Douglas Fairbanks is one of the most iconic stars of silent Hollywood. He was a larger-than-life personality, marriage with “America’s sweetheart” Mary Pickford that became Hollywood’s first supercouple, founding of United Artists and being the first president of Motion Pictures Academy. Most of his reputation was built on 1920s swashbuckling adventure classics that relied on his athletic ability. Before them he was already an established star, having played in many romantic comedies. Like many Hollywood stars, he tried to expand his range and try something different and the result was The Mark of Zorro, 1920 film directed by Fred Niblo, immense hit that is nowadays often considered to be one of Hollywood’s genre-defining works which had great influence not only on Hollywood but the rest of American popular culture.
The film is based on The Curse of Capistrano, 1919 novel by pulp writer Johnston McCulley. The plot is set in California in early 19th Century, during the Spanish colonial rule. The area is administered by tyrannical governor Alvarado (played by George Periolat) whose soldiers abuse local population, including natives and Catholic priests. However, recently a mysterious figure of masked man began to strike back at soldiers and rescue their victims. He is nicknamed “Zorro” (“the Fox”) and he uses his superb swordsmanship skills to leave the mark in the form of letter “Z” on all those he defeated in the fight. As this happens, Don Carlos Pulido (played by Charles Hill Mailes), old noble impoverished by Alvarado’s tyrannical policies, tries to salvage his family’s fortunes by marrying his daughter Lolita (played by Marguerite De La Motte) into the family of another noble Don Alejandro Vega (played by Sidney De Gray). Her next husband should be Don Alejandro’s son Diego (played by Douglas Fairbanks) who has returned from studies in Spain. Lolita, however, finds him utterly foppish, not knowing that the seemingly effete young aristocrat is actually Zorro. When Lolita becomes object of interest by Captain Ramon (played by Robert McKim), commanding officer of Alvarado’s soldier, and his struggle with Zorro gets more personal dimension.
Produced by Fairbanks and directed by Fred Niblo, one of the more prolific and dependable directors of silent Hollywood, The Mark of Zorro doesn’t offer much in terms of technical innovation or new style. But for the audience of its time it delivered anything a proper swashbuckling film should have – somewhat exotic period setting, interesting costumes, a little bit romance, some humour and a lot of swordplay and impressive physical action by its main star. The Mark of Zorro was a big hit and, among other things, left a strong impression on 6-year old Orson Welles who would later credit it as main inspiration for his own film making career. The film, despite many of its technical limitations, can even today function as solid Hollywood entertainment, with Fairbanks’ charming personality easily winning audience through his dual role of masked avenger and parodical fop. What is even more extraordinary from today’s perspective is the notable lack of violence and, despite some of the characters being injured in unpleasant ways, nobody gets killed, which puts The Mark of Zorro clearly in the realms of family entertainment. The main problem with script, co-written by Fairbanks and Eugene Miller, is that the protagonist, in order to achieve happy ending and bring down Alvarado’s tyrannical regime, ultimately tries to win caballeros or other aristocrats to his side instead truly oppressed masses of natives and peasants. This was probably due to popular uprising being looking too revolutionary or too much Bolshevik-like in America during First Red Scare.
Success of The Mark of Zorro paved the way for Fairbanks and the rest of Hollywood to continue producing even more spectacular swashbuckling epics. In 1925 Fairbanks starred in its direct sequel Don Q, Son of Zorro, while in the sound era The Mark of Zorro was remade twice – in 1940 starring Tyrone Powell and in 1974 starring Frank Langella. Character of Zorro in the meantime became staple of American popular culture, appearing in numerous novels and comic books. The influence of the film is often seen in other works of popular fiction, most notably novels and comic books about masked vigilante and heroes using secret identities, which thrived in 1920s and 1930s like The Phantom, The Shadow and Batman.
RATING: 6/10 (++)
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