THE MARK OF ZORRO

New Zealand Listener, Volume 4, Issue 85, 7 February 1941, Page 16

THE MARK OF ZORRO

(Twentieth Century-Fox)

"THOUSANDS of filmgoers remember "The Mark of Zorro" as one of the best appearances of that swashbuckling knight of the

silent screen, Douglas Fairbanks, and many of them must have felt some misgivings when it was announced that Twentieth Century-Fox would remake the story with Tyrone Power as the Terror of Old California. For Tyrone Power, whatever his effect on the ladies, has not previously been renowned as a fighting an calculated to strike terror into the hearts of corrupt Californians. As one of those who looked on "The Mark of Zorro" as one of the bright cinematic spots of their boyhood, I must confess that I went to see the new version more or less expecting that it would arouse nothing but nostalgic regrets for the late lamented Fairbanks and sentimental yearnings for the years that the locust and the talkies have eaten. However, I needn’t have worried. The new "Zorro" is fresh and vigorous enough to make one forget the old. Surprisingly, too, Tyrone Power’s performance seems just about all that it should be. It is one of the few occasions on which he has done any real acting. Perhaps that is because the character of Zorro never really existed, whereas it has often been Power’s misfortune in the past to have to portray characters who did, such as Ferdinand de Lesseps and Count Axel Fersen. Perhaps it is because Zorro was purely imaginary that Power is able to make him seem real enough. Indeed, for a story that is pure fiction, and somewhat lurid fiction at that, there is a notable amount of realism in "The Mark of Zorro." For instance, the swordplay which occupies such a lot of footage is a good deal more than the indiscriminate banging together of swords which, in the movies and on the stage, so often passes for fencing. Tyrone Power and Basil Rathbone fence for the gallery, but they do fence. For those younger readers who started going to the movies only about 10 years ago and so missed the original "Zorro," and for those older ones who could have gone earlier but wouldn’t then condescend to, it should be explained that Zorro was a gallant gentleman of some vague period in Californian history, who borrowed his technique largely from Robin Hood and the Scarlet Pimpernel (and, of course, Douglas Fairbanks). After an education in Spain, which seems to consist of learning how to handle swords, horses and women, this gay young caballero returns to California to find that his noble, altruistic father has

retired from the position of Governor, and that in his place is a miserable rascal who is grinding the faces of the peons in the dust for his own profit, egged on by the even blacker-souled Captain Basil Rathbone and an expensive wife. The hero sets out to put things right. From Robin Hood he borrows the practice of robbing the rich to give to the poor; from the Scarlet Pimpernel the device of posing as an ineffectual fop so that: nobody will suspect him. From Douglas Fairbanks (or the author of the story), he inherits the practice of marking all the victims of his righteous sword with a "Z’’-shaped slash. There is a pure young maid of high degree, the wicked Governor’s niece (Linda Darnell); who loathes and then adores the masked avenger; and there is Eugene Pallette as a militant priest, who plays Friar Tuck to Power’s Robin Hood. The hero keeps dashing about with his smoothing iron and escaping out of tight corners until his activities culminate in an uprising of the peons and the caballeros which results. in..Zorro’s father being reinstated as Governor, and Zorro’s sword being stuck up in the ceiling out of harm’s way, as a sign that he has given up knight-errantry and is going to raise a family. Those who recall this gesture of resignation in the early film may also recall that the sword was later taken down by the son of Zorro ina sequel; so perhaps we may look for the same thing to happen again. I hope so. Best Shot; The look of surprise and agony on Rathbone’s face when Zorro’s sword goes through him and he realises he is a dead man.