The Mark of Zorro (1940)

Directed by Rouben Mamoulian. With Tyrone Power, Linda Darnell, Basil Rathbone, Gale Sondergaard. A young aristocrat must masquerade as a fop in order to maintain his secret identity of Zorro as he restores justice to early California.

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Overview of The Mark of Zorro, 1940, directed by Rouben Mamoulian, with Tyrone Power, Linda Darnell, Basil Rathbone, at Turner Classic Movies

Amazon.com: Mark of Zorro Special Edition: Tyrone Power, Linda Darnell, Basil Rathbone, Gale Sondergaard, Eugene Pallette, J. Edward Bromberg, Montagu Love, Janet Beecher, George Regas, Chris-Pin Martin, Robert Lowery, Belle Mitchell, John Bleifer, Frank Puglia, Eugene Borden, Pedro de Cordoba, Guy D'Ennery, Victor Kilian, Robert Cauterio, Fred Malatesta, Charles Stevens, Harry Worth, Franco Corsaro, Ralph Byrd, Frank Yaconelli, Lucio Villegas, Art Dupuis, William Edmunds, Paul Sutton, Hector Sarno, Francisco Marán, Jean Del Val, Rafael Corio, Fortunio Bonanova, Ted North, Gino Corrado, George Sorel, Stanley Andrews, Rouben Mamoulian: Movies & TV

This is perhaps the best of the many Zorro films as Tyrone Power gives an outstanding performance as the alternately swishing and swashbuckling son of a 19th century California aristocrat. As a champion of the oppressed, Zorro must face a wicked governor portrayed by J. Edward Bromberg, who, of course, has a beautiful niece whom our hero loves. Basil Rathbone is a delightfully evil assistant to the governor. Based on Johnston McCulley's novel The Curse of Capistrano, The Mark of Zorro was a remake of the 1920 silent film and by far superior to all the Zorro incarnations. Interspersed with humor and one-liners but still keeping up with the highest of swashbuckling traditions, it is an action-packed story of one man standing against a corrupt, oppressive government on behalf of those less able to bear their burdens.

1940's The Mark of Zorro catapulted Tyrone Power into the stratosphere of the swashbuckler, rivaling even Errol Flynn. Basil Rathbone stars as well.

Other articles where The Mark of Zorro is discussed: Rouben Mamoulian: Films and plays of the 1940s and ’50s: … and returned to form with The Mark of Zorro (1940), a classic swashbuckler with assured performances by Tyrone Power, Linda Darnell, and Basil Rathbone. Equally distinguished was Blood and Sand (1941), which reunited Power and Darnell and added Rita Hayworth. Mamoulian stylishly conveyed the drama and pageantry of the bullring…

The Mark of Zorro is a 1940 American black-and-white swashbuckling adventure film from 20th Century Fox, produced by Darryl F. Zanuck, directed by Rouben Mamoulian, that stars Tyrone Power, Linda Darnell, and Basil Rathbone.