''The Mark of Zorro'' is a 1940 American

black-and-white Black-and-white (B&W or B/W) images combine black and white in a continuous spectrum, producing a range of shades of grey. Media The history of various visual media began with black and white, and as technology improved, altered to color. ...

swashbuckling Western film from

20th Century Fox 20th Century Studios, Inc. (previously known as 20th Century Fox) is an American film production company headquartered at the Fox Studio Lot in the Century City area of Los Angeles. As of 2019, it serves as a film production arm of Walt Disn ...

directed by

Rouben Mamoulian Rouben Zachary Mamoulian ( ; hy, Ռուբէն Մամուլեան; October 8, 1897 – December 4, 1987) was an American film and theatre director. Early life Mamoulian was born in Tiflis, Russian Empire, to a family of Armenian descent. ...

, produced by Darryl F. Zanuck, and starring

Tyrone Power Tyrone Edmund Power III (May 5, 1914 – November 15, 1958) was an American actor. From the 1930s to the 1950s, Power appeared in dozens of films, often in swashbuckler roles or romantic leads. His better-known films include ''Jesse James (193 ...

, Linda Darnell, and

Basil Rathbone Philip St. John Basil Rathbone MC (13 June 1892 – 21 July 1967) was a South African-born English actor. He rose to prominence in the United Kingdom as a Shakespearean stage actor and went on to appear in more than 70 films, primarily costume ...

. The supporting cast features Eugene Pallette, Gale Sondergaard and Robert Lowery (the second actor to portray

Batman Batman is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. The character was created by artist Bob Kane and writer Bill Finger, and debuted in the 27th issue of the comic book ''Detective Comics'' on March 30, 1939. I ...

on film). ''The Mark of Zorro'' was nominated for an

Academy Award for Best Original Score The Academy Award for Best Original Score is an award presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) to the best substantial body of music in the form of dramatic underscoring written specifically for the film by t ...

. The film was named to the

National Film Registry The National Film Registry (NFR) is the United States National Film Preservation Board's (NFPB) collection of films selected for preservation, each selected for its historical, cultural and aesthetic contributions since the NFPB’s inception ...

in 2009 by the

Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is the research library that officially serves the United States Congress and is the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It is the oldest federal cultural institution in the country. The libra ...

for being "culturally, historically or aesthetically significant", and to be preserved for all time. The film is based on the novel ''

The Curse of Capistrano ''The Curse of Capistrano'' is a 1919 novel by Johnston McCulley and the first work to feature the Californio character Diego Vega, the masked hero also called Zorro (''zorro'' is the Spanish word for fox). It first appeared as a five-part magazin ...

'' by Johnston McCulley, originally published in 1919 in five serialized installments in ''

All-Story Weekly ''Argosy'', later titled ''The Argosy'', ''Argosy All-Story Weekly'' and ''The New Golden Argosy'', was an American pulp magazine from 1882 through 1978, published by Frank Munsey until its sale to Popular Publications in 1942. It is the first ...

'', which introduced the masked hero Zorro; the story is set in

Southern California Southern California (commonly shortened to SoCal) is a geographic and cultural region that generally comprises the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. It includes the Los Angeles metropolitan area, the second most populous urban ...

during the early 19th century. After the enormous success of the silent 1920 film adaptation, the story was republished under that name by

Grosset & Dunlap Grosset & Dunlap is a New York City-based publishing house founded in 1898. The company was purchased by G. P. Putnam's Sons in 1982 and today is part of Penguin Random House through its subsidiary Penguin Group. Today, through the Penguin Gr ...

Plot

Don Diego Vega (

) is urgently called home by his father. To all outward appearances, he is the foppish son of wealthy ranchero and former

Alcalde Alcalde (; ) is the traditional Spanish municipal magistrate, who had both judicial and administrative functions. An ''alcalde'' was, in the absence of a corregidor, the presiding officer of the Castilian '' cabildo'' (the municipal council) ...

Don Alejandro Vega ( Montagu Love), having returned to

Alta California Alta California ('Upper California'), also known as ('New California') among other names, was a province of New Spain, formally established in 1804. Along with the Baja California peninsula, it had previously comprised the province of , but ...

after his military education in Spain. Don Diego is horrified at the way the common people are now mistreated by the corrupt Alcalde, Luis Quintero (

J. Edward Bromberg Joseph Edward Bromberg (born Josef Bromberger, December 25, 1903 – December 6, 1951) was a Hungarian-born American character actor in motion picture and stage productions dating mostly from the 1930s and 1940s. Knowledge of his past as a membe ...

), who had forced his father from the position of Alcalde. Don Diego adopts the guise of El Zorro ("The Fox"), a masked outlaw dressed entirely in black, who becomes the defender of the common people and a champion for justice against Quintero and his garrison of soldiers. In the meantime he romances the Alcalde's beautiful and innocent niece, Lolita ( Linda Darnell), whom he grows to love. As part of his plan, Don Diego simultaneously flirts with the Alcalde's wife Inez ( Gale Sondergaard), filling her head with tales of

Madrid Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the second-largest city in the European Union (EU), and ...

fashion and culture and raising her desire to move there with her corrupt husband, Luis. In both his guises Don Diego must always contend with the governor's ablest henchman, the malevolent and deadly Captain Esteban Pasquale (

). He eventually dispatches the Captain during a fast-moving rapier duel-to-the-death, as the Alcalde looks on in astonishment. This action leads to a forced regime change with the help of the people of Los Angeles, the other landowners, and his father. This became Don Diego's long-range plan from the time he arrived back in California and saw just how bad things had become in Los Angeles during his absence.

Cast

The Mark of Zorro (1940 title lobby card)

as Don Diego Vega/Zorro * Linda Darnell as Lolita Quintero *

as Captain Esteban Pasquale * Gale Sondergaard as Inez Quintero * Eugene Pallette as Friar Felipe *

as Don Luis Quintero * Montagu Love as Don Alejandro Vega * Janet Beecher as Senora Isabella Vega *

George Regas George Thomas Regas ( Greek: Γεώργιος Θωμάς Ρεγάκος; November 9, 1890 – December 13, 1940) was a Greek American actor. Biography Regis was born in the village of Goranoi near Sparta, Greece, the brother of actor Pedro R ...

as Sergeant Gonzales *

Chris-Pin Martin Chris-Pin Martin (born Ysabel Ponciana Chris-Pin Martin Paiz, November 19, 1893 – June 27, 1953) was an American character actor whose specialty lay in portraying comical Mexicans, particularly sidekicks in ''The Cisco Kid'' film series. H ...

as Turnkey * Robert Lowery as Rodrigo * Belle Mitchell as Maria * John Bleifer as Pedro * Frank Puglia as Proprietor *

Eugene Borden Eugene Borden (born Élysée Eugène Prieur-Bardin, March 21, 1897 – July 2, 1971) was an American character actor in silent and sound films. Born in France, he immigrated to the United States as a teenager, and entered the film industry a sh ...

as Officer of the Day * Pedro de Cordoba as Don Miguel * Guy D'Ennery as Don Jose * Stanley Andrews as Commanding Officer (uncredited) * Fortunio Bonanova as Sentry (uncredited) * Charles Stevens as José (uncredited)

Remake and music score

'' The Mark of Zorro'' (1974) is a made-for-television remake film starring Frank Langella and co-starring Ricardo Montalbán in the roles of Power and Rathbone. It reuses

Alfred Newman Alfred Newman (March 17, 1900 – February 17, 1970) was an American composer, arranger, and conductor of film music. From his start as a music prodigy, he came to be regarded as a respected figure in the history of film music. He won nine Aca ...

's original film score, along with new incidental music composed by

Dominic Frontiere Dominic Carmen Frontiere (June 17, 1931 – December 21, 2017) was an American composer, arranger, and jazz accordionist. He composed the theme and much of the music for the first season of the television series '' The Outer Limits'', as we ...

. Portions of Newman’s original music score were reused by composer Ian Fraser for the George Hamilton swashbuckling comedy film ''

Zorro, The Gay Blade ''Zorro, The Gay Blade'' is a 1981 American swashbuckling comedy western film from 20th Century Fox, produced by C.O. Erickson and George Hamilton, directed by Peter Medak, that stars Hamilton, Lauren Hutton, Ron Leibman, and Brenda Vaccaro. Th ...

'' (1981). The film's storyline is a tongue-in-cheek sequel to the original 1940 film.

1920 silent version

''The Mark of Zorro'' is a sound

remake A remake is a film, television series, video game, song or similar form of entertainment that is based upon and retells the story of an earlier production in the same medium—e.g., a "new version of an existing film". A remake tells the sam ...

of the lavish 1920 smash hit

silent film A silent film is a film with no synchronized recorded sound (or more generally, no audible dialogue). Though silent films convey narrative and emotion visually, various plot elements (such as a setting or era) or key lines of dialogue may, w ...

starring

Douglas Fairbanks Douglas Elton Fairbanks Sr. (born Douglas Elton Thomas Ullman; May 23, 1883 – December 12, 1939) was an American actor, screenwriter, director, and producer. He was best known for his swashbuckling roles in silent films including '' The Thi ...

as Zorro and Noah Beery Sr. as Sergeant Gonzales. This film depiction includes Don Diego's mother, Isabella, but it omits Bernardo (Don Diego's mute servant). That 1920 feature introduced Zorro's iconic all-black costume, subsequently incorporated into Johnston McCulley's later Zorro stories in his original fiction series upon which Fairbanks' film had been based. The 1920 film was the first in a popular array of swashbuckler action features starring the acrobatic Fairbanks, who had previously appeared mainly in comedies. Clips from the film were incorporated into '' The Artist'' nine decades later. Acknowledging that director Mamoulian’s 1940 version is a “tongue-in-check” remake of the Douglas Fairbanks' 1920 swashbuckler, film critic Todd Wiener observes:

Batman connection

In the

DC Comics DC Comics, Inc. ( doing business as DC) is an American comic book publisher and the flagship unit of DC Entertainment, a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery. DC Comics is one of the largest and oldest American comic book companies, with the ...

continuity it is established that ''The Mark of Zorro'' was the film that the eight-year-old

Bruce Wayne Batman is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. The character was created by artist Bob Kane and writer Bill Finger, and debuted in Detective Comics 27, the 27th issue of the comic book ''Detective Comics'' on ...

had seen with his parents,

Thomas Thomas may refer to: People * List of people with given name Thomas * Thomas (name) * Thomas (surname) * Saint Thomas (disambiguation) * Thomas Aquinas (1225–1274) Italian Dominican friar, philosopher, and Doctor of the Church * Thomas the A ...

and

Martha Martha (Hebrew: מָרְתָא‎) is a biblical figure described in the Gospels of Luke and John. Together with her siblings Lazarus and Mary of Bethany, she is described as living in the village of Bethany near Jerusalem. She was witness ...

, at a movie theater, only moments before they were killed in front of his eyes by an armed thug (later retconned to be Joe Chill). Zorro is often portrayed as Bruce's childhood hero and an influence on his

persona. There are discrepancies regarding which version Bruce saw: ''

The Dark Knight Returns ''The Dark Knight Returns'' (alternatively titled ''Batman: The Dark Knight Returns'') is a 1986 four-issue comic book miniseries starring Batman, written by Frank Miller, illustrated by Miller and Klaus Janson, with color by Lynn Varley, and pub ...

'' claims it was the Tyrone Power version, whereas a story by Alan Grant claimed it to be the silent

original. Bill Finger was himself inspired by Fairbanks' Zorro, including similarities in costumes, the "Bat Cave" and Zorro's cave, and unexpected secret identities, especially since the

character predates the Tyrone Power remake by a year. In '' Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice'' (set in the DCEU continuity), Bruce and his parents leave a screening of 1940's ''The Mark of Zorro'' the night of their murder. In the animated series ''

Justice League Unlimited ''Justice League Unlimited'' (''JLU'') is a 2004–2006 American superhero animated television series that was produced by Warner Bros. Animation and aired on Cartoon Network. Featuring a wide array of superheroes from the DC Comics univers ...

'', a flashback of the fateful night establishes that for DCAU continuity Bruce and his parents were attending ''The Mark of Zorro'' but does not indicate which version. In earlier episodes of '' Batman: The Animated Series'', the fictional character the Gray Ghost, a pulp fiction hero inspired by

The Shadow The Shadow is a fictional character created by magazine publishers Street & Smith and writer Walter B. Gibson. Originally created to be a mysterious radio show narrator, and developed into a distinct literary character in 1931 by writer Walter ...

, is the inspiration to young Bruce Wayne. In

Todd Phillips Todd Phillips (né Bunzl, born December 20, 1970) is an American film director, producer, and screenwriter. He began his career in 1993 and directed films in the 2000s such as ''Road Trip (film), Road Trip'', ''Old School (film), Old School'', ...

' 2019 film '' Joker'', the Marquee above the theater young Bruce and his parents exit shows the 1981 films ''

Blow Out ''Blow Out'' is a 1981 American neo-noir mystery thriller film written and directed by Brian De Palma. The film stars John Travolta as Jack Terry, a movie sound effects technician from Philadelphia who, while recording sounds for a low-budge ...

'' and ''

Zorro, the Gay Blade ''Zorro, The Gay Blade'' is a 1981 American swashbuckling comedy western film from 20th Century Fox, produced by C.O. Erickson and George Hamilton, directed by Peter Medak, that stars Hamilton, Lauren Hutton, Ron Leibman, and Brenda Vaccaro. Th ...

'' as playing.

Home media

''The Mark of Zorro'' has been released twice on DVD. The first was on October 7, 2003, and featured the film in its original black-and-white, as part of 20th Century Fox Studio Classics Collection. The second was released on October 18, 2005, as a

Special Edition The terms special edition, limited edition, and variants such as deluxe edition, or collector's edition, are used as a marketing incentive for various kinds of products, originally published products related to the arts, such as books, prints, ...

, featuring both a newly restored black-and-white version and a colorized version, prepared by

Legend Films Legend Films is a San Diego-based company founded in August 2001. The company specializes in the conversion of feature films, both new release and catalog titles, and commercials from their native 2D format into 3-D film format utilizing proprietar ...

. Both contain the short film "Tyrone Power: The Last Idol" as seen on ''

Biography A biography, or simply bio, is a detailed description of a person's life. It involves more than just the basic facts like education, work, relationships, and death; it portrays a person's experience of these life events. Unlike a profile or c ...

'' on the

A&E Network A&E is an American basic cable network, the flagship television property of A&E Networks. The network was originally founded in 1984 as the Arts & Entertainment Network, initially focusing on fine arts, documentaries, dramas, and educational ent ...

, with a commentary by film critic Richard Schickel. Kino Lorber released the movie on Blu-ray in 2016.

References

Sources

*Todd Weiner. 2004.'' The Mark of Zorro'', 1940. UCLA Film and Television Archive: 12th Festival of Preservation, July 22 – August 21, 2004. Festival guest handbook.

External links

* * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Mark Of Zorro (1940), The 1940 films 1940 Western (genre) films 1940s English-language films 20th Century Fox films American Western (genre) films American black-and-white films Films based on American novels Films based on works by Johnston McCulley Films directed by Rouben Mamoulian Films produced by Darryl F. Zanuck Films scored by Alfred Newman Films set in California Films set in the 19th century Films with screenplays by Bess Meredyth Sound film remakes of silent films United States National Film Registry films Zorro films Films with screenplays by Garrett Fort 1940s American films