#the mark of zorro 1940

[adaptations-polls]

Which version of this do you prefer?

[lobbycards]

The Mark of Zorro, US lobby card. 1940

[stahl-herz]

If you have handfuls of favorites, what are some of your favorite movies? Do you have a list of stahl-herz approved recs?

Lol, Stahl-Herz approved! Ok, so most movies I watch once and I'm ok with not watching another time. There are exceptions! In no particular order:

The Mark of Zorro from 1940 Starring Tyrone Powers. There is a three minute fight scene between Basil Rathbone and Tyrone and you're on the EDGE of your scene the entire time! They're knocking over things and dodging attacks! I had to pester my cousin for a week to watch it with me because he had the mindset that 'black and white movies are boring' and I was really happy when I saw that he was enjoying himself when he watched it!

1986 Transformers Movie - The visuals of the opening remind me of a painting. Also the soundtrack is 80's hair metal and synth - 90% of the reason why I love the movie, haha.

The Princess Bride. It's a classic for a reason. Need I say more?

The Dictator by and starring Charlie Chaplin. It's his only movie with sound! And the speech that he gives at the end of the movie is really good!

Sailor Moon The Movie The Promise of the Rose. Nostalgia mainly, this was my introduction to Sailor Moon! The scene where she uses the crystal to stop the meteor from crashing into earth will always stay in my head!

Castle in the Sky, as well as most Ghibli movies! Castle in the Sky was my first Ghibli movie. I was at a friend's house and they asked if I had ever watched it before. I said 'no' and she went to the computer and searched it up on Youtube. This was back when you could watch movies on there without it being an at least 20, 10 minute parts.

RRR. A movie that came out two years ago and it's three hours long! But it's so over the top that it goes back around to being hilarious! Also I love the historical fiction aspect of it as well as the songs!

The Son of Monte Cristo (1940) starring Joan Bennett and Louis Hayward. This one comes from that one camping trip that I was bored and the only movie that my aunt had to watch was a TCM dvd that had a version of Cerano de Bergerac as well as The Son of Monte Cristo. I watched it a handful of times and enjoyed it, even though I had to skip a scene or two because the dvd was scratched and it'd get stuck on some scenes.

White Christmas starring Bing Crosby, Danny Kaye, Rosemary Clooney and Vera-Ellen. It's always a classic movie to watch around christmas time. The songs are really good as well.

Scooby Doo and KISS: Rock and Roll Mystery (and most of the other Scooby Doo movies). This one is so fun to watch! The scene were KISS reveals that their aliens that use the power of rock and roll to fight evil, AND the fact that their spaceship is shaped like a guitar will always be hilariously cool! Also can't forget the music! The 'I was Made for Loving You' scene will always be what I think of now whenever I hear that song, haha!

I did not expect this list to be this long! The question is referencing this ask . Thank you for the question!

[animals-in-old-films]

Birds in The Mark of Zorro (1940)

[ariel-seagull-wings]

FICTIONAL CHARACTER ASK: DON DIEGO DE LA VEGA (FROM THE MARK OF ZORRO)

Asked by: @aragarna

@thealmightyemprex @goodanswerfoxmonster @themousefromfantasyland @the-blue-fairie

Favorite Thing About Them: How inteligent he is! He learns the situation is against him and his allies because of the extreme cruelty of who is in power and how strong the army is, so to not call attention to himself, he portrays the role of a pompous, futile, lazy and cowardly fool, treatening his respect by his family and friends in the proccess, but helping himself to be in the gracess of the tyrants in command so he can more clearly strike against them as Zorro when they least expect and help the people of California gain courage to resist opression.

Least Favorite Thing About Them: Not a fan of him calling his love interest "child" as complement, (expecially knowing actress Linda Darnell was still a minor when casted to be the romantic leading lady of Tyrone Power's Diego)

Three Things I Have In Common With Them:

*I have a bit of sarcastic sense of humour;

*I think playing the dumb fool is a great strategy of survival;

*I enjoy a good bath;

Three Things I Don't Have In Common With Them:

*I am not born in California;

*I am not rich;

*I can't fence, ride horses and dance;

Favorite Line: "They heated the water from my bath too early. It was positively tepid! By the time more was carried and properly scented... Life can be trying, don't you think"?

brOTP: Friar Felipe.

OTP: Lolita Quintero and Captain Esteban Pasquale.

nOTP: Inês Quintero.

Random Headcanon: His children and grandchildren, independently of gender, will carry on the title of Zorro, so he can get a tranquil aging with his wife Lolita.

Unpopular Opinion: Tyrone Powel should be more popular with Zorro fans because he is probably the actor who best worked the duality of the dandy Diego de la Vega and the brave rogue Zorro.

Song I Associate With Them:

El Sombrero Blanco

Favorite Picture of Them:

[driveintheaterofthemind]

Vintage Poster - il Segmo di Zorro (The Mark Of Zorro) (Italian)

Art by Anselmo Ballester

20th Century Fox (1946)

[roses-in-hollywood]

Basil Rathbone and Tyrone Power in The Mark of Zorro, 1940.

[starry-bi-sky]

thomas wayne au excerpts - things that could've been part of a grander fic except there's no grander fic

thomas wayne au - an au i made last year where danny is literally just. thomas wayne. his full name was Daniel Thomas Fenton and he started going by Thomas Nightingale after he was disowned. because of course. here is a link to the first post if anyone wants to see a more in depth view of the au (its also the start of me using the ‘danny fenton is not the ghost king’ au lmao

additional info: bruce is the result of a failed cloning attempt from vlad - vlad used a combination of danny's dna and an unnamed girl (Martha's) to make him to try and balance out the ectoplasm use. this resulted in a slightly liminal but otherwise completely human and stable baby boy. Bruce is, by all accounts, Danny's biological son. Danny named him Bruce

Danny was 24 when he died, he took in Bruce when he was 16. He is, so far, a single father in this au. (But if I WERE to add martha she wouldn't be sam or a DP character but rather a separate character on her own.)

Essentially they would go as:

Martha, 19: water does terrifying things to corpses

Danny, 19, half ghost: *heart eyes* really? tell me more they're morticia and gomez your honor

---- Like starlight -----

Bruce's father could light up a room. He was like a sun, his gravitational field could just pull you in, and before you knew it you'd be orbiting around him like one of his many planets.

He's seen it in action before, in the rare moments Thomas Wayne would allow him to accompany him to the socialite events he went to; the fundraisers; the charities. Bruce, as tall as his father's waist, would cling to his leg and watch as people drifted towards him and his star-blinding smile.

It's fitting that his father's favorite thing in the world were stars, he fit right in with them.

As an adult, Bruce has tried copious amount of times to mimic him. To try and capture a fraction of that light, that charm, in his own act - but here's the thing. Thomas Wayne wasn't made of starlight only in front of the cameras, he was made of starlight outside of it as well.

(So when older socialites laugh and tell him he's so much like his father, Bruce just thinks they are liars. They've only ever seen the Thomas Wayne his father showed them, Bruce is nothing like his father.)

In the manor, whatever room he stepped into seemed to brighten, and maybe it was just Bruce's own child-memory fuzzing it to raise his father onto a pedestal, but he stands by it. His father was a solar system, his very own galaxy. Bruce was just the lucky planet that was close enough to orbit him.

--------- arrival time ------

Ancients, ancients, what the fuck convinced Danny to ever go to Gotham of all places? Crime Capitol of the world? He's not sure, but he's been wandering around the country for the last few months, swapping between flying late at night as Phantom, and taking the busses and trains when he had the money, and was too exhausted to fly.

And of course, what convinced him to come here with his kid no less, who was just at the cusp of turning a year old? Whose curiosity of the world was growing greater by the day? Who wanted to look around and explore, and was growing tired of being held at all hours of the day by his father.

But he was going to be held, at least for as long as they were in Gotham for. He didn't trust the stuff on the sidewalks, and he didn't trust the people walking on it. Bruce was tiny, and Danny would lose his mind if he lost him in a crowd.

In his arms, Bruce whined and wriggled, pushing at his shoulders in the signature way he did when he wanted to be let down. Danny tightened his hold, and adjusted his place on his hip.

"I know, bumblebee." Danny muttered, resting his chin on Bruce's small head. His hair was still thin, but it was dark and soft, and tickled his throat a little. "But not yet, I need to find somewhere for us to stay first."

He needed to find somewhere for them to stay, permanently. He couldn't keep living like this, and he couldn't let Bruce grow up like this either. Constantly moving, homeless, unsure of when he was going to eat next? It wasn't good for him. But he needed to find a city he liked, and after that? He wasn't sure. Where did he start?

But Bruce doesn't like his answer, he whines at him, louder, and his wriggling increases. He wants down, he wants to move. They were in a new place again, he wanted to explore. He's too little to fully understand what his dad's saying. "Dada." He said, his voice thick with the accent of a child first learning to speak.

"I know," Danny repeats, stressing the word as his eyes flitted about. There was a park nearby -- maybe he and Bruce could stop there for a bit. Bruce could move around, and Danny could figure out his next move.

It was getting dark, he didn't want to be out in Gotham when it was dark. Shuffling, he moved the inside of his jacket to wrap around Bruce better. It was getting cold, too. Last winter with Bruce had been hellish - Bruce's liminality meant that Danny's immunity to the cold hadn't been passed down to him. Danny had spent all winter terrified that Bruce was going to get sick and die. He didn't want to go through that stress again, especially now that Bruce would be moving.

He hoped they could find new living arrangements soon.

---- dniwer eht klolc - clockwork's conversation ---

Laughing quietly as Bruce ran out of the room, Danny turned his attention back to the mirror, his fingers curled around the knot of his tie. They'd been planning this outing for weeks since the movie was first announced, and Danny wasn't going to let anything ruin tonight.

Humming under his breath, his hands fell from his tie and he steps back. They were leaving in half an hour, at best, but experience from the last six years has taught Danny that he wants to be ready before then.

In his reflection, the clock behind him stops ticking, and a wave of nothing washes over him, a subtle shift he's gotten used to that was the sensation of time stopping. Ticking, soft and coming from all four sides of the room, filled his ears.

Danny's smile drops. And behind him, Clockwork swirled into existence like a blackhole reversing its pull. "Don't go out tonight, Thomas." He says, his voice stern.

That wasn't happening.

He reaches up to push back a loose strand of hair out of his face. "Does something happen to Bruce, Clockwork?" He asks, his voice deceptively calm. That would be the only reason he would postpone tonight. If it endangered Bruce, then he would just have to break the news to him that they'd have to go tomorrow.

In the reflection, Clockwork's lips thinned, pressing together tersely. He looked tense, the grip on his staff was tight, tighter than Danny's seen it before in recent years. And it worried him a little.

Clockwork is silent for a few seconds, hesitant, before he finally speaks. "No, Bruce will be fine." He says, and uncharacteristic of him, he shuffles, "But--"

Ah, good then. Danny's smile returns briefly across his face. Then it could be something Danny can handle. "But nothing then, Clockwork." He says, interrupting the Ancient firmly. He leans back slightly to look over himself again in the mirror, before going to undo his tie. He's changed his mind about it.

"Boo has been looking forward to our movie all week, I'm not crushing his hopes by changing my mind last minute." In just a few seconds the tie was off his neck and tossed onto bed behind him. And Danny was reaching over the dresser beside him to grab a pearl necklace, he normally didn't wear it, it belonged to Mrs. Wayne and he inherited it after she and Mr. Wayne passed away last year. It wouldn't hurt to wear it for a special occasion like this.

Clockwork's lips tightened, and his shoulders tensed up. "Thomas," He says lowly, "Please."

...Clockwork never said please. Danny's never heard him say please in the last ten years he's known him. This... must have been pretty serious -- but, his core tugged at him. He couldn't cancel without finding the reason why. Bruce was so important to him, Danny couldn't break his heart with this without learning why. He wouldn't allow it, and neither would his core.

He hooks the necklace around his neck and turns to face Clockwork, frowning deeply. "Does something happen tonight?" If he knew the reason -- he just needed to know the reason.

Clockwork stares at him, and something that Danny can't catch appears across his face. "...I cannot tell you." He says after a long moment, his voice quiet.

That... is not the answer Danny wants. He won't cancel.

He frowns. "If something happens tonight..." He says slowly -- Clockwork said that Bruce is unharmed. That must mean Danny was able to handle it. He allows himself to smile reassuringly, and he steps forward to clap a hand on Clockwork's shoulder. "Then I will handle it, alright? I promise."

He gets no response back. Clockwork's expression unreadable as he nods silently - Danny's anxiety curls in his gut. He's being so unlike himself. But he shakes Clockwork's shoulder gently and steps around him, leaving the room.

After a minute, he feels time return to normal.

[thebarroomortheboy]

TYRONE POWER as Diego de la Vega/Zorro and LINDA DARNELL as Lolita Quintero in THE MARK OF ZORRO (1940) | dir. Rouben Mamoulian

[donfadrique]

[mellpenscorner]

Mellpen’s Hidden Gems of 2023

Year two! I watched a lot of movies in 2023. Some were new to me, some were old favorites, but in an internet that obsesses over tearing into bad movies, I thought I would once again give some recommendations for good movies that you may not have heard of. I watched 36 movies during January, February, and March of 2023, and these are my top underrated picks:

January - Invictus (2009) February - The Rocketeer (1991) March - The Mark of Zorro (1940)

Part 1 of 5

[lobbycards]

The Mark of Zorro, US lobby card. 1940

[animals-in-old-films]

The many animals in The Mark of Zorro (1940)

[ariel-seagull-wings]

GOOD VIBES CHALLENGE: THE MARK OF ZORRO (1940)

@thealmightyemprex @goodanswerfoxmonster @angelixgutz @the-blue-fairie @themousefromfantasyland @princesssarisa @amalthea9

So, my introduction to the figure of Zorro was the 1998 film The Mask of Zorro staring Antonio Banderas. Later i watched a comedy version of the character in the brazilian telenovela Bang Bang (2005) where he was a side character who had a hair saloon, and some chapters of the colombian telenovela Zorro: La Espada y la Rosa, based on a novel of the same name by chilean writer Isabel Allende. In 2016, i checked the 80s comedy parody Zorro: the Gay Blade.

And now, for the first, I checked out this 1940s film encarnation, wich is the first sound film portrayal of Zorro.

This movie opens with our hero, rich spanish-californian heir Don Diego de la Vega, arriving from his military studies in Spain to return to California, where he discovers his father, Don Alejandro, has suffered a political couo that forced him to renounce the govern of California to the greedy Luis Quintero and the violent military captain Esteban Pasquale.

To help his father and the people who are opressed by Quintero and Pasquale, while wanting to avoid calling attention to himself, Diego pretends to be a vain and cowardly bon vivant who does not cares for politics that wants to be in the good graces of the new govern, while in the shadows he assumes the identity of the heroic masked revolutionary Zorro, who takes back for the people the riches that Quintero and Pasquale have taken away.

In paralel to this, we follow the romance between Diego and Lolita, the young niece of Luis Quintero, wich causes the jealousy of Dona Ines, who, despite being married to Quintero, wishes to have Diego for her lover.

This is a classic simple story of a good hero who fights to triumph against evil doers, with a dosis of idealized romance.

The touch of complexity is in Tyrone Power's performance as Diego de la Vega, the arrogant dandy who aparently doesn't want to get involved in the political struggles of California and so has a hard time to be respectsd by his father, his friend Friar Felipe and, Lolita, at first, and the brave Zorrob, who strikes terror in the soldiers and is admired by the people as a simbol of hope to better the lifes of the peasants of California.

While the character himself is very complex, the plot itself is acessible and easy to follow and enjoym

The love triangle between Lolita, Diego and Dona Ines brings an interesting touch of fairy tale, with Dona Ines and Lolita having a dinamic reminiscent of the conflict of Disney's Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs for the title of most beautifull lady in the land.

We also are graced with a touch of humour, in both the early interactions between Diego and Lolita, Luis Quintero and his cowardice, and the priest Friar Felipe, who, while a religious man, is not above getting into physical fights if it means helping the people and resisting opression (a highlight being when he is beating soldiers and asking forgiveness to God each time).

This movie is a needed breath of escapism and fantasy, reminding us of why is important to believe in the existence of good in the world, and I highly recomend it.

[angrylovelyheart]

Tyrone Power with Basil Rathbone in The Mark of Zorro, 1940