DON Q, SON OF ZORRO
1925

COLOUR TINT VERSION

Most sequels pale beside the originals. However, this follow-up to Douglas Fairbanks's surprise 1920 hit, The Mark of Zorro, is a welcome exception. Then and now, it is considered to be a better film than the original, THE MARK OF ZORRO (1920), which made star and producer Douglas Fairbanks the personification of the Swashbuckler five years earlier.

Though again mining the Old California Robin Hood idea, it is better produced, better scripted, and it features the still agile 42-year-old Fairbanks in not two, but three roles - playing Don Diego/Zorro as well as his own foppish son, Don Cesar de Vega. The big change here: Don Cesar's weapon of choice is the whip rather than the rapier - a forebear of the bullwhip-cracking Indiana Jones. With a more reasonable budget, Fairbanks was able to stage the fights and cliffhanger escapes that were beyond him the first time around.

PLOT:
In the family tradition, Don Cesar is sent to Spain to continue his education and learn the traditions of his ancestors. His high-spirited ways and showmanship with a bullwhip make him a favourite of the Queen's cousin, Archduke Paul of Austria (Warner Oland). Cesar also makes an enemy of surly Don Sebastian (Donald Crisp), a member of the Queen's guard, and both men fall for the beautiful Dolores de Muro (Mary Astor). After Cesar is framed for murder, he fakes suicide and goes underground until he can prove the guilt of the real killer. Meanwhile, in California, Don Diego receives word of his son's predicament. He retrieves his sword from where it had stuck thirty years before, digs out his mask and cape and travels to Spain to help rescue his son.

CAST:
Douglas Fairbanks ... Don Cesar de Vega / Zorro
Mary Astor ... Dolores de Muro
Jack McDonald ... Gen. de Muro
Donald Crisp ... Don Sebastian
Stella De Lanti ... The Queen
Warner Oland ... The Archduke Paul
Jean Hersholt ... Don Fabrique Borusta
Albert MacQuarrie ... Col. Matsado
Lottie Pickford ... Lola
Charles Stevens ... Robledo
Tote Du Crow ... Bernardo
Martha Franklin ... The Duenna
Juliette Belanger ... The Dancer
Roy Coulson ... Dancer's Admirer
Enrique Acosta ... Ramon

Directed by Donald Crisp  

RUNNING TIME: 111 MIN