Le signe de Zorro

Entertaining Italian 60's Zorro- rip off.

Errol's son Sean Flynn stars in this delightful piece of fast paced fluff. The lively son of a Basque aristocrat lady discovers that he has a father living in Mexico. The father has requested the help of his son with some trouble at hand. Reluctantly the son sails across the Atlantic only to find his father murdered by the evil local administration. Revenge follows.

It's most interesting to watch "Errol Jr." trying to imitate his father's nonchalant style of acting. Even more worrying is that he actually pulls it off a few times. Rest of the time it's just plain painful. But in a good way. All in the references to Zorro are few. In fact: two. At some point the son wears a mask that barely resembles any mask worn by the other Zorros. Later on the famous Z- mark has mysteriously appeared on some wall. That's it.

All in all this one is a fairly basic swordplay- movie which manages to rise above mediocrity mainly because of fast pace and burlesque characters.

Released on video in Finland in the early eighties.

I saw this film when I was a child and I was disappointed but I did not remember why;when I saw it again yesterday,it was obvious :Zorro was not the masked hero with his whip under a stormy sky streaked with lightnings ;the hero wears a mask in one sequence and that's it.There's no sergeant Garcia ,and the comic relief is provided by a lookalike ,an alcoholic oaf(Folco Lulli) ,the hero's servant ,thus not on the side of the law (and not dumb,as Guy Williams' faithful Bernardo).Actually Don Ramon is the son of a wealthy generous man who was to free the country before being killed (with the help of a clergyman and the landlords' sons whose dads find time to do before joining the rebellion).The story begins in Europa ,in the Pays Basque ,in a melodramatic way ,but continues with plenty of fights (Sean Flynn is good at fencing).The sign of Zorro (check the title) is not used that much.

What is fascinating is not this simplistic screenplay ,which could have been written by a eleven-year-old as an essay :it's the son of legendary actor playing the part of a son of a legendary hero-although E.FLynn never played Zorro-,just after "the son of captain blood" ,made on the same pattern.

Ramon Martinez y Rayol, a half Basque/half Castilian caballero leaves his native Spain for Mexico at the request of his mother. She tells him that the father he was told was dead, is actually alive and living in Mexico and has asked for his son's help. When he arrives in Mexico he finds that his father has died under mysterious circumstances.

Determining that his father has met with foul play, he uses "the sign of Zorro", to lead a campaign against a corrupt generalissimo. Along the way he wins the heart of a beautiful senorita.

Duel of the Rio Grande isn't strictly a Zorro film, the hero only wears a mask twice, however it's an agreeable swashbuckling adventure with some lively swordplay, intrigue, good scenery, beautiful women (Danielle De Metz ....sigh!) and brisk plotting. Of course, the most interesting aspect is that the hero is the son of Swashbuckling king Errol Flynn, and to be fair, Sean Flynn acquits himself well, is good in the action scenes and has some boyish charm.

Adventure very freely based on the famous character El Zorro , as it results to be a simple , predictable and good clean fun . General Gutierrez (Armando Calvo) governs tyrannically a region of Mexico, as he imposes huge taxes on the poor citizens and terrorizes them with his troops and hoodlums , especially Lieutenant Martin (Mario Petri) . As a Basque young (Errol's 23-year-old son Sean Flynn) comes from Spain to meet his estranged father . The brave young man along with his fatty pal (Folco Lulli) find several surprises , as they take on the villain governor and bloody enemies , while he falls in love for a beautiful young girl (Danielle De Metz) .

Amusing adventure movie in Spaghetti style , plenty of action , thrills , colorful cinematography , luxurious costumes , impressive score ; all meld together under Mario Caiano's passable direction . Although the story has been told before , tight filmmaking and nice acting win out . Combination of overwhelming sword-play and full of villainy , romance , swashbuckler and heroism . Exciting script by Casey Robinson who also penned ¨The son of Captain Blood¨ also starred by Sean Flynn . The picture is fast-moving , exciting and thrilling right up to the climatic final confrontation between Sean Flynn and Armando Calvo . Amusing acting by Sean Flynn who uses all kind of shrewdness in order to penetrate a well-defended governor stronghold . There appears the gorgeous Danielle De Metz as a hot-tempered moll who swoons over Sean ; furthermore , an enjoyable support cast with full of Spanish secondaries , such as : Armando Calvo , Virgilio Teixeira , Tony Soler , Manuel De Blas , Enrique Diosdado , Helga Liné , Elena Barrios , Xan das Bolas , among others . Stars the always handsome and laughing Sean Flynn. At the beginning his short career he accepted a contract to appear in a sequel to his father's hit film¨ Captain Blood¨ (1935), ¨The son of Captain Blood¨ (1962). He made a few more films in Europe, as ¨Seven Guns for Timothy¨ , ¨Sandok¨ , ¨Two Twin Guns¨ , ¨Delay in Marienborn¨ , ¨Five Ashore in Singapore¨ , in all of which he was extraordinarily likeable but not particularly skilled or at ease before the camera . He became tired with acting and then went to Africa in 1965 as a War Correspondent . The Vietnam war was heating up, and in 1966 Flynn went to cover the war as a photographer-correspondent for Paris-Match and after that to cover the Arab-Israeli war of 1967 . He then went back to Vietnam in 1968 , where he sold photographs and news stories to most of the major news organizations and made plans for a documentary film on the war . In April, 1970, while covering the widening of combat to the border areas of Cambodia, Flynn and colleague Dana Stone disappeared. They were presumed captured by elements of the North Vietnamese, the Viet Cong, or the Khmer Rouge . Although some reports indicated they may have survived as prisoners for as much as another two months , Flynn and Stone were never definitively heard from again after April 6, 1970, and were almost certainly executed by captors.

Producers Benito Perojo and Harry Joe Brown took advantage of the unused as well as left sets from other movies by financing and shooting this hastily assembled attractive picture that holds various titles : El capitán Intrépido (Spain) , Le signe de Zorro (France) , Duel at the Rio Grande (United States) or Sign of Zorro (United States) . This is a good-natured Technicolor romp with glamorous cinematography from Bitto Albertini and Antonio Macasoli , though a perfect remastering being really necessary . In addition an evocative and rousing musical score by Anton Garcia Abril , including a catching leitmotif . Motion picture was regular but professionally directed by Mario Caiano . He made this acceptable Zorro adventure , genre in which he would not only excel but one where he would spent much of the rest of his career . This craftsman directed all kinds of genres as he made several Spaghetti Westerns : ¨Brandy¨, ¨Avenger of California¨ , ¨Ringo, face of revenge¨ , ¨Bullets don't argue¨, ¨Lone and angry man¨, ¨A train to Durango¨. Caiano made Peplum as ¨Ulisse vs Ercole¨, ¨I due Gladiatori¨, ¨Maciste Gadiatori di Sparta¨ and Terror : ¨Nightmare castle¨, ¨ Eye in the labyrinth¨ and even Pornonazi as ¨Nazi love camp 27¨. Although Caiano couldn't be deemed an "A"-list director, his movies had a professionalism and a verve that many of those made by his fellow B-directors lacked . Muddle and uneven Zorro movie but will appeal to Spaghetti aficionados . Rating : 5.5/10 , riotous adventure in which there's too much action , battles , brawls and excitement enough.