THE MARK OF ZORRO (1940)

Cast

Plot

This superb swashbuckling, cleverly choreographed, remake of the silent classic stars Tyrone Power as the dashing masked avenger who must single-handedly save Los Angeles from Spanish despots. Don Diego Vega is summoned home from his elite training corps in Spain to California, where he finds his father, the Alcalde, 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 tax money stolen by the villains, crucially Rathbone, outstanding as Zorro's malevolent adversary, rarely without a rapier in his hand and forever ferociously limbering up until he is summarily skewered in the magnificent final duel. Looks great, cracking fun.