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Above: Zorro (Reed Hadley) confronts the menacing Don Del Oro in the penultimate chapter of ZORRO’S FIGHTING LEGION (Republic, 1939). This review is dedicated to the late, great Robert Davies, who gave me a copy of this serial the first--and sadly, the last--time we met in person. ZORRO’S FIGHTING LEGION Republic, 12 Chapters, 1939. Starring Reed Hadley, William Corson, Sheila Darcy, Jim Pierce, Leander DeCordova, John Merton, Edmund Cobb, C. Montague Shaw, Al Taylor, Budd Buster, Curley Dresden, Joe Molina, and Billy Bletcher as the voice of Don-Del-Oro. I found it hard to believe, before staring DAREDEVILS OF THE RED CIRCLE, that the serial could possibly be as good as most people thought it was. I was surprised to find out that it was even better than most folks said it was. And the same thing happened to me again, when I watched ZORRO’S FIGHTING LEGION. The serial begins in Mexico, where a successful revolution has just ousted the Spanish government and made Mexico an independent Republic (actually, Mexico wasn’t a unified country till much later in history, and its “revolution” was a confused upheaval consisting of several warring factions that battled it out with each other for a long time. Republic’s writers seem to think that it was a copy of our American Revolution, with Spanish colonists revolting against the tyrannical mother country). Benito Juarez, first president of the new nation (another goof: Juarez didn’t become President of Mexico till the 1860s, and was not really the selfless patriot shown here), visits the ruling council of the province of San Mendolito and explains to them that the fate of the country depends on them. San Mendolito has the richest mines in Mexico, and a steady flow of gold from the mines is needed to help Juarez’s government to get the country on its feet and establish its credit abroad. However, an evil figure has appeared, a figure that threatens the country’s security--an ancient Indian idol named Don-Del-Oro that has apparently come to life. Don-Del-Oro incites the Yaqui Indians to make war against the government, promising them that they shall “again live on the lands of their fathers” (one more historical note and then I’ll shut up: the Yaquis do not and never did live in Mexico--the Aztecs were always the dominant tribe there). The Yaquis begin wiping out gold trains en route to Mexico City; it is Don-Del-Oro’s plan to cripple the country in this fashion and then use the Yaquis as an army to make himself Emperor of Mexico. The situation isn’t helped any by the fact that the San Mendolito governor, Felipe (Leander De Cordova), the military commandant Manuel (John Merton), the chief justice Pablo (C. Montague Shaw), and the mining superintendent Gonzalez (Edmund Cobb) are all in league with Don-Del-Oro. In fact, one of the four IS Don-Del-Oro himself. Manuel sees to it that his soldiers don’t have a chance against the Yaquis when the Indians attack gold convoys, and the situation looks bad. That’s when Don Francisco (Guy D’Ennery), a loyal old caballero, volunteers to start a “Legion” of civilian volunteers to lend aid to the military. Juarez approves the Legion, but the four treacherous councilors are less than thrilled and plan to get rid of Francisco. They succeed, but the masked avenger Zorro shows up to avenge him, and to prevent Francisco’s son Ramon (William Corson) from being killed. Zorro then takes command of the Legion, vowing to carry out Francisco’s plan. Zorro is, in reality, Francisco’s nephew Don Diego Vega (Reed Hadley), who has just arrived from California for a visit. Diego poses as a cowardly, foolish fop when not masked as Zorro, keeping his identity secret from everyone but his faithful servant Juan (Budd Buster) and Ramon. Zorro’s Legion quickly begins to make trouble for Don-Del-Oro and his henchmen, saving gold shipments, preventing the Yaquis from stealing munitions, and trying their best to discover the identity of the mysterious “Golden God.” The corrupt councilors make it tough for them by declaring Zorro and his men outlaws, but Zorro manages to triumph in the final chapter. Once you get around the serial’s bizarre re-arrangement of Spanish and Mexican history, ZORRO’S FIGHTING LEGION is a wonderful treat from beginning to end. The unique setting, neither contemporary nor “jungle” nor wholly Western, challenges the writers (Ronald Davidson, Barney Sarecky, Sol Shor, Franklin Adreon, and Morgan Cox) and directors (William Witney and John English) to come up with some new approaches to the standard Republic action, and they rise to the challenge with some brilliantly creative cliffhangers and truly inventive action scenes. Yakima Canutt turns in some great stuntwork, using his trademark bullwhip more than once, and performs his legendary stagecoach stunt in Chapter Seven, falling beneath a team of horses and actually flipping over before passing under the stagecoach and grabbing the rear. Reportedly, the flip was not planned and was improvised by Canutt to keep himself from being crushed due to a slight miscalculation. It just adds to the thrill of the scene. Chapter Two climaxes with Zorro and the wounded Ramon trapped inside an old mission that’s about to explode, and the solution is both unexpected and visually stunning. Another great cliffhanger has Zorro racing to cross a suspension bridge before a wounded Indian can cut it, another features Zorro trapped in a mine shaft beneath a rapidly descending ore elevator, and another features Zorro and Ramon being pursued by roaring floodwaters through a cave. These perils have been used often in other serials, but Witney and English are the absolute best when it comes to playing them out and making them seem completely original. Interestingly, there are few fistfights in the serial, astounding when you realize that this is a Witney outing, but the directors were wise to omit them, as they would have taken away from the Spanish flavor. Instead, swordfights become the major type of action throughout the cliffhanger, and they fill the breach just fine. The fencing, of course, isn’t on the level of the Basil Rathbone-Tyrone Power duel in MARK OF ZORRO, but it’s quite well done. The one-on-one fights come off the best, with Zorro’s duel with Ralph Faulkner (the serial’s fencing master) in the first chapter and his fight with Al Taylor in the last chapter standing out. The sword fight between Zorro and three different opponents in one of the middle chapters is also inventive, with the masked avenger disposing of each antagonist in a different way. The full-scale horseback battles between Zorro’s Legion and the Yaquis, especially the sequence in Chapter One, are brilliantly staged and apparently done on a bigger scale than usual at Republic. The earlier clash between the Yaquis and the soldiers is also well filmed, and quite violent, as is Zorro’s tussle with Don-Del-Oro’s throne guards in the eleventh chapter. In addition to the action scenes, there are just so many touches, visual and otherwise, that show why this serial has captured the imagination of every kid who ever saw it. Who couldn’t be thrilled by the giant flaming Z, which signals for the Legion to assemble? Or be intimidated by the menacing form of Don-Del-Oro with that deep, booming voice (Republic was definitely the best when it came to inventing memorable mystery villains, and Don-Del-Oro is right up there with the Lightning and the Scorpion). Or be awed by the volcanic headquarters of Don-Del-Oro, complete with steaming fire pits for disposing of rebellious henchmen? Or be lifted right out of their seat when Zorro’s Legion assembles and the rousing theme song is belted out by an off-screen chorus? The theme song, “We Ride”, is in fact a lot better than the theme from ZORRO RIDES AGAIN; though it’s sometimes hard to distinguish the words, the tune has a strong Spanish flavor that sets just the right mood. It’s impossible not to start humming along with it. William Lava, who composed the serial’s score, does a superlative job with this and with the rest of the music, complementing and even improving the action. Lava later went on to score the ZORRO TV show, turning in similarly masterful work there. In a serial with the overall flair and style of ZORRO’S FIGHTING LEGION, good performances might not seem important, but they’re essential if the cliffhanger is going to run smoothly. Any bad acting--particularly in the lead role--would have been especially jarring in such a well-constructed serial. Fortunately, Reed Hadley is just perfect in the starring part. Using his deep, dramatic voice to full advantage, Hadley gives just the right air of dignified, decisive authority to his Zorro, while also doing a superlative job as the diffident, nervous Diego. Hadley also doesn’t use any of the aloofness that he employed later on public-service-announcement “TV shows” like RACKET SQUAD or PUBLIC DEFENDER; he’s suave, sly, and intelligent throughout, but always friendly and always fully “human.” William Corson has been the only fly in the ointment for many of this serial’s critics, but I honestly think he turns in a fine performance. His slightly nasal voice with its Northwestern (he was born in the state of Washington) accent sometimes sounds out of place in the Mexican setting, particularly next to Hadley’s accentless delivery, but his acting is more than adequate and he fills the “secondary hero” slot with more flair than many. He and Hadley became good friends during the filming of the serial; this shows in scenes such as the one where Ramon mischievously suggests to his sister (in Diego’s hearing) that Zorro possibly wears a mask to hide an ugly face. Sheila Darcy, as Ramon’s sister Volita, is the nominal heroine of the serial, but she has few scenes and even fewer lines. She’s very attractive, however, and delivers what dialogue she has with assurance. Incidentally, she later became the wife (for more than twenty years right up to her husband’s death, a rarity in Hollywood) of actor Preston Foster. Some people have also criticized the writers’ idea of having the mystery villain be one of four known bad guys, but the gimmick gives the four suspects a chance to do some great villainous scenes as opposed to the usual inconsequential “red herring” antics. Edmund Cobb has much more screen time than usual and makes the most of it, giving his character a sort of blustering facade of joviality. Aggressive and ramrod-like John Merton is perfectly cast as the bristling, militaristic Capitan Manuel. C. Montague Shaw gets to display crafty suavity on the level of Lionel Atwill when he obliquely accuses Don Diego of being Zorro in one of the later chapters. And Leander De Cordova, a Spaniard born in the British West Indies, brings just the right touch of authenticity to his chararacterization of the mild-mannered but cunning Felipe. Billy Bletcher does a great job in providing the booming voice of Don-Del-Oro, arrogantly assuring the Yaquis that he will lead them on to victory and ruthlessly ordering his enemies or his own men to execution. Hulking Jim Pierce, who played Tarzan in silent serials, is Moreno, the lead henchman, and does a fine job in conveying physical menace and stolid toughness. Charles King, Curley Dresden, and thin, nasty-voiced Al Taylor are the other principal members of the henchman pack, and Joe Molina is Tarmac, the hostile Yaqui leader. Paul Marion gets a sympathetic role for a change, as Yaqui prince Kala in the later chapters, and handles it well. Budd Buster doesn’t have much to say, but is always there when Zorro needs him in his role of the trusty Juan. Carleton Young is excellent as Juarez, affecting the only Mexican accent in the serial yet making it sound convincing. Eddie Cherkose, who wrote the lyrics to the theme song, has a small but important part as Don-Del-Oro’s guitar playing messenger/henchman. Ernest Sarracino has a memorable bit as a henchman who is tossed into the fire pit for disobeying Don-Del-Oro in Chapter One, and Ken Terrell, Jimmy Fawcett, Henry Wills, Bill Yrigoyen, and his brother Joe play bit roles in addition to assisting Yakima Canutt’s stuntwork. Alan Gregg pops up as a thug who gets assassinated before he can name Don-Del-Oro’s identity, Jerry Frank is one of Don-Del-Oro’s throne guards, Helen Mitchel is Sheila Darcy’s aunt, and Clayton Moore appears very briefly as one of Zorro’s Legion in the eleventh chapter (look for him as one of the men picked by Zorro to help rescue Kala). It’s hard to know where to end a review of ZORRO’S FIGHTING LEGION, since I could go on praising it to the skies till my readers got bored. Assuming, however, that they’re already pretty bored, I’ll just recommend that they check this one out without delay and conclude with a snatch of the theme song: “We ride!
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