World Famous Comics: The Mark of Zorro (Special Edition) (Colorized / Black and White)
The Mark of Zorro (Special Edition) (Colorized / Black and White)
Starring: Tyrone Power, Linda Darnell, Basil Rathbone, Gale Sondergaard, Eugene Pallette Directed By: Rouben Mamoulian Average Rating: Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1 Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated) Binding: DVD Format: Black & White, Closed-captioned, Color, DVD-Video, Special Edition, NTSC Label: 20th Century Fox Number of Items: 1 Region Code: 1 Release Date: October 18, 2005 Running Time: 93 minutes Theatrical Release Date: November 08, 1940
Description: This swashbuckling remake of the silent classic stars Tyrone Power as the dashing masked avenger who single-handedly saves Los Angeles from Spanish despots. Don Diego Vega (Power) is summoned home from his elite training corps in Spain to California, where he finds his father deposed and the people living in tyranny. Disguised as Zorro, a sword-wielding mystery man dressed in black, he works to restore his father to power and return the tax money stolen by the villains (J. Edward Bromberg, Basil Rathbone). He even finds time to romance the ruling tyrant's beautiful niece (Linda Darnell).
Amazon.com: When they say they don't make 'em like they used to, they're talking about 20th Century Fox's exhilarating The Mark of Zorro, starring Tyrone Power as the caped one, Linda Darnell as his love interest, and Basil Rathbone at his scurrilous best as Zorro's nemesis. More textured than the 1920 original with Douglas Fairbanks, this 1940 version has Don Diego/Zorro (Powers) returning from Madrid to defend his father and rally the caballeros (noblemen) against Los Angeles's corrupt new governor (J. Edward Bromberg), intent on taxing the peons to death.
If this all sounds like an Old California redo of the classic Adventures of Robin Hood, that's because it is. Powers has a field day as Don Diego, the "fancy clown" betrothed to the governor's niece, Lolita (Darnell). Don Diego the effete snob performs silly parlor tricks, peers through pince-nez, and yawns disdainfully at one and all. Power's cowardly alter ego is so believable, his transformation to masked superhero becomes all the more thrilling. Imagine Captain Pasquale's (Rathbone) shock when, in the film's brilliantly choreographed showdown, this annoying fop turns out to be a world-class swordsman.
Director Rouben Mamoulian, known for great period melodramas, does a skillful job of alternating garrison intrigue with big action scenes, including a nighttime ride that climaxes with Zorro on horseback leaping off a bridge. In the romantic highlight, Lolita confides her innermost desires to a suspiciously worldly friar. The first-rate supporting cast includes Gale Sondergaard as the governor's treacherous wife and the frog-voiced Eugene Pallette (Friar Tuck in The Adventures of Robin Hood) as a padre in cahoots with the masked one. Technically, this retelling rates an unqualified "Wow!" The cinematography, obviously influenced by Goya, makes full use of chiaroscuro shadows, and Alfred Newman's Latin-flavored score is irresistibly rousing and romantic. --Glenn Lovell
The Best! I saw this version of Zorro when I was a child and fell in love with it. It is one of my favorites!
What a fun movie! For anyone who hasn't seen the handsome and talented Tyrone Power in action yet, this film would be a great place to start getting acquainted with his impressive body of work. I think I like this film more than the original Douglas Fairbanks, Sr. version of the Zorro story, even though there aren't as many action sequences here. Although while Diego doesn't spend all that much time dressed as Zorro and battling with the bad guys, and the film probably could have been made a bit longer to include more such scenes, I still found it to be a charming story, really drawing the viewer in in spite of how Diego/Zorro spends more time talking than swashbuckling. Tyrone Power is great in each of the three roles he takes on--his original character back in Spain, Zorro, and then the foppishly funny persona he takes on as a means of throwing off suspicions about being Zorro. All of the supporting players are wonderful as well, such as Basil Rathbone as the sleazy and ambitious Esteban, Eugene Pallette as the rotund froggy-voiced Fra Felipe, Gail Sondergaard as the scheming Inez, and J. Edward Bromberg as the hated Quintero. In spite of how the film probably could have been made a bit longer and not suffered any, and how there aren't as many action sequences as one would expect from a Zorro movie, it still works and gets everything resolved in the given timeframe. Nowadays such a film would never be limited to just an hour and a half, as is pointed out in the great audio commentary, since the egos of everyone involved would probably take over and it would be stretched out to at least two hours.
As great as this film is, and as nice as the bonus features are (an audio commentary plus an episode of Biography), one has to wonder why it was made into a two-sided disc. Everything that was on Side A is also on Side B, only Side B has them in the original glorious black and white. In addition to double-sided discs being more prone to scratching and damaging, it's just unnecessary to have included a colorised version of this great film. While Tyrone Power did make quite a few films in color, this wasn't one of them. It might have looked great in color, but it works just as well being in black and white. There are many scenes that have the mood set by the black and white color spectrum, like when Zorro is snuffing out the candles in Quintero's study. They're no longer as effective in artificial computerised color. Every time it seems like the issue of colorising classic films is dead and buried once and for all, something like this comes along, and then a small minority of people happily declares that it looks even better in this fake color and that they don't even want to watch the original black and white.
zorro mark of zorro was a very good movie, glad i was able to buy it
I liked it.... Very good colorization of a classic movie. I haven't viewed the Black & White version yet, but it's convienent to have the choice of one disc. Of course, my favorite version of the Zorro legend is George Hamilton's "Zorro, the Gay Blade".
Nostalgia on high tech The greatness of a classic movie on a DVD is fantastic. Great quality - and no more rewinding to view favorite scenes.
Anything Goes Trivia
Trevor
Megaton Man
