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Tyrone Power at his best, with all the resources of 20th Century Fox behind him. This 1940 production of The MARK OF ZORRO is the most handsomely turned-out version of this tale of old California. Like the SCARLET PIMPERNEL, it is a tale of hidden identity, and of good over evil.

Tyrone Power plays Don Diego de la Vega, the scion of well-to-do California family. Away in Madrid at some Academy of war-fare, he is summoned home by his worried father to aid the good people of the region against an oppressive regime that has seized political power. As the ruthless and dangerous Basil Rathbone silkily informs Don Diego when he first returns, "Your father has resigned, Don Diego,.......age you know. Since then the peons have become more industrious. As for the caballeros, they are encouraged to think of their own affairs....WE TAKE CARE OF THE GOVERNMENT!"

Sizing up the situation and not wanting to tip his hand, Don Diego retreats into the persona of a fop and dandy. This device contributes to much of the film's witty and extremely humorous fun. The beauty here is that we are the only ones let-in on this charade. Don Diego begins on a campaign to frighten the puppet governor, Don Luis Quintero into fleeing to Madrid and appointing the older Vega (his father)to the post. He does this by staging little terrorist attacks on soldiers and caravans. But the biggest obstacle to his plans is the real power behind the throne ---- Capitan Estaban Pasquale, wonderfully portrayed by Basil Rathbone. This is real conflict in this movie.

On one side we have Don Diego; cuffs of lace, snuff box in hand, and eternally fatigued. He enters a room, "Sorry I'm late, but they heated the water for my bath too early. It was postively tepid! By the time more was carried and properly scented (sigh)..... Life can be trying....don't you think?" He postures and prances, forever exhibiting, to anyone who'll watch, some slight of hand. "It's all the rage at Court, ... oh how I'll miss the scented breezes of Spain!" But the piercing presence of Capitan Estaban Pasquale is never far off. Here is Basil Rathbone; his knife-life figure and his compelling voice steal the show. As Don Luis observes, "My dear Estaban is forever thrusting at this or that, he was a fencing master in Madrid." Aside from his skill with a sword, he is smart. He grills Don Luis (after one fo Zorro's nocturnal visits); "Well, what did he look like, what did he say?" When he finds out that Zorro wants Don Luis to retire and to name Vega in his place, Estaban draws his eppe and begins making wicked thrusts and swipes with it as he says, "Ah Ha! Now we've got something! This Zorro is a Caballero! No ordinary brigand would concern himself with Vega!" This guy's quick.

The final Dueling scene between Don Diego and Estaban is the very best in movies..... compelling and breathtaking. Estaban, grabbing a blubbering Don Luis, on the verge of quitting, by the collar, "So you tried to get gold out of the country, did you? If you ever again take so much as one peso of mine I'll cut or throat from ear-to-ear!!" He turns on Don Diego, "Quiet you poppenjay, I have very little reason for letting you live either! Soon the duel begins. As graceful as a ballet, quick and razor-like.

Of course good triumphs. There is much to like about this movie. Linda Darnell is exquisite, if a little too sheltered, and Gale Sondergaard is always good as the bad, evil woman. The music is terrific, and direction is fast.

So much has been written over the years about SHANE; it's beautiful composition, its precise, if mechanical direction by George Stevens, and its good against evil theme, that there seems to be little left to say in the way of superlatives, but I will give it a try.

There are so many scenes in SHANE that standout as epic. They are like the jagged mountainscapes that dominate the picture: A young boy, slogging around in a marsh, aims his toy gun on a deer grazing on some grass stems, the deer lifts it's antlers and perfectly frames a lone rider approaching in the distance, a struggling family homestead held together by hard work, the father splitting wood, the mother baking in the kitchen, and always the mountains jutting upwards away off in the distance.

We have a stranger, lean and handsome, dressed in fringed buckskin. His dress and gun belt suggest something other than a farmer or rancher, yet we never really know, or ever know, of his past. He is kind and modest, and takes time to address the boy as though someone worth talking to, "You were watching me down the trail quite a spell, weren't you. I like a man who watches things going around.....He can make his mark someday." the boy smiles up at him, and an instant bond is formed, an idol worship in the making.

We have snickering, troublesome ranchhands who spend any free hours swilling whiskey at Graftons General Merchantile. "I thought I smelled pig. Which one of those tatter-pickers are you working for? Or are you just squattin' on the range?" this is the kind of menace that dogsany farmer who dares to come into town.

We have Shane, although trying to lead the simple life of farming, goaded into a fight by a sweaty-faced cowpoke (Ben Johnson). His bloodying of the cowpoke is like a violent ballet, graceful and cutting.

There is a meeting of the homesteaders, huddled together by lamplight, trying to solve there problems by resolving to go into town all together so that they would have strength in numbers. This is a rather sad scene since WE know that will be in vain.

There is touching elegance to the 4th of July celebration where there is fiddle music and dancing. Shane and Marion (the boy's mother) take a few turns to a reel..... dancing with others in the corral. Van Heflin (the Boy's father) is symbolically shut out beyond the fence. "Marion, they fenced me out" he grins. Yet we know that there is a growing affection between the two dancers.

There is tension in the late evening when the head of the ranchers pays visit to the homestead. "Look Starrett. When I come to this country you weren't much older than your boy there........ How would you like to go partners with me." It's sad because this is a real if clumsy attempt to "be reasonable" But as Shane would say on more than one occasion, "it's no use".

I could go on; the murder of the Stonewall at the hands of an especially evil hired gun from Cheyenne has great impact. And, the final confrontation at Graftons one fateful night, is one of the best in Westerns.

The characters are well developed and the story, while exiting, is a little melancholy.

The best Western ever made.

A very strange film noir, with all of the characteristics of that genre; rain slicked alleys, perpetual nightime, and shadows. Gilda is played by Rita Hayworth, and she is beautiful, nasty, and dangerous. As a matter of fact much of this movie has a nasty edge to it that made it a little notorious when it was released.

Glenn Ford is an American in Buenos Aires near the end of World War II. Why he is not in uniform, and why he is in Buenos Aires is never addressed. Suffice it to say, he is down on his luck and in the opening sequence we see him gambling at night in a waterfront alley. He scoops up his winnings and is shortly accosted on the wharf by a robber. Mysteriously, George Macready appears, and saves the day with a wicked little walking stick that has a hidden blade that juts out of the end when prompted.

This begins a rather strange relationship between Ford and Macready, who happens to own a casino outside of town. Ford goes to work for him and learns the gambling business from the ground up. All is well with the world until Macready shows up after a business trip with the naughty Rita Hayworth as his wife. One soon grasps that she and Ford had a prior, torrid relationship. This now becomes a sort of 3-way relationship and struggle.

There is a famous scene when Hayworth belts out "Put the Blame on Mame". She is clad in a clingy, slinky black dress, with black gloves that go up to her elbows. She does a psuedo striptease and it's VERY effective. In actuality all that is removed is one glove..... but wow. "I've never been any good at zippers! but if I had some help!"

Glenn Ford spends most of the film sulking. His job is to "look after Gilda" for his boss. In one scene Gilda is dancing with some latin Romeo. At a table sit Macready and Ford..... Macready to Ford: "Go get her" Ford: She's not my w.... she's your wife! Macready: "That's exactly the point. A man always looks a bit ridiculous, don't you think, grabbing his wife from another man's arms" Ford: "Alright".

The real treat in this movie is the portrayal by George Macready as the aloof, aristocratic, and mysterious Ballin Mundson. He is very much a shadow, a poised, elegant, and sinister shadow. To Hayworth in a particularly sultry scene as she sprawls across the end of bed, "Hate is a very exciting emotion. I felt it, didn't you? It warmed me.......hate is the only thing that has ever warmed me."

This movie is absorbing and rewarding.