As much as I liked Power in this role, I liked him even more in "The Long Gray Line". Power also served honorably and with distinction in battle during World War II... another reason to like him.
The setting is Spanish California in 1820. Don Diego Vega (Tyrone Power), an expert fencer of Madrid an in the elite training corps, is summoned back to Los Angeles by his fahter, Don Alejandro (Montagu Love), the alcalde. Upon arriving home, Diego learns his father has been run out of office by Capitan Esteban Pasquale (Basil Rathbone). Esteban holds in his hand the perfect puppet, a superstitious, greedy alcalde, Luis Quintero (J. Edward Bromberg). However, Diego pretends to be a fop, unmotivated to fight the capitan, befriending the alcalde and his wife Inez (Gale Sondergaard). However, Diego soon dons the mask of a daring hero, identifying himself as Zorro. Zorro terrorizes the alcalde and robs Esteban of the money he has robbed from the peons. Zorro and a local padre (Eugene Pallete) work to return the money to the citizens of Los Angeles. Diego/Zorro also falls in love with the beautiful Lolita Quintero (Linda Darnell), the niece of the alcalde. She cares nothing for her father's plans, her full support to Zorro. However, when the padre is arrested, Diego abandons his mask and leads the caballeros on a revolt.
This film added into the Zorro figure a new trait. In most Zorro stories, Zorro forces his enemies to return stolen money themselves. This Zorro, more serious, delivers the gold himself. This is a definate classic.
Of course, the film has it's problems. Power spends less time as Zorro and more time as Diego. Zorro only battles one soldier, the main battle occuring between Esteban and Diego. However, dispite minor errors, this film is an undisputed classic, and cannot not be missed by Zorro fans.
"The Mark Of Zorro" directed by veteran director Rouben Mamoulian, is old fashioned movie making at its very best. It contains an exciting storyline with frequent dashes of daring action sequences, excellent sword play, a tender romance between Tyrone and the very beautiful Linda Darnelland a sweeping, energetic musical score which is just right for this production.
Tyrone Power scored a great personal triumph in this role of the effeminate Don Diego de Vega by day, and the dashing and daring Zorro by night. It is the role which really became his trademark performance much as "Gone With The Wind" is for Clark Gable. Forever after Zorro has been identified as possibly his greatest role and the character he was most identified with. By 1940 Tyrone Power had reached his Box Office peak with a string of huge Box Office successes like "In Old Chicago" "Marie Antoinette", "Suez", "Jesse James", "Rose of Washington Square" and "Johnny Apollo". Zorro was the role of a life time and came along also just as his extraordinary good looks had matured enough to make him totally convincing as the fop by day and dashing bringer of justice by night. It is a performance filled with a vital energy, dashing spirit and the right element of tongue in cheek bravado.
The production of "The Mark Of Zorro" was one of Twentieth Century Fox's biggest productions of the year. The attention to detail in sets and importantly in costumne is immaculate and really recreates that feeling of old California of the nineteenth century. The film benefits greatly from the superb supporting cast without which any film of this size would be lost. The beautiful Linda Darnell was only starting to come into prominence at this time and she makes a very effective love interest for Tyrone here in the role of Lolita. Her role might be really window dressing but she is most effective in her brief scenes. The wonderful Basil Rathbone, swordsman extraordinaire, is superb as always as the corrupt and cruel Captain Pasquale and he brings the right elements of menace and slippery sophistication to his role to turn in another stunning performance much like his performance of two years before in "The Adventures Of Robin Hood" . Equally villianous and equally delightful in the cast line up are Gale Sondergaard, arch villianess of many films, and J. Edward Bromberg as the cowardly but corrupt governor Don Luis Quintero and his vain wife Inez . They are excellent in their scenes and Bromberg in particular has a field day with his very amusing role as the ruthless replacement governor who is bleeding the local peasants dry in taxation but is a coward afraid of his own shadow. His scenes are very amusing where he is reduced to a blubbering mass of fears during Zorro's nocturnal visits to his headquarters and proves to be no match for the daring Zorro who always manages to leave his signature "Z" in conspicious places.
I cannot recommend "The Mark Of Zorro" highly enough and if for nothing else it is worth seeing for the superb fencing sequence between Power and Rathbone which is a classic of its kind and one of the most memorable dueling sequences ever put on film. Some individuals believe it's a pity that the photography is in black and white but I personally feel it suits the story well and never have Tyrone Power and Linda Darnell looked more attractive than in this production. Enjoy "The Mark Of Zorro" as the high spirited entertainment that it is and as a tribute to the mastery that was Hollywood film making in its Golden Age. Films really don't come better than the 1940 version of "The Mark Of Zorro"