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Post by wmcclain on Aug 9, 2019 11:23:52 GMT
Zorro first appeared in print on August 9 1919.
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Post by wmcclain on Aug 9, 2019 11:24:03 GMT
The Mark of Zorro (1920), directed by Fred Niblo. The first Zorro in film, made immediately after the character first appeared on August 9, 1919 in the pages of All-Story Weekly:  Said to be a turning point in Douglas Fairbanks' career, a switch to costume action pictures for him, and a foundation work in action pictures themselves. The first product of United Artists. In this telling Don Diego is not as foppish as The Scarlet Pimpernel (1934) but merely weak and enervated; low testosterone, to the frustration of the senorita he is supposed to woo. Putting on the mask he is incredibly suave and athletic, with real leaps and swashbuckling that is still impressive. In silent film actors have to communicate more with their posture and expressions. This can be vastly entertaining, as for 18-year-old Marguerite De La Motte's expressions in response to her suitors: rolling her eyes in exasperation at Don Diego, flashing them in anger at the insulting Captain Ramon, then melting with desire and love for Zorro. The plot follows The Curse of Capistrano reasonably well. A running gag is that you shouldn't drunkenly boast about how you are going to smack Zorro around when you catch him; he always turns up to discuss the matter. I would have tightened those bits up. I don't recall that the film mentions it, but that dusty little pueblo is Los Angeles, population 650 in 1820. The 1920 film sets the scene "about a hundred years ago" and I watched it 100 years after it was made. Mind blown. The film is in the public domain and is available online, as well as on DVDs of probably variable quality. My Netflix rental was from Image Entertainment, 1999. Quite a lot of print damage but certainly watchable for an antique film. I don't know if the tinting was from the original or added later, or if the score was written for the original release or developed since then. It has that Wurlitzer theater organ sound so often used for silent film tracks. I find it irritating sometimes, but in this case it does try to match the action. 
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Post by wmcclain on Aug 9, 2019 11:24:32 GMT
The Mark of Zorro (1940), directed by Rouben Mamoulian. At last: we have an action/adventure costume mythology filmed in southern California where the story is actually set. How local audiences must of appreciated seeing the quiet dusty streets of tiny Los Angeles village. This is an adequate adventure story, somewhat sluggish until the final scenes, where we have a spectacular duel and a large melee of peasants and caballeros vs soldiers. Tyrone Power is also adequate, Linda Darnell lovely as his good-hearted, virginal love interest, and Basil Rathbone deliciously villainous. If you combine Robin Hood with the Scarlet Pimpernel you get Zorro. The Pimpernel first appeared in 1903, Zorro in 1919, and Robin Hood goes back centuries. The Pimpernel invention was to disguise the action hero as a harmless foppish nobleman by day. Here Don Diego instantly assumes a "light in his boots" persona that the ladies find endearing and the men exasperating. His nemesis glowers across the dinner table, stabbing at a piece of fruit. Note how much this film owes to The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938). They import Rathbone and Eugene Pallette as practically the same characters, the latter even keeping his Friar Tuck robes. Rathbone was considered one of the best fencers in Hollywood and he said that Tyrone Power was better with a sword than Errol Flynn. Alfred Newman score, Arthur C. Miller photography. Available on Blu-ray from Kino. Richard Schickel provides his usual low-energy commentary. Apart from some background on the people involved, this one is a mostly useless summary of the obvious. 
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Post by wmcclain on Aug 9, 2019 11:25:04 GMT
The Mask of Zorro (1998), directed by Martin Campbell. Like The Mummy (1999) this is designed to be a crowd-pleasing summer blockbuster, mining an established mythology and using familiar action/romance film themes. It's the awful aristos vs the dignified peasants and their hero. The audience need contribute nothing except their time. Zorro himself is a composite of Robin Hood and the Scarlet Pimpernel. The fantasy of Alta California has a touch of the Arabian Nights and the mythologies almost touch when Elena talks about riding her horse at night across the plains of Andalusia. More: there is an "I am Spartacus!" moment in the prison and an escape taken from The Count of Monte Cristo. Abundant swashbuckling sword-fights and ambitious comedy action brawls which owe much to The Three Musketeers: the demolition of a troop barracks and horse-chase stunts. Antonio Banderas is really very good at the comedy bits. He, Anthony Hopkins and the always perfectly-lit Catherine Zeta-Jones had extensive sword training for the film. This was her breakout role. Notes: - It begins at the triumphant ending: Zorro's glorious defeat of his enemy and liberation of the country. With the setting sun behind he poses one last time on faithful Tornado...
- ...before it all goes south and we segue into "Zorro: The Next Generation".
- Was he just comatose in prison for 20 years until his enemy reappeared? Who doesn't recognize him?
- Old and young Zorro are Obi-wan and Luke. The training, both the sword martial arts and to be a charming foppish cavalier, is improbably accelerated, but that's the movies.
- Erotic swordplay! "He was vigorous, Father! He was quite vigorous".
- They get such titanic explosions from low-pressure black powder.
- Ballistics nonsense: flying bodies don't get knocked backwards when shot with a bullet.
- Hopkins punches out a guard at the big party. Doesn't that need to be explained later?
- Banderas is the only Spanish lead. Hopkins, Zeta-Jones and Stuart Wilson are Brits. And that's ok: it's acting.
Lush James Horner score. Photographed by Phil Méheux who frequently collaborates with director Campbell. Followed by The Legend of Zorro (2005) with the same leads and director. It did not do as well. I am posting this on August 9, 2019, the 100th anniversary of the first appearance of Zorro in the pages of All-Story Weekly: People are sometimes surprised that Zorro is not from traditional folklore, but is rather the invention of American novelist and screenwriter Johnston McCulley. He has 45 IMDB credits, not all of them for Zorro stories. Available on a splendid-looking Blu-ray with a detailed, technical commentary by the director. I am gratified to learn that he studied swashbucklers from classic Hollywood when making this. As I suspected, he cites Gene Kelly's The Three Musketeers (1948). 
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Post by OldAussie on Aug 9, 2019 13:16:29 GMT
I enjoyed both The Mark of Zorro (1940) and The Mask of Zorro (1998) - I know I saw The Legend of Zorro (2005) but remember nothing about it.
I missed the George Hamilton flick and the 70s porn version - can't recall their titles at the moment.
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Post by politicidal on Aug 9, 2019 17:45:28 GMT
I enjoyed both The Mark of Zorro (1940) and The Mask of Zorro (1998) - I know I saw The Legend of Zorro (2005) but remember nothing about it. I missed the George Hamilton flick and the 70s porn version - can't recall their titles at the moment. Love Mask of Zorro. Legend is hated by a lot of people, I didn't mind it; it's one of those sequels that throws in a kid for no good reason though.
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Post by teleadm on Aug 9, 2019 17:45:55 GMT
 In 1975 Zorro also spoke French in the shape of a dashing Alain Delon.  With Welsh-born actor Stanley Baker as his main adversary Colonel Huerta, in one of his last movies.
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Post by teleadm on Aug 9, 2019 18:19:32 GMT
Least we forget Zorro's offspring:  Son of Zorro 1947 a 13 part movie serial from Republic Pictures, starring the one and only George Turner, whoever that was. |
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Post by Prime etc. on Aug 9, 2019 19:20:41 GMT
I have been watching as many Zorros as I can find
I watched the Mark of Zorro, Don Q the Son of Zorro (it took a while to warm to Fairbanks since he reminded me of William Devane but once he was running around as Zorro he made it work).
The Bold Caballero (very interesting in that the heroine of the story smartly guesses his identity)
Zorro Rides Again-this was the first where I felt the Don Diego Vega character looked the part and I wasn't anxious for him to put the mask on.
I am waiting to do Zorro's Fighting Legion and then the Mark of Zorro 1940. My intro to it may have been the Langella version or the Guy Williams tv series
I really liked the Mask of Zorro (the Legend of Zorro was a Orci-Kurtzman affair and boy does it show). Felt old-fashioned--even a simple horse chase was exciting-- although
I had trouble accepting Hopkins as young Zorro--he was good as the old man.
Somewhere I read that Banderas was always playing caricatures in Hollywood movies while got to be more serious in European films.
One failing in it is that the villains are just not that interesting. Stuart Wilson-good actor, was evil enough-yet just not equal enough in stature to match Hopkins. Would Armand Assante have been better? I doubt it. Have to think would I would have preferred. The moral dilemma is unusually heavy--his daughter was raised by his enemy and seems to have been treated well. They tried to give her enough conflict to make the torn loyalties work-and to Zeta-Jones credit, I think she succeeded. I liked the duel-clothes tearing scene however I wonder if it was inspired by the Swordsman of Siena which does the same thing. There's also a Mexican Zorro I am waiting to watch where he is in prison for 20 years and rescued by his daughters!
So the biggest WTF plot aspect is that Zorro stays in prison for 20 years when he could escape any time. This was a ridiculous plot element. I can understand him being kept under strict watch but that isn't what we see--the carriage he was in was not well guarded and you would think he had the most important reason to escape-to rescue his daughter.
The contrast in approach between the 1920 version and the 1998 version is this: in the 1920 version Zorro is an aristocrat landowner who wants to help the peasants. He goes to fellow landowners to get their help. When he breaks some people wrongfully convicted out of jail-he leaves some of the prisoners behind!
Don Q has Zorro's son but he never wears a mask-old Zorro shows up at the end to help him fight and then is basically saying "that's my boy!"
The 1998 version has the new Zorro coming from the peasantry and all the landowners are bad, useless, or evil.
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Post by claudius on Aug 9, 2019 19:36:17 GMT
As I've noted in my viewings, I started this year watching the first season of Disney's ZORRO. Today it's THE MARK OF ZORRO (1920 which will be celebrating its centennial next year), and for the two months of the story's original publication, I will watch Powers, Banderas, THE GAY BLADE, and the first season of the 1990 Family Channel series. I will also watch episodes of the Filmation series as well.
It's unfortunate the 1974 Frank Langella-Ricardo Montalban version (which used the 1940 Newman score) is unavailable. I don't know if I'll get ZORRO (1975).
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Post by Prime etc. on Aug 9, 2019 19:50:36 GMT
I want to get to Zorro 1975 but I am going through the older ones first (I am sucker for chronology). I guess I will watch the first chapter of Zorro's Fighting Legion tonight.
I watched the Langella one again a while ago-forgot Montalban was in it.
There are a huge number of euro Zorros and masked crusader ones.
I recently watched Zorro meets the Three Musketeers (differences in time periods be damned).
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Post by claudius on Aug 9, 2019 19:52:15 GMT
Well, I remember that the Family Channel series had Zorro meeting the DESCENDENTS of the Three Musketeers.
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Post by BATouttaheck on Aug 9, 2019 21:16:58 GMT
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Post by BATouttaheck on Aug 9, 2019 21:46:58 GMT
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Post by teleadm on Aug 9, 2019 22:24:13 GMT
 Duncan, whatever happened to Duncan. He was so boring he made clocks stay still.
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Post by Prime etc. on Aug 10, 2019 0:48:51 GMT
I saw Zorro the Gay Blade at a drive-in.
I remember the exchange:
"Your sword is as sharp as your tongue."
Zorro says: "and yours as dull as your wit."
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Post by Prime etc. on Aug 10, 2019 0:59:54 GMT
BTW there are two Zorros in 1975. The one with Alain Delon and another with George Hilton called Who's Afraid of Zorro?
Correction. Three:
There is another THE MARK OF ZORRO with a Clint Douglas (Jess Franco credited in the crew).
Hmm looks like 1975 will be a busy Zorro year for me.
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Post by jervistetch on Aug 10, 2019 1:13:06 GMT
In my youth, I enjoyed Disney’s TV version of Zorro starring Guy Williams of “Lost in Space” fame.  I had the View Master set. I still have it. (What? Me, a hoarder?)  |
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Post by petrolino on Aug 11, 2019 0:23:49 GMT
I enjoyed the old Zorro as a kid. Antonio Banderas was born to play him but needed a better set-up; he said as much just recently, coming back slow from his recent heart attack.
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