Foiled—Again and Again

Movie Review by JoAnn Yeoman Tongret

Editor’s note: ASU Professor Emerita of music, theater and dance, JoAnn Tongret, has become a regular in our pages with her reviews and commentary on movies, musical theater and drama, always bolstered by her own professional experience on and behind the stage. She is Emeritus Voices’ Assistant Editor for the Lively Arts.

While searching for an entirely different classic film I ran into an old swashbuckler called The Mark of Zorro (20th Century Fox, 1940. Rouben Mamoulian, Director). I’d heard of it and I know it was re-imagined as the The Mask of Zorro in 1998. But the oldie seemed very much worth a look. It starred Tyrone Power (Diego), Linda Darnell (Lolita), and Basil Rathbone (Captain Pasquale).

A colleague of mine, who was an extremely successful stage fight choreographer, told me that Rathbone was the best fencer of his day in Hollywood. I confirmed that from several sources and in addition found that he was twice honored as the British Army fencing Champion. The irony is that in each film he loses to leading men like Tyrone Power and Errol Flynn because he almost always plays the villain and is doomed to die at their hands. I think he won only two matches on film in over seventy movies.

I found The Mark of Zorro to be an engaging and well-plotted adventure film. It begins in Spain where Diego is graduating from an academy that turns out the finest swordsmen in the country. He is called home suddenly by his father and returns to his family hacienda in California. He feels cheated having to withdraw from the risks, rewards, and camaraderie of his classmates and tells them that he is going to California where the only thing to do there is “raise fat children” and watch his crops grow.

But when Diego gets to California he discovers that a greedy and corrupt alcalde [mayor] has taken over the town, raising taxes, killing the poor, stealing the land, and is hated and feared by one and all.

In a plot twist that echoes The Scarlet Pimpernel (as well as an assemblage of superheroes like Superman and Batman,) Diego plays the useless fop in public and then nightly turns into the Robin Hood of the Southwest as Zorro, protecting the poor. Pasquale (Rathbone) is the power behind the Alcalde and it is he who is the mastermind behind every evil in town.

In the end (spoiler alert) Zorro is of course triumphant—he kills Pasquale and marries his love, Lolita, vowing that now he is ready at last to raise fat children and watch his crops grow.

Although it is derivative (and predictable,) the film still plays pretty well. We enjoy the ride even though we know where we’re going. The minor roles are handled with skill. Eugene Paullette, playing a rotund monk, Father Felipe, was a veteran character actor who brings a few light moments to the plot. Gale Sondergaard is cast as Inez, an easily-charmed dupe who plays into Diego’s hands as he tries to juggle both sides and stay alive. Linda Darnell doesn’t have a lot to do except look lovely, but there is one flamenco-styled dance sequence where she and Power do a surprisingly good job. There were several long shots and I was watching their feet. The two of them did most of their own work. There were very few close-ups used only for the fancier heel work.

The anticipated sword fight between Diego and Pasquale is worth the wait. Fast and furious, it was choreographed by fencing master Fred Cavens. The fastest shots were undercranked to 18 or 20 frames per second (as opposed to the standard movie house 24 fps) which made it look even more impressive. Rathbone did all his own fighting while Power had a stand-in (Caven’s son) whenever his back was to the camera.

Also enjoyable are the aforementioned dance sequence and Power’s costumes. They were designed for the several “fop” scenes by Travis Banton, and each one was more wonderful than the next. And it didn’t hurt that Power looked comfortable, masculine, and like a star in all of them.

I was not impressed with the shamble of dialects throughout the film. The American and British actors had terrible accents while the extras (many of whom were Hispanic) sounded just as they should. The director needed to make a choice and stick with it. Additionally, the dialogue is often lackluster and threatens to slow the pace of the longer scenes while we wait for “the verb.” It is, perhaps, in that sense dated and unable to compete with the other 1940’s films such as The Grapes of Wrath, His Girl Friday, Pride and the Prejudice, Waterloo Bridge, and Rebecca. But it is still a classic of its genre and never strays from its style. I believe that if a film or a play remains faithful to the world it has initially created, then it has treated its audience with respect and deserves some praise.

And now briefly back to Rathbone (1892-1967), who is my main interest in the film. Born in Johannesburg, he first became well known as a Shakespearean stage actor in the UK with the New Shakespeare Co. at Stratford Upon Avon. He moved on to the West End playing leading roles opposite Katherine Cornell, Ethel Barrymore, and Eva Le Gallienne. He made his name in his more than seventy films, mainly playing suave villains and swashbuckling swordsmen. His athleticism stood him in good stead during World War I when he was awarded the Military Cross.

Although he wished to be remembered more for his stage roles, his most memorable films saw him playing the title role in a series of Sherlock Holmes movies. The first two were based on Conan-Doyle’s books, but his talent was wasted (I believe) in later episodes written poorly to take place (uncomfortably) around 1945 in an effort to bolster public acceptance of our participation in World War II. I also feel that the casting of Nigel Bruce as Watson left them each in two separate plays due to acting styles. Bruce’s bumbling Watson was not the right foil for Rathbone’s Holmes. Rathbone was an A-level actor stuck mostly in B-level films. It has certainly happened to others.

So—now I’m going to order The Mask of Zorro, mostly because of my interest in Anthony Hopkins. I admire him greatly and by happy coincidence I had lunch with him at Sardi’s. But, that’s another story. For this one, “it’s a wrap!”