My Featured Film

The Mark of Zorro

I. About the Film

Zorro is the secret identity of Don Diego de la Vega, a fictional character created in 1919 by pulp writer Johnston McCulley. He is a Californio nobleman living in Los Angeles during the era of Mexican rule,although some movie adaptations of Zorro's story have placed him during the earlier Spanish rule.

The character has undergone changes through the years, but the typical image of him is a dashing black-clad masked outlaw who defends the commoners and indigenous peoples of the land against tyrannical officials and other villains. Not only is he too cunning and foxlike for the bumbling authorities to catch, but he also delights in publicly humiliating them. The character has been featured in numerous books, films, television series, and other media. Tiburcio Vasquez, Juan Nepomuceno Cortina and Joaquin Murrieta are cited as inspirations for Zorro.

In The Curse of Capistrano, Don Diego Vega becomes Senor Zorro in the pueblo of Los Angeles in California "to avenge the helpless, to punish cruel politicians", and "to aid the oppressed." He is the title character, as he is dubbed the "Curse of Capistrano."

The story involves him romancing Lolita Pulido, an impoverished noblewoman. While Lolita is unimpressed with Diego, who pretends to be a passionless fop, she is attracted to the dashing Zorro. His rival is Captain Ramon. Other characters include Sgt. Pedro Gonzales, Zorro's enemy but Diego's friend; Zorro's deaf and mute servant Bernardo; his ally Fray (Friar) Felipe; his father Don Alejandro Vega; and a group of noblemen (caballeros) who at first hunt him but are won over to his cause.

In later stories, McCulley introduces characters such as pirates and Native Americans, some of whom know Zorro's identity.

In McCulley's later stories, Diego's surname became de la Vega. In fact, the writer was wildly inconsistent. The first magazine serial ended with the villain dead and Diego publicly exposed as Zorro, but in the sequel the villain was alive, and the next entry had the double identity still secret.

Several Zorro productions have expanded on the character's exploits. Many of the continuations feature a younger character taking up the mantle of Zorro.

Although McCulley's stories were set in Los Angeles during the era of Mexican rule (between 1821 and 1846), some movie adaptations of Zorro's story have placed him during the earlier Spanish era.

Works Cited （参考文献）

"Zorro." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, n.d. Web. 21 June 2016. <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zorro>.

II. Versions of the Film

American films
The Mark of Zorro(1920)

The Mark of Zorro(1940)
The Mark of Zorro(1974)(TV movie)

Mexican films
La Gran aventura Del Zorro(1846)
El lobo negro(1980)

European films

In addition to a variety of Zorro films, European producers also used a similar character called the Coyote.

Zorro contro Maciste(1963)

La marque de Zorro(1975)

Works Cited （参考文献）
"Zorro." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, n.d. Web. 21 June 2016. <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zorro>.

III. About the Author

Johnston McCulley (February 2, 1883 – November 23, 1958) was the author of hundreds of stories, fifty novels, numerous screenplays for film and television, and the creator of the character Zorro.

Many of his novels and stories were written under the pseudonyms Harrington Strong, Raley Brien, George Drayne, Monica Morton, Rowena Raley, Frederic Phelps, Walter Pierson, and John Mack Stone, among others.

McCulley started as a police reporter for The Police Gazette and served as an Army public affairs officer during World War I. An amateur history buff, he went on to a career in pulp magazines and screenplays, often using a Southern California backdrop for his stories.

Aside from Zorro, McCulley created many other pulp characters, including Black Star, The Spider, The Mongoose, and Thubway Tham. Many of McCulley's characters—The Green Ghost, The Thunderbolt, and The Crimson Clown—were inspirations for the masked heroes that have appeared in popular culture from McCulley's time to the present day.Born in Ottawa, Illinois, and raised in Chillicothe, Illinois, he died in 1958 in Los Angeles, California, aged 75.

Works Cited （参考文献）

"Johnston McCulley." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, n.d. Web. 21 June 2016. <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johnston_McCulley>.

IV. My Reaction

A. Reaction Point - costumes

• 定義 - Costumes are the attire worn in a play or at a fancy dress ball.
• 例 - The character's visual is a flat-brimmed black hat. And he wears a black cloth veil mask with slits for eyes covers his whole face.
• 略 - I think his appearance to be very cool. I think that it might be assumed that it is Don Diego to totally different clothes not to come out.

B. Reaction Point - mood

• 定義 - Mood is the prevailing psychological state.
• 例 -  Though the Mark of Zorro is a thief, it is a hero of justice.
• 略 - I helped an oppressed Indian and faced one to one duel for fair mind, and he was a true gentleman. I like there of him. I think that the mood that he creates attracts the person of the circumference.

C. Reaction Point - scene

• 定義 - Scene is a subdivision of an act of a play.
• 例 - The Mark of Zorro is "Z" and the scene to cut.
• 略 - After he appeared, a letter of Z is cut by the wall. This is his trademark and thinks that it is the very impressive scene.

D. My General Opinion

Don Diego of the sluggard was surprised that it was real nature of marvel Zorro.He trained oneself by having watched oppressed people and became the strongest gentleman, the strongest thief.He was gentle at heart and thought that it was a hard worker.