Starring: Tyrone Power, Basil Rathbone, Gail Sondergaard, and Linda Darnell.
Directed by: Reuben Mamoulian
Music by: Alfred Newman
Academy Awards Nominee: Best Original Score
By 20th Century Fox

Ah! the nuances of the black and white era! Turner hadn't as yet applied his coloring crayons to the Mark of Zorro and so much the better.

ZORRO is the Robin Hood of California. An upper class fellow holds out hope for the oppressed peons by tinkering with the authority of government officials. (always fun to watch) He does this by stealing their gold and leaving his trademarked Z behind for everyone to tremble.

The premise is old and cloned, so the excitement would have to come from what the actors bring to their roles, the writing, and the romance the director branishes with his camera and the tools available to him.

First, with all the versatility of Tyrone Power in one movie and you can understand why he achieved such star power for 2 decades. Power hosts this film by introducing us to the different facets of his character. The first scene opens on the pompous, California cockrel performing war games. Soon he shows us the swish of a superb simp, who 'loves the shimmer of satin and silk and the matching of one delicate shade against the other." And it's on to the swashbuckling hero, who saves the day and the peons.

Sondergaard is perfect for the role of the man-hungry wife of the cruel Alcolde. And, of course, this would not be a review of ZORRO if we'd neglect the scrumpulously evil acolades of Basil Rathbone. (Remember him from Robin Hood with Errol Flynn? and Sherlock Holmes?)

So the acting, writing, directing, and the music all blend to unobtrusively compliment each other and carry the best of all ZORRO movies so far.