PLAZA THEATRE

Dominion, Volume 34, Issue 109, 1 February 1941, Page 15

PLAZA THEATRE

The mantle of Douglas Fairbanks has apparently fallen on the able shoulders of Tyrone Power, star of “The Mark of Zorro,” released yesterday at the Plaza Theatre. “The Mark of Zorro” will be remembered by many people as one of Fairbanks’s most successful films, and much of the same spirit of smiling bravado which so marked it is in evidence in this new version. When Don Diego Vesgas, star pupil of a military academy in Madrid, is recalled to California at the request of his father, the alcalde of the Los Angeles of those days, he returns with regret, as the life he has lived has suited his temperament and the thought of returning to domestic monotony, "getting married, raising fine fat children and watching the vineyards grow” is not to his liking. On his return, however, he soon finds that this need not be his fate. At the name of the alcalde the peons tremble and Don Diego finds the whole countryside is terrified because of the they have to undergo from those in power. Investigation shows that Diego's father has been superceded by an upstart who, in his turn, is really the tool of an adventuring and unscrupulous soldier of fortune, Captain Esteban, erstwhile fencing instructor, and now recipient of a tidy fortune dragged from the unwilling hands of the peasantry in the name of the Government. • The new alcalde’s wife, Senora Inez, hates Los Angeles and its dullness, and the advent of Don Diego rouses her interest. When he sees what is happening, Diego determines to adopt severe measures, and sets about doing so in an unorthodox but eventually successful manner. While posing, to his father's irate astonishment, as a fop and courtier more adept at matching silks and wielding a fan than a rapier, Diego assumes the role of avenger, and, calling himself “Zorro,” proceeds to terrorize the men who have brought so much sorrow and ill-luck on the countryside. He is aided in this by a belligerent priest (Eugene I‘allette) whose piety is offset by his relish for cracking the skulls of the evildoers—with amusing results. The rascally alcalde has a niece, and a marriage is suggested between her and

the apparently dissolute Don Diego. The. girl’s scorn soon changes to love when she realizes who her fiance, really is, and in the long run the villains meet their just deserts. Tyrone Bower is excellent in the leading role, with Linda Darnell playing opposite him as the. fair senorita. Basil Rathbone, whose Hair for villainy is well known, outers into his part will) gusto ami makes a thorough job of the unscrupulous Captain Esteban. One of the highlights of the film is his duel lo the death with Zorro. The action, suspense, comedy and romance of “The Mark of Zorro” is well blended.