The Mark of Zorro (1940)

Director:

Rouben Mamoulian

Writers:

John Taintor Foote (screenplay)
Garrett Fort (adaptation) ...
(more)

Release Date:

8 November 1940 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Adventure | Romance | Western

Tagline:

Ride With Zorro . . . The Dashing Don Of California's Most Adventurous Era !

Plot:

A young aristocrat must masquerade as a fop in order to maintain his secret identity of Zorro as he restores justice to early California.

Plot Keywords:

California | Fop | Swordsman | Sword | Secret Identity

Awards:

Nominated for Oscar. Another 1 win

Cast

Tyrone Power	...	Don Diego Vega / Zorro
Linda Darnell	...	Lolita Quintero
Basil Rathbone	...	Capt. Esteban Pasquale
Gale Sondergaard	...	Inez Quintero
Eugene Pallette	...	Fray Felipe
J. Edward Bromberg	...	Don Luis Quintero
Montagu Love	...	Don Alejandro Vega
Janet Beecher	...	Senora Isabella Vega
George Regas	...	Sgt. Gonzales
Chris-Pin Martin	...	Turnkey
Robert Lowery	...	Rodrigo
Belle Mitchell	...	Maria
John Bleifer	...	Pedro
Frank Puglia	...	Propietor
Eugene Borden	...	Officer of the Day
Pedro de Cordoba	...	Don Miguel
Guy D'Ennery	...	Don Jose
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Stanley Andrews	...	Commanding Officer (uncredited)
Fortunio Bonanova	...	Sentry (uncredited)
Ralph Byrd	...	Student / Officer (uncredited)
Robert Cauterio	...	Manuel, Horse Groom (uncredited)
Bob Cautiero	...	Groom (uncredited)
Robert Conway	...	Minor Role (uncredited)
Gino Corrado	...	Caballero (uncredited)
Franco Corsaro	...	Orderly (uncredited)
Andre Cuyas	...	Servant (uncredited)
Jean Del Val	...	Sentry (uncredited)
Joseph DeVillard	...	Sentry (uncredited)
Art Dupuis	...	Soldier (uncredited)
William Edmunds	...	Peón Selling Cocks (uncredited)
George Ghermanoff	...	Servant (uncredited)
Victor Kilian	...	Boatman (uncredited)
Fred Malatesta	...	Sentry (uncredited)
Francisco Marán	...	Officer (uncredited)
Francisco Moreno	...	Peon (uncredited)
Ted North	...	Bit Part (uncredited)
Hector Sarno	...	Moreno, Peón at Inn (uncredited)
George Sorel	...	Caballero (uncredited)
Charles Stevens	...	Jose, a Peón (uncredited)
Rafael Storm	...	Diego's Manservant (uncredited)
Paul Sutton	...	Morales, Soldier Finding Secret Wall (uncredited)
Lucio Villegas	...	Caballero (uncredited)
Harry Worth	...	Caballero (uncredited)
Frank Yaconelli	...	Don Alejandro's Servant (uncredited)

Directed by
Rouben Mamoulian

Writing credits
John Taintor Foote		(screenplay)
Garrett Fort		(adaptation) and
Bess Meredyth		(adaptation)
Johnston McCulley		(story "The Curse of Capistrano")

Produced by
Raymond Griffith	....	associate producer (uncredited)
Darryl F. Zanuck	....	executive producer (uncredited)

Original Music by
Alfred Newman
David Buttolph		(uncredited)
Hugo Friedhofer		(uncredited)
Cyril J. Mockridge		(uncredited)

Cinematography by
Arthur C. Miller		(director of photography) (as Arthur Miller)

Film Editing by
Robert Bischoff

Art Direction by
Richard Day
Joseph C. Wright

Set Decoration by
Thomas Little

Costume Design by
Travis Banton

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Sid Bowen	....	assistant director (uncredited)
Lynn Shores	....	second unit director (uncredited)

Sound Department
W.D. Flick	....	sound
Roger Heman Sr.	....	sound (as Roger Heman)

Stunts
Rex Rossi	....	stunts (uncredited)

Costume and Wardrobe Department
Sam Benson	....	wardrobe (uncredited)

Music Department
Alfred Newman	....	musical director (uncredited)
Edward B. Powell	....	orchestrator (uncredited)
Conrad Salinger	....	orchestrator (uncredited)
Walter Scharf	....	orchestrator (uncredited)

Other crew
Albert Cavens	....	fencing double: Tyrone Power (uncredited)
Fred Cavens	....	choreographer: duel (uncredited)
Ernesto A. Romero	....	technical advisor (uncredited)

Production Companies

• Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation

Distributors

• Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation (1940) (USA) (theatrical)
• Fox Films (1941) (Argentina) (theatrical)
• Fox Films (1941) (Finland) (theatrical)
• Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation (1947) (Occupied Palestinian Territory) (VHS) (re-release)
• M.P.E.A. (1949) (West Germany) (theatrical)
• Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation (1958) (USA) (theatrical) (re-release)
• Yleisradio (YLE) (1964) (Finland) (TV)
• TV3 (1990) (Finland) (TV)
• Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment (2003) (USA) (DVD)
• FS Film Oy (2007) (Finland) (DVD)
• Epoca (????) (Argentina) (VHS)
• Fox Video (video)

Also Known As:

Runtime:

94 min | Portugal:90 min (censored version)

Country:

USA

Language:

English | Spanish

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Mirrophonic Recording)

Certification:

Australia:G | Finland:S | Germany:12 | Portugal:M/12 | Sweden:Btl | UK:U | Canada:G (Manitoba/New Brunswick/Nova Scotia/Prince Edward Island/Quebec) | Canada:PG (Ontario) | USA:Approved (certificate #6597) | Argentina:Atp

Filming Locations:

Stage 6, 20th Century Fox Studios - 10201 Pico Blvd., Century City, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation

Trivia:

Basil Rathbone, being a well known fencer in his own right, was asked how well Tyrone Power did in their scenes in which stunt doubles were not used. Rathbone responded, " Tyrone Power could fence Errol Flynn into a box!"

Goofs:

Continuity: When Esteban falls down, he knocks a picture off the wall, which then disappears and is not seen on the floor. In the next shot, the picture is seen on the floor in front of Esteban, when Diego throws his swords down on top of it

Quotes:

Captain Esteban Pasquale:Conditions have changed since you left, Don Diego. Your father resigned. Age, you know! Since then, the peons have become um... more industrious. As to the caballeros. they're encouraged to think of their own affairs. WE take care of the government!

Movie Connections:

Referenced in George Stevens: The Filmmakers Who Knew Him (2001) (V)

A masterpiece of screen Swordplay...

Tyrone Power - the swashbuckling answer to Errol Flynn - is cast as the agile masked avenger who decides to take up the people's cause in disguise leaving his 'mark' "Z" everywhere, on walls, coach, wooden barrels and human chest...

Power - in a double leading role - is at his best as Zorro, climbing, jumping, riding and fencing, determined to finish with tyranny and oppression by terrorizing, and retrieving taxation funds and by challenging a cunning officer, proving in public his indifference, his ostentation and irony as a perfect pacifist fop in 19th-Century Spanish California, confusing and deceiving his aristocratic father Don Alejandro Vega (Montagu Love), the deposed Alcalde...

The inspired casting (in supporting roles) recalls "The Adventures of Robin Hood."

Linda Darnell is the pretty Lolita, Quintero's charming niece, who loves the mysterious hero and can't tolerate the fop until she is told that they are the image of the same person...

Basil Rathbone, one of the most durable of screen villains who has mastered stage fencing but never won a Swordfight, plays the cruel captain Esteban Pasquale, the Alcalde's military adviser... He is a second-rate soldier of fortune who leads the campaign of frustrating taxation, who considered Diego "a fancy clown" but who suggests a practical plan, an alliance for the good of the state...

J. Edward Bromberg is the cowardly Alcalde, Don Luis Quintero, a corrupted thief, enemy of the people, whose tyranny and avarice are always enforced by the treachery of his iron hand, the rigorous captain Esteban...

Eugene Palette plays the mission 'fat' priest (Father Felipe) who ignores that Diego is the opposing force...

The high point of the picture is the fantastic duel between Power and Rathbone, a masterpiece of screen Swordplay...

Rouben Mamoulian succeeds in making two great stars dance to an unheard music... With a touch of a great filmmaker, Mamoulian mixes harmoniously movement and action, decor and lightning with rage and turmoil, heroism and romance...

Under Alfred Newman's Oscar-Nominated score and despite the unusual absence of Technicolor, the film (the first of the great Tyrone Power swashbucklers ) is great fun, full of vitality and suspense, an exciting, deliciously ironic swashbuckler...