MARK OF ZORRO, THE (director: Fred Niblo; screenwriter: Johnston MacCulley's story The Curse of Capistrano/Douglas Fairbanks; cinematographer:William McGann/Harry Thorpe; cast: Douglas Fairbanks (Don Diego Vega/Zorro), Charles Hill Mailes (Don Carlos Pulido), Noah Beery, Sr. (Sgt. Pedro Gonzalez), Marguerite de la Motte (Lolita), Robert McKim (Captain Juan Ramon), Walt Whitman (Father Felipe), George Periolat (Gov. Alvarado), Tote Du Crow (Bernardo), Claire McDowell (Dona Catalina Pulido), Sidney De Gray (Don Alejandro), Snitz Edwards (Short Barkeep), 1920-silent)
Reviewed by Dennis Schwartz
Douglas Fairbanks plays his first action hero role as Zorro, the sort of part he will play for the rest of his film career, before this very popular film he was cast only in light comedies. He also produced the film, as he formed a studio called United Artists, that also included partners Mary Pickford, D.W. Griffith, and Charlie Chaplin.
This fun-type of swashbuckler, gave him a chance to show-off his athletic ability, as he himself did all the dueling scenes and acrobatic routines the story required. He is dressed in a black mask-and- cape, which gave the role a certain amount of appeal to audiences.
The film is not much on character study, instead it's filled with action sequences and a melodramatic love story between Zorro, who hides his true identity of being the son of the aristocratic rancher Don Alejandro (De Gray), and the sweet Lolita Pukido (Marguerite).
He is forced by his father to seek a wife, Lolita, and appears to be very unmanly to her, forcing her to reject him even though he is so wealthy and her father wants this marriage. She is the daughter of a blue-blooded Spanish family that has fallen on hard times, her father is Don Carlos Pulido (Charles Hill Mailes) and her mother is Dona Catalina Pulido (Claire McDowell).
The reason for the Zorro disguise, is because he just returned three months ago from studying in Spain and wants to secretly organize the caballeros against the oppressors who are, especially, cruel towards the poor, the natives and the priests. He leaves his trade-mark of a Z on the skin of those oppressors he duels with.
The action takes place in 19th century Southern California, where the corrupt governor, Alvarado (Periolat), who is from the northern part, where he controls the colonial territory, comes south because he is upset with Zorro's interference in his affairs. He will post a reward to get him dead or alive. There is no mistake about who the goodguys and who the badguys are in this childlike adventure story. The heavies are played like heavies were played in the old days of filmmaking: and are the governor and his henchmen- Sergeant Pedro Gonzalez (Noah Berry) and Captain Ramos (Robert McKim).
A typical action scene, is the one in the cantina, where Zorro suddenly appears and fights a duel with Sergeant Ramos while keeping all the other soldiers at bay. It reminded me of a Charlie Chaplin routine, the one where he's the tramp and is kicking the cop in his behind. Zorro likes to laugh a lot and play cat-and-mouse games with his enemies, all-the-while courting danger, as he disarms his opponent and toys with him.
The film disappointed me in many ways, not the least being, that his plan to help the poor, seemed misplaced, and that this was more a story of aristocrats and those of wealth versus bad politicians rather than the Robin Hood story it projected itself to be. It was really a stretch to believe that the noble Zorro was anything but a rich aristocrat having a bit of sport, and finding love with someone he could have easily found love with anyway without going through his masquerade. The story itself was a cliche, featuring his cardboard-typed father wanting his son not to be an idler and make something of himself, while the son feigns being fatigued all the time and acting effeminate, performing silly magic tricks when he should be seriously courting the eligible senorita his father fixed him up with. There is also the faithful native servant, Roberto (Tote Du Crow), who knows Don Diego Vega's secrets, but cannot speak, he can only hear. It was the type of part you can almost expect to see in a film like this, and one that is void of any real human emotions.
There are no surprises in this predictable costume actioner, but it is pleasantly shot in B&W with a tinted look to it. It should please those who like their films to be lighthearted. Because it was such a successful film box-office wise and was a precursor to the type of film Hollywood is noted for putting forth, it could be interesting just to see how this silent yarn compares with the viewer's take on the more modern action films.
REVIEWED ON 12/17/99 GRADE: C
Dennis Schwartz: " Ozus' World Movie Reviews"
http://www.sover.net/~ozus
ozus@sover.net
© ALL RIGHTS RESERVED DENNIS SCHWARTZ
The review above was posted to the
rec.arts.movies.reviews newsgroup (de.rec.film.kritiken for German reviews).
The Internet Movie Database accepts no responsibility for the contents of the
review and has no editorial control. Unless stated otherwise, the copyright
belongs to the author.
Please direct comments/criticisms of the review to relevant newsgroups.
Broken URLs inthe reviews are the responsibility of the author.
The formatting of the review is likely to differ from the original due
to ASCII to HTML conversion.
Related links: index of all rec.arts.movies.reviews reviews