A breath of something different: 'Zorro,' again

Press, 19 April 1982, Page 4

A breath of something different: 'Zorro,' again

ZORRO SWINGS AGAIN Directed by. Peter Medak Screenplay by Hal Dresner After many weeks of reviewing such heavies as “The French Lieutenant’s Woman." “Reds” and “Absence of Malice,” it is a relief to take on something as light and trivial as "Zorro Swings Again" (Savoy). What more need be said except that this highlyforgettable divertissement sets out to be no more than about 90 minutes of amiable nonsense, and does the job quite nicely After his surprising success as a comical Dracula in “Love at First Bite," George Hamilton has decided to lampoon the legend of Don Diego Vega, the debonair nobleman who by night becomes Zorro, defender of the downtrodden "pipples” and scourge of tyrannical landowners in the' Los Angeles of the 1820 s. Zorro, or at least one.of his grandsons, has returned to “help the helpless and defeat the feetless."

This masked character was played on the screen by Douglas Fairbanks in the silent era and Tyrone Power in 1940, but until now there has been discreet silence concerning a little-known member of the hero's family. In fact, there are twin brothers — the straight and the gay blade. (The film was known as "Zorro, the Gay Blade” in the United States.) Such a situation can lead to an endless series of mistaken identity and "gay” jokes which the film exploits for nonsensical, inoffensive fun. Essaying both roles with a surprisingly good comic flair

— and two different accents — George Hamiltonn crosses swords with assorted villains, steals the hearts of assorted senoritas, excels in contrasting styles of horsemanship, executes spectacular leaps and wields a mean bullwhip. Although programmed for the Easter holidays, “Zorro Swings Again” probably will prove better entertainment for adults than children. This innocent fare also is not, and does not pretend to be, of the Mel Brooks standard. In other words, good for a couple of hours entertainment but not worth driving from Rangiora to see. My battle with the slapdash policy concerning shorts shown by the cinemas continues: I still wonder what happened just before interval when we seemed to be somewhere in a film about Australian athletes, this was cut in to by a very short “You Can Do It” commercial, followed by the. "Intermission" announcement. I was puzzled, and so were a few of the people sitting round me.