Pages

Wednesday, January 2, 2013

Review: The Mark of Zorro


The Mark of Zorro
with Tyrone Power, Basil Rathbone.
black and white, Fox.

Compared to today’s media, The Mark of Zorro provides slow moving and mild fare, having only a few scenes with [mostly] sanitized violence: some cuts and two stabbings. TMOZ does provide some of the “witty repartee” you’d expect in a good swashbuckler.
The characters glide through this, clearly having fun. It wasn’t Oscar fare then, nor is it now. It has one exciting swordfight between Power and Rathbone.

Discussion topics:
Deception
Theft
Civil disobedience
Catholic culture then and now
Does “the end justify the means”?
Should men be allowed to wear tights with flowers down the sides?

CFI: 1.
I’m not even sure why. But when I looked down, there was one fingernail gone, and a picked cuticle. Ouch. It must have been all Don Diego’s foppish hanky flopping. Scary stuff.

What would I pay to see this again?
If I could go with someone who would laugh along with me, a couple bucks. I’d rent it again in a couple years when my son is older. Every swashbuckling fan should see it at least once.

No comments:

Post a Comment