic Fairbanks, who'd previously specialized mainly in comedies.
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. Moreover Bob Kane was himself inspired by Fairbanks' Zorro, including similarities in costumes, the "Bat Cave" and Zorro's cave, and unexpected secret identities.
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.
This version of Zorro has come out twice on DVD. The first was released on October 7, 2003 and featured the movie in its original black-and-white form, as part of 20th Century Fox Studio Classics Collection. The second was released on October 18, 2005 as a Special Edition, and featured both a new restored black-and-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.
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