ZEROING IN ON ZORRO

   
          Johnston McCulley's reworking of the Robin Hood legend as a tale of Old California was serialized but left no mark...until "The Curse of Capistrano" was made into an action picture starring Douglas Fairbanks.
          The Mark of Zorro (1920) features the unparalleled athleticism of the legendary Fairbanks as a rich son who returns to his home to find disrepair and tyranny. To remove suspicion from himself and to thereby protect his family, Don Diego Vega (Fairbanks) pretends to be a foppish dandy, yet uses his wealth to strike terror in the hearts of the oppressors as the masked hero who outfoxes his enemies and taunts them with his zeal.
          The film casts a long cultural shadow: Some of Zorro directly influences the Lon Chaney classic The Phantom of the Opera (1925), and Batman creator Bob Kane combined Zorro with Sherlock Holmes for the Dark Knight. With Don Q, Son of Zorro (1925), Fairbanks returned to the character which gave rise to his career as film's first swashbuckler.
          Because the first film was shot in black and white, the red sash around Zorro's waist and red cloth over his head morphed into the all-black costume we expect.
          The 1940 version directed by Rouben Mamoulian and starring Tyrone Power is interesting because Mamoulian directed the highly-acclaimed Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1931). Both are stories about multiple identity, and the need to keep opposing identities from discovery through elaborate deception.
          The Power film is excellent. It's well-shot, boasts a supporting cast we expect to see with Errol Flynn--Basil Rathbone as an Old California Sheriff of Nottingham--and benefits from a rousing Alfred Newman score. Power has a classy presence and looks great in the suit, but no one has ever matched Fairbanks for the sheer confident exuberance of a character who enjoys slipping into a tavern and locking all the doors and windows so none of the soldiers inside looking for him can escape.
          Disney made a few movies and had a hit show with Guy Williams as Zorro. After that he went on to play John Robinson in TV's "Lost in Space" series. Frank Langella played Zorro in 1974, five years before he was Dracula in the motion picture. And there was a Saturday morning cartoon which began in 1980.
          Surprisingly, one of the best contributions to the world of Zorro is the 1981 film starring George Hamilton. Zorro, the Gay Blade has got to be the crowning achievement of Hamilton's artistic life. Not only does he make a terrific Zorro, but he also plays his effete brother, who, in a sort of twist on the premise in The Prisoner of Zenda, fills in as Zorro for the real one...yet with his own fabulous style.
          The result is a zany swashbuckling comedy which has aged quite well.
          The Mask of Zorro (1998) kicked off a successful franchise starring Antonio Banderas, Catherine Zeta-Jones and Anthony Hopkins (the latter two being from Wales, curiously enough). Lots of action and romance--Hopkins as the real Zorro passing on the tradition to the new guy is probably the best part of it--but the film also has a deal too much color and daylight for a character who works better in the shadows.
         

Tyrone Power

George Hamilton

Anthony Hopkins and Antonio Banderas

Stewart Kirby writes for
THE INDEPENDENT
and
TWO RIVERS TRIBUNE