# "The Mask of Zorro" **URL:** \ **Category:** Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports\ **Created:** [October 20, 2002, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-mask-of-zorro/133101 "2002-10-20T15:21:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![SDG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f07891/32.png) [@SDG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SDG)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2002, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-mask-of-zorro/133101/1 "2002-10-20T15:21:30Z")
Regarding the historical basis for Zorro question - The 1920 Douglas Fairbanks movie, which I just saw last week, is called “The Mark of Zorro,” not “The Mask of Zorro.” The Banderas film, described as a “remake” of the Fairbanks film, is AFAIK the first movie to bear the name “The Mask of Zorro,” and beyond that is certainly not a remake of any other film. Fairbanks’ “Mark of Zorro” was remade in 1940 with Tyrone Power in the title role. It’s a decent film, although Power’s swashbuckling doesn’t hold a candle to Fairbanks’s astonishing third-act acrobatics. ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2002, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-mask-of-zorro/133101/2 "2002-10-20T15:46:13Z")
Link to the Mailbag Answer: [Is there a historical basis for Zorro?](http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/mzorro.html) **SDG** They appreciate a link to the article. It saves a lot of readers time. ---
**Author:** ![SDG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f07891/32.png) [@SDG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SDG)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2002, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-mask-of-zorro/133101/3 "2002-10-20T17:22:13Z")
Thanks for the tip. ---
**Author:** ![C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b2d939/32.png) [@C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/C_K_Dexter_Haven)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2002, 11:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-mask-of-zorro/133101/4 "2002-10-21T23:49:43Z")
Correction noted, SDG, thanks, and we’ll get that fixed. … And welcome to the Straight Dope Message Board! ---
**Author:** ![SDG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f07891/32.png) [@SDG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SDG)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2002, 2:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-mask-of-zorro/133101/5 "2002-10-22T14:06:03Z")
Thanks C K! (From your screen name I’d guess you’re a cinema buff too. Great movie that!) ---
**Author:** ![John\_W.Kennedy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_w.kennedy/32/1031_2.png) [@John\_W.Kennedy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_W.Kennedy)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2002, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-mask-of-zorro/133101/6 "2002-10-24T14:07:58Z")
And, as all good children know, it was a rerelease of “The Mark of Zorro” that the Wayne family had just been seeing on that fateful night… ---
**Author:** ![SDG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f07891/32.png) [@SDG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SDG)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2002, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-mask-of-zorro/133101/7 "2002-10-24T14:30:36Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by John W. Kennedy \* > \*\*And, as all good children know, it was a rerelease of “The Mark of Zorro” that the Wayne family had just been seeing on that fateful night… \*\* That would be the rerelease of the 1940 remake starring Tyrone Power, not the 1920 original starring Douglas Fairbanks. The 1940 Power version is a fine film, but Fairbanks rocks. He’s in a class by himself. The last reel of his _Mark of Zorro_ contains some of the best acrobatic swashbuckling I’ve seen this side of Jackie Chan. I watched this movie with my two older kids (8 and 4) a couple of weeks ago, and we all enjoyed it immensely. (The only downside was that 4-year-old David was later found scratching “D”'s all over the house.) Incidentally, Fairbanks also made a sequel five years later called _Don Q, Son of Zorro_ that’s an even better film – a much better plot, better pacing, more consistent action throughout, not to mention lavish sets and Fairbanks in dual roles as the aging Zorro and his grown son, Don Cesar. There’s no single action set piece that quite matches the last reel of the earlier film, but Fairbanks has great moves throughout, and demonstrates startling skill with a whip (definitely a precursor to Indiana Jones!). This movie also was a bit hit with my kids, despite being silent and B&W. Both movies are available on a single twofer DVD. ---
**Author:** ![SDG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f07891/32.png) [@SDG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SDG)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2002, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-mask-of-zorro/133101/8 "2002-10-24T14:34:00Z")
Hm. I seem not to be able to edit even my own posts, despite being logged in. Is that feature turned off for some reason, or is there a problem? ---
**Author:** ![C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b2d939/32.png) [@C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/C_K_Dexter_Haven)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2002, 1:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-mask-of-zorro/133101/9 "2002-10-25T01:37:22Z")
That feature is not activated, SDG. We’ve had problems in the past, in other forums, with people who make outrageous statements, provoke reactions, and then edit their own initial post afterwards. Thus, only Moderators or Administrators can edit posts. If you have a simple error (like you goof up a link or something), a moderator or administrator will usually be happy to help you by editing for you. ---
**Author:** ![SDG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f07891/32.png) [@SDG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SDG)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2002, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-mask-of-zorro/133101/10 "2002-10-25T01:47:17Z")
Nah, I’m just a perfectionist, I always like to tweak my writing. In the above case I wanted to remove the attempted italics formatting after discovering that it didn’t work. No big thing… ---
**Author:** ![C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b2d939/32.png) [@C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/C_K_Dexter_Haven)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2002, 12:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-mask-of-zorro/133101/11 "2002-10-26T12:53:19Z")
OK, SDG, post edited to fix your italics. Use square brackets [] instead of pointy brackes \< \> in future, but I’m happy to help anyone who has their kids watch silent movies! ---
**Author:** ![SDG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f07891/32.png) [@SDG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SDG)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2002, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-mask-of-zorro/133101/12 "2002-10-26T18:47:42Z")
Hey, kids are the greatest audience of silent movies, totally without the prejudices most grownups have against the medium. Another big hit with my kids was the 1927 silent comedy classic _The Kid Brother_ starring Harold Lloyd, the third of the three great masters of silent comedy and possibly the most successful in his own day (even though today many more people have heard of Keaton and Chaplin). Our whole family has watched _Kid Brother_ more than once. There’s just no reason kids who can watch the “Road Runner” cartoons can’t appreciate the great silent slapstick masters that the Warner Bros animators grew up watching and emulated in their work. In a similar vein, I have to say I’m enormously intrigued by the concept of Mel Gibson not only making the Jim Caviezel-starring _Passion_ entirely in Aramaic and Latin, but also _omitting subtitles_. If those crazy fools pull it off, it could be a monumental tour de force, even though it’s not going to pull mainstream audiences into multiplexes. To the extent that it’s appropriate for kids to watch, though, I bet they wouldn’t have a problem with it. Certainly I would show at least parts of it to my kids on DVD. ---
**Author:** ![vjmurphy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/3da27b/32.png) [@vjmurphy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vjmurphy)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2002, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-mask-of-zorro/133101/13 "2002-10-30T16:59:19Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by John W. Kennedy \* > \*\*And, as all good children know, it was a rerelease of “The Mark of Zorro” that the Wayne family had just been seeing on that fateful night… \*\* And in at least one of the retellings of the story, it was actually Bambi that the Wayne family went to see, with Thomas Wayne verbally abusing Bruce about crying during it. That memory was later “repressed/altered” by Bruce to the Mark of Zorro version. Ah, gotta love comics. 🙂