Wednesday, May 20, 2020

The Bold Cavalier (1936)

The first colour Zorro film. The brutal Commandant (Sig Ruman) is mistreating the peasants, the mysterious Zorro is raising them in revolt. When the new Governor is killed, Zorro is blamed and the Governor's daughter Lady Palma (Heather Angel) demands revenge. She is annoyed by the perfumed fop Don Diego (Robert Livingston) who is always hanging around, he seems a coward and not a real man...

Of course we know Don Diego is really Zorro and he plays a clever double game (though aided by everyone else being fairly naive) to help the peasants and stay in Lady Palma's good books. He even tries (or appears to anyway) to help the Commandant win Lady Palma's heart. Finally his identity is revealed, can Lady Palma forgive Don Diego and stop the Commandant's evil plan to rule the province instead of her?

A good 1930s action drama where little time is wasted. Rollicking swash buckling fun overall, the film has a number of great action set pieces where Zorro shows off his fighting prowess and also bull fighting skills.