SYNOPSIS: A masked champion of the people masquerades as a Spanish fop in Old California.
COMMENT: When I first saw this film several years ago, I was not only disappointed but wrote up a negative review. I didn't realize two super-important factors about the DVD I was viewing. (1) It seemed to be running at the correct speed, but in fact it was not. It ran only 90 minutes instead of 107. The print was complete, but because it was running a little too fast, the story failed to build up satisfactorily. Individual scenes lost their carefully timed impact. And an even worse result was that the facial expressions of the actors often seemed both unnatural and exaggerated. (2) The print was presented from start to finish in black-and-white. This completely destroyed not only the story's mood and atmosphere but its ability to enhance the emotions and the response of the viewer. It too also had the effect of making the acting seem unnecessarily theatrical and overdone.
I'm now convinced that many negative reviews of silent movies are instigated not by any lack of story cohesion or emotive power or sympathetic characterization in the films themselves, but simply because the viewer-in most cases, unwittingly-has exposed himself to a print presented at the wrong speed and/or the wrong format. Many people assume that tinting was added to a movie as an afterthought. And in a few cases, it was! But in 99% of movies, the tinting was actually written into the shooting script itself as a guide to both the director and the photographer. In short, tinting required that scenes be overlit and facial expressions exaggerated. If this was not done, the scenes would print too dark and the actors fail to register. And of course the actual colors used would also play a vital role in enhancing the emotions of the audience.
Viewing Kino's accurately toned and tinted Zorro proved a total revelation. Beautifully timed and directed with bursts of splendid acrobatic action interspersed with comedy and romance, this is now a Zorro that rivals the 1940 version. Admittedly the roles played by the villains here fall short (despite Noah Beery's enthusiasm), but the lovely Marguerite De La Motte is certainly the equal of Linda Darnell, while Fairbanks is far superior to Power as both fop and champion. In fact, I'd rate this as Doug's best performance ever!
AVAILABLE on DVD through Kino. Quality rating: 10 out of ten.
COMMENT: When I first saw this film several years ago, I was not only disappointed but wrote up a negative review. I didn't realize two super-important factors about the DVD I was viewing. (1) It seemed to be running at the correct speed, but in fact it was not. It ran only 90 minutes instead of 107. The print was complete, but because it was running a little too fast, the story failed to build up satisfactorily. Individual scenes lost their carefully timed impact. And an even worse result was that the facial expressions of the actors often seemed both unnatural and exaggerated. (2) The print was presented from start to finish in black-and-white. This completely destroyed not only the story's mood and atmosphere but its ability to enhance the emotions and the response of the viewer. It too also had the effect of making the acting seem unnecessarily theatrical and overdone.
I'm now convinced that many negative reviews of silent movies are instigated not by any lack of story cohesion or emotive power or sympathetic characterization in the films themselves, but simply because the viewer-in most cases, unwittingly-has exposed himself to a print presented at the wrong speed and/or the wrong format. Many people assume that tinting was added to a movie as an afterthought. And in a few cases, it was! But in 99% of movies, the tinting was actually written into the shooting script itself as a guide to both the director and the photographer. In short, tinting required that scenes be overlit and facial expressions exaggerated. If this was not done, the scenes would print too dark and the actors fail to register. And of course the actual colors used would also play a vital role in enhancing the emotions of the audience.
Viewing Kino's accurately toned and tinted Zorro proved a total revelation. Beautifully timed and directed with bursts of splendid acrobatic action interspersed with comedy and romance, this is now a Zorro that rivals the 1940 version. Admittedly the roles played by the villains here fall short (despite Noah Beery's enthusiasm), but the lovely Marguerite De La Motte is certainly the equal of Linda Darnell, while Fairbanks is far superior to Power as both fop and champion. In fact, I'd rate this as Doug's best performance ever!
AVAILABLE on DVD through Kino. Quality rating: 10 out of ten.