"This Zorro comes upon you like a graveyard ghost and like a ghost he disappears," vows one man scarred by "The Fox." Douglas Fairbanks makes for one hyper-active hero: in classic hero fashion, he enters a bar where the bad guys are gathered at one point and proceeds to bolt the doors and windows from the INSIDE. He toys with one opponent during a duel, showcasing some impressive agility (at one point, resting cross-legged on a table, effortlessly parrying thrusts). A master of prestidigitation, he also wears a fake moustache (which he sticks on the face of a sleeping manservant). "My soul's in arms and eager to serve you," he tells the lovely senorita, Lolita. And all the while, righting injustices and challenging the caballeros to rise up against their oppressors. Good fun.

I Cannot Decide What To Give This Film As A Rating Do Not Get Me Wrong This Was An Interesting Film. The Plot Is That In old Spanish California, the oppressive colonial government is opposed by Zorro, masked champion of the people, who appears out of nowhere with flashing sword and an athletic sense of humor, scarring the faces of evildoers with his Mark. Meanwhile, beautiful Lolita is courted by villainous Captain Ramon, rich but effete Don Diego... and dashing Zorro, who is never seen at the same time as Don Diego. As Zorro continues to evade pursuit, Ramon puts the damsel in distress... The Acting Is First Class Of The Golden Age Of Silent Films. The Writing Is Great. The Directing Could've Been Better. All In All A Part Of The Age Of Movies That Will Always Be Remembered.Note: The 1940 One Is Better Than This

Enjoyable silent film provided with a musical soundtrack by TCM.DOUGLAS FAIRBANKS is the famous masked bandit, balancing a nice sense of humor and heroics, demonstrating the athletic side of Don Diego which has to be hidden by the more effete man who tires so easily. He's a Spanish version of the Scarlet Pimpernel. MARGUERITE DE LA MOTTE is a lovely heroine and ROBERT McKIM does everything but twirl his mustache as the villain from whose clutches Fairbanks must rescue the damsel in distress.Obviously a high-budget production with rich settings, nicely photographed in Sepia or blue tints for the night scenes. What's really astonishing is Fairbanks doing all those climbing stunts in the last reel, with so much ease. Full of youthful vigor and high spirits, he found a role that suited him to perfection, able to show two sides of his personality with charm and/or vigor while not ignoring the stunts that made him famous.It's an enjoyable and swaggering adventure, remade many times in the future, most notably with the 1940 sound version starring Tyrone Power, Linda Darnell and Basil Rathbone.Summing up: Familiar yarn, well done and standing the test of time better than many other silent films thanks to good production values.

031: The Mark of Zorro (1920) - released 11/27/1920, viewed 1/20/06.The Wall Street Bombing occurs outside the JP Morgan building in New York, killing 39. The first domestic radio sets hit the shelves in the U.S. Adolph Hitler makes his first public political speech in Austria. Warren G. Harding wins the presidential election. Bloody Sunday goes down in Dublin, killing 31 football spectators.BIRTHS: Frank Herbert, Mario Puzo, Timothy Leary, Ricardo Montalban.KEVIN: Finally, a swashbuckler! I don't know what possessed me to skip this movie before, but I'm glad I caught it this time around. I was a little alarmed in the beginning when Zorro pulled out a gun, but since he doesn't even fire it, I got used to the idea, as Zorro's enemies all have swords and guns so it makes sense for him to keep up. As I was watching, I tried my best to read the inter-titles with a Mexican accent. I thought the pure stunt work in the film was more impressive than any of the sword fights, which were exciting in their own right. And I really liked that when our hero has his final duel with Capt. Ramon, it is not as Zorro but as Diego.DOUG: We would have watched Mark of Zorro in between Way Down East and The Kid, and let me say I really wish we had, because it was extremely good. I noticed a few things different about Douglas Fairbanks' Zorro than other later versions. For one, he smokes a cigar a lot. Second, more noticeably, he carries a gun. He never fires it, but still, he never had one before. As is customary with adventure stories, the action is over-the-top, the heroes are supercool, and the villains are larger-than-life. The swordfights were all very cool, as well. I also like watching Fairbanks move between Zorro and Diego; a running gag had Diego always feigning exhaustion at the slightest bit of work, so he could go to bed and then go out as Zorro. (Looking back, I'd say that of all the Douglas Fairbanks films we've watched, The Mark of Zorro was my favorite. Thief of Baghdad was a close second.)Last film viewed: Daddy Long-Legs (1920). Last film chronologically: Way Down East (1920). Next film viewed: Robin Hood (1922). Next film chronologically: The Kid (1921). The Movie Odyssey is an exhaustive, chronological project where we watch as many milestone films as possible, starting with D.W. Griffith's Intolerance in 1916 and working our way through, year by year, one film at a time. We also write a short review for each and every film. In this project, we hope to gain a deeper understanding of the time period, the films of the era, and each film in context, while at the same time just watching a lot of great movies, most of which we never would have watched otherwise.