The Mark of Zorro (1940 film)

The Mark of Zorro is a 1940 American blackandwhite adventure film from 20th Century Fox, produced by Darryl F. Zanuck, directed by Rouben Mamoulian, and starring Tyrone Power, Linda Darnell, and Basil Rathbone.

Don Diego Vega Tyrone Power is urgently called home by his father. To all outward appearances, he is the foppish son of wealthy ranchero and former Alcade Don Alejandro Vega Montagu Love, having returned to California after his military education in Spain. Don Diego is horrified at the way the common people are mistreated by the corrupt Alcalde, Luis Quintero J. Edward Bromberg, who had forced his father from the position. Don Diego then adopts the guise of El Zorro The Fox, a masked outlaw, who becomes the defender of the common people and a champion for justice. Meanwhile, he romances the Alcaldes beautiful and innocent niece, Lolita Linda Darnell, whom he grows to love. As part of his plan, Don Diego simultaneously flirts with the Alcaldes wife Inez Gale Sondergaard, filling her head with tales of Madrid fashion and culture and raising her desire to move there with her corrupt husband. In both his guises, Don Diego must contend with the governors ablest henchman, the malevolent Captain Esteban Pasquale Basil Rathbone. He eventually dispatches the Captain in a fastmoving rapier dueltothedeath, forcing a regime change, Don Diegos plan all along.The Mark of Zorro is a sound remake of the lavish 1920 smash hit silent film starring Douglas Fairbanks, Sr. and Noah Beery, Sr.. That 1920 feature introduced Zorros iconic allblack costume, subsequently incorporated into Johnston McCulleys later Zorro fiction series. The 1920 original was the first in a popular array of swashbuckler action features starring the acrobatic Fairbanks, who had previously appeared mainly in comedies. ........

Source: Wikipedia