Le retour de Zorro

First Zorro serial is one of the best. It's a modern story with planes and trains and cars and horses all being used to great effect to tell the story of Zorro (James Vega) trying to stop the villain from blowing up the railroad he own stock in. Its one of the large scale serials that Republic did in the late 30's and early 40's before budgets got tighter thanks to wartime austerity. The large cast of characters is nicely handled and it doesn't have the round and round feeling that later Zorro serials engendered. This has spectacular effects that help elevate things a couple of notches- Where else are you going to see a train try to out run a plane that is trying to bomb it?. If there is a flaw it's that there is a few musical numbers that don't really fit (Most musical numbers don't fit in serials since they slow the serial down too much)

The action/adventure serials were a staple of entertainment in the early twentieth century. Based on a simple hero/villain concept, the story moved sequentially through a series of episodes. With the exception of the final episode, they all ended with a cliff hanger where there seemed to be no way the hero could survive. Of course, they did, although the reason was not always completely plausible. This DVD contains twelve chapters of a retelling of the folk hero of Zorro, created in 1919 by Johnston McCulley. He is a masked vigilante who defended the poor and downtrodden from the evil clutches of tyrannical officials and other villains. The viewer familiar with comic book heroes will recognize the features "borrowed" by other writers when they created their heroes. In this case, the villain is a big city unscrupulous financier named J. A. Marsden. His goal is to take control of the California-Yucatan Railroad and he is employing El Lobo, the leader of a gang of outlaws that will engage in murder and sabotage in order to bankrupt the railroad so that he can buy it for nearly nothing. Zorro is his main opponent, he is in fact one of the owners of the railroad, his secret identity is known only to his boyhood friend. He has a cave hideout and a very smart horse. Roy Rogers fans will recognize many of the tricks as the same ones that Trigger performed. Coming at the sound of a whistle and holding off a villain or two. While much of the action is that of the wild west western with guns and horse transportation, the environment is very modern. There is electricity, cars, telephones, primitive radios and a lot of gunfire. As was typical of the serials, the action moves deliberately slowly. In order to prevent an early resolution, both sides often give up their pursuit far too quickly. Although the action is nowhere near as slick as the modern videos with high-quality special effects, this remains a fun video story. When I watched it, I had the same thought that I had when I first saw it on a late afternoon children's show when I was young. The stunt man playing Zorro really had to be careful when he jumped from a height into the saddle of his horse.

I first saw this serial on TV in the 1950s in New York. It was my first exposure to the "anachronistic westerns" that republic pictures produced at that time. Six Guns, railroads, airplanes horses,gunfights,a machine gun and automobiles; what a combination in a western serial. One would probably have thought seeing this and other republic features made along these lines that people walked around with six guns like the old west in modern times living in California. This formula however in my opinion worked very well. Republic's music scores of that time were wonderful with basically the same themes used in this and other films of 1937. The casting was fine for this serial. John Caroll made a wonder modern Zorro. In a change of pace, Richard Alexander, the unselfish prince Barin of Flash Gordon,1936, makes a marvelous villain as the character, El Lobo (Brad Dace). Kudos to the rest of the cast especially Duncan Renaldo. There is no question that the production company knew how to put together a rousing actioneer of all the components I mentioned above. The closest of films that we see today that even approach the mood and mystique of this serial would probably be the Star Wars epics. This is one of my favorite serials because it has "entertainment value"; one to pop on a vcr to enjoy and relax more than "once a year".

This was typical Saturday afternoon serial stuff from Republic with the script reduced to good vs. bad shootouts, this time involving a crooked man (NOAH BEERY) who wants to take over a railroad and will stop at nothing (including bombs and derailments) to get his way. Only thing stopping him is our man Zorro (JOHN CARROLL) who dons the mask whenever he has to get down to business.

The episodes I watched were three of the earlier episodes (#3, 4 and 5) where the villains open a derailment switch and almost trap Zorro before he can release his foot caught between closing tracks as a train approaches. He uses a unique way of getting out of the situation.

Lots of scenes with the villains using the wireless to contact each other as Zorro overhears their plans. HELEN Christian and REED HOWES are two of the most bland performers in the history of serials, judging from their work in this serial. Christian has the femme lead and she almost disappears while talking.

Carroll is okay as Zorro using his slight Spanish accent and looking boyishly young before he made it to better films as a featured player.

Something only the kiddies could really love--standard serial stuff.

The first of the many serials based on the Zorro character released by Republic during the 30s and 40s.

In this one John Carroll (before going on to bigger and better things) plays the hero and his mild-mannered alter ego James Vega. Noah Beery Sr. is wasted as the Marsden, the head bad guy trying to take over the California/Yukatan Railroad. He basically never leaves his office and only appears to radio instructions to his henchman led by Richard Alexander and Robert Kortman.

As usual in Republic serials, the stunt work in this one is great. Yakima Canutt visibly doubles the hero and performs some dangerous horse to train transfers among others.

All in all it isn't bad. The only problem I had with it was the inclusion of a couple of songs for Zorro to warble as he galloped across the range. A tip of the hat to the singing cowboys of the day, I suppose.