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The Mark of Zorro Overview:

The Mark of Zorro (1940) was a Action - Adventure Film directed by Rouben Mamoulian and produced by Raymond Griffith and Darryl F. Zanuck.

The film was based on the novel of the same name and also Serial "The Curse of Capistrano", All-Story Weekly written by Johnston McCulley published in 1924 (novel); Aug 9 - Sep 6, 1919 (magazine).

The Mark of Zorro was inducted into the National Film Registry in 2009.

Academy Awards 1940 --- Ceremony Number 13 (source: AMPAS)

AwardRecipientResult
Best Music - ScoringAlfred NewmanNominated
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The Mark of Zorro BlogHub Articles:

Silver Screen Standards: The Mark of Zorro (1940)

By Jennifer Garlen on Mar 9, 2021 From Classic Movie Hub Blog

Silver Screen Standards: The Mark of Zorro (1940) Twenty years after the silent hit with Douglas Fairbanks, Tyrone Power donned the iconic mask for The Mark of Zorro (1940), a truly delightful swashbuckler packed with action, comedy, and romance that still enchants new audiences today. The th... Read full article

The Mark of Zorro (1940)

on Mar 20, 2017 From Journeys in Classic Film

Zorro is one of those characters I’m aware of, but have never actively watched any of the myriad films or television shows featuring him and his feared “Z” mark. Best known to fans in his 1957 Disney television series, Zorro is a Latin Robin Hood with a healthy dose of what would s... Read full article

The Mark of Zorro (1940)

By 4 Star Film Fan on Aug 4, 2016 From 4 Star Films

Madrid–when the Spanish Empire encompassed the globe and young blades were taught the fine and fashionable art of killing… The mythology of Zorro most certainly starts with the swashbuckling silents of Douglas Fairbanks, but the characters legacy would be carried forward into the 1940s. ... Read full article

The Mark of Zorro (1940)

By 4 Star Film Fan on Aug 4, 2016 From 4 Star Films

Madrid–when the Spanish Empire encompassed the globe and young blades were taught the fine and fashionable art of killing… The mythology of Zorro most certainly starts with the swashbuckling silents of Douglas Fairbanks, but the character’s legacy would be carried forward into the ... Read full article

Silent Movie Trivia Card #6: The Mark of Zorro (1920)

By Fritzi Kramer on Oct 4, 2014 From Movies Silently

By Fritzi Kramer on October 4, 2014 in Blog, Silent Movie Trivia click to see in lightbox. This Silent Movie Trivia Card is about the movie that changed Douglas Fairbanks’ career. He had been charming audiences with his modern adventure comedies but this was the first time he had stepped out i... Read full article

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The Mark of Zorro Quotes:

Don Diego Vega: [Explaining why he's late to dinner] They heated the water from my bath too early. It was positively tepid! By the time more was carried and properly scented... Life can be trying, don't you think?
Don Luis B. Quintero: Yes.
[laughs]
Lolita Quintero: [Disappointed in Diego] Oh, Maria!
Maria de Lopez: Courage, courage!
Don Luis B. Quintero: Well, shall we dine? Come, Diego.
Captain Esteban Pasquale: [to Inez] His bath was tepid? Poor Lolita! I'm afraid her married life will be the same!
Fray Felipe: To think that the boy that I helped to raise, the boy that I taught to hold a firm wrist behind a true point, has turned into a puppy! Bah!
Don Diego Vega: Well,! Tsk, tsk, tsk! How vexatious!
Captain Esteban Pasquale: His Excellency will never forgive me if I let you go without a word of welcome from him. I'm quite sure that you'll save me a reprimand.
Don Diego Vega: How could I refuse a man anything with a naked sword in his hand?
Inez Quintero: [after Lolita expresses an interest in love] You have the blood of the Hidalgos in your veins! Keep it cool, my girl, or I'll whisk you off into a convent!
[repeated line]
Fray Felipe: [each time he whacks a Spanish soldier over the head with a club during the final battle scene] God forgive me! God forgive me! God forgive me!
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The Mark of Zorro Facts
The original working title for this film was "The Californian".
Like most of the actors who portrayed Zorro at around this time, Tyrone Power was not of Hispanic heritage (he was of British descent).
In DC comic lore, this version of Zorro with Tyrone Power is the movie that a young Bruce Wayne goes to see the night his parents are mugged and shot by Joe Chill. After coming out of the movie and walking through an alley with Bruce is when they are mugged, and what leads to Batman's creation. This fact is mentioned in the 1986 Frank Miller comic The Dark Knight Returns.
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!"
During filming, Tyrone Power was in the habit of taking an early morning swim in a pool that he insisted on being carefully pre-heated. Darryl F. Zanuck played a prank on him by arranging for the heating to be turned off. Power dived in and got such a shock that he later claimed he nearly had a heart attack. He got his revenge. Zanuck watched the dailies every day with a critical eye and one evening saw something unexpected; the cast and crew collaborated to film a spoof version of the hold-up scene where Zorro robs a coach carrying the Governor and his wife. When Zorro is supposed to slash his Z into the vehicle's upholstery, the camera reveals he has slashed "DZ". "Oh my God, it's Zanuck" his victims gasp. Power responds: "That's right, you bastards..." and describes the producer in very unflattering language.
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