The Mark of Zorro. 1940. USA. Directed by Rouben Mamoulian. Screenplay by John Taintor Foote, Garrett Fort and Bess Meredyth, from the stories by Johnston McCulley. With Tyrone Power, Linda Darnell, Basil Rathbone, Gale Sondergaard. 35mm. 94 min.
A year after the death of Douglas Fairbanks, Tyrone Power took over the role that established Fairbanks as America’s foremost swashbuckler: Don Diego Vega, the foppish aristocrat who dons a disguise to fight on behalf of Spanish California’s oppressed peasantry. In a trope that would become central to the superhero formula, the beautiful Lolita (Darnell) falls for the masked crusader but can’t stand the sight of the dandified Diego. In the third of her four films opposite Power, Darnell—all of 16 years old at the time of filming—makes a ravishing study for camera and occasionally seems in on the joke.