Numbers One & Two
Zorro was a Western masked avenger created by author Johnston McCulley. He appeared in books, comics, numerous cinema features, TV series and plenty of Republic serials. He was something of a Scarlet Pimpernel character - on the surface a dandy donning a black outfit and mask to conceal his identity.
One of the great advantages to the movie producers was that in these action scenes the leading actor could be easily replaced by a stunt man. Zorro is Spanish for 'Fox" and he first appeared in the 1919 magazine "All Story Weekly" with a tale called "The Curse of Capistrano". Douglas Fairbanks played him in "The Mark of Zorro" (1920) and later actors to essay the rote included Tyrone Power, Atain Deton, George Hamilton and Gordon Scott.
Not only was the Fox a fine gunfighter, he excelled with the sword plus a special trademark - a whip. In 1936 Republic was a American studio which was soon to become the leading outfit for serials and second feature westerns.
They bought most of the movie rights to the character for a 14 year period. The champion dominates the two Republic serial trailer reels recently released by Derann.
On Number One we get the best of the bunch - "Zorro's Fighting Legion," (all chapters once available on 8mm via Thunderbirds in the USA). Reed Hadley is a superb lead - although it is blindingly obvious when this tall slim man is doubted by the king of the stunt man, Yakima Cannutt who is smaller and more bulky.
This trailer (3 minutes) is well put together with plenty of way out captions ("A Lifetime of Excitement" - "Thrills Without End"), a good musical score and an exciting driving pace.
In later years the cinema serial began to fade in popularity. Less money was spent on them, running times stumped and stock footage from previous serials and features began to dominate original shooting.
Also Republic lost the rights to Zorro, but still came up with similar characters using different names and so were able to use action footage from previous Zorro serials.
The second opus on this reel is one of these twilight efforts. "Don Daredevil Rides Again" comes from 1951. Mr. Daredevil is the Zorro type hero played by Ken Curtis with Roy Barcroft as the leading villain.
This 2 minute trailer is less spectacular and includes a lengthy section from the final chapter - a fight in a burning house.
Number Two Reel starts with the top notch "Mysterious Doctor Satan" (1940.
Around this time Republic were negotiating to film Superman. A script was partially written, but talks with the copyright owners broke down and the screenplay was quickly adapted to become "Dr. Satan". The man of steel was replaced by a human hero - a masked fighter known as The Copperhead. The villain was retained, whilst reporter Lois Lane became reporter Lois Scott. The result was a cracking episode, dominated by Satan, a marvelous performance from Edward Cianneli.
The Lead man, Robert Wilcox was a dead loss, but his part came to Life when on came the hood and top stuntman David Sharpe took over for some great action.
This trailer (3 and half minutes) is very well constructed and thrilling. Dr. Satan's Robot is a bit of a hoot, but the fights are top class. We are recommended to watch "15 Shivering Shuddering Surprising Episodes"!
The reel ends with "Zorro Rides Again,, - the first Zorro serial (1937) starring John Carrot with that excellent bad man Noah Beery. This time we are extolled to see a "Thrilling Thundering Throbbing Adventure".
The trailer (1˝) is rather more primitive than the others, but contains quite a few of the best cliffhangers.
Print quality is best on Reel One which is very sharp. Reel Two is slightly softer but still very acceptable. Great fun.
|
Distributed by: Derann
Films. |
The above review was printed in |
This page was last updated 02 Dec 2002