Dr Jacques COULARDEAU
For kids it might look a little bit childish. It is the colorized version of an older black and white series and the definition of the image is rather poor. It has not been remastered at that level so at times the picture is blurred and it was shot in such conditions so that cast panoramic views are not very good except if it is to show an empty landscape and fast movements always seem to be magical, some kind of sliding or slipping on the screen.But it is fine for close-up shots and narrow scenes like a room or a yard.The story is of course simple, very simple, though there is some truth behind it when California was coveted and lusted after by so many people like the Russians and the Americans. But the plot is really simple- minded with one man and a bunch of gunslingers who try to capture California by capturing Los Angeles which is at the time a pueblo with maybe a couple of hundred inhabitants, most of them Indians. But luckily the one-man show of and the single-handed treatment of problems by Zorro will manage to get all the culprits killed or imprisoned. Now if you are nostalgic about the character you will like him very much. He is up to his reputation and very swift and smart and his deaf and dumb servant is even better. The sergeant is enormously sympathetic, wine swift and food clever. The rest of the time he is sleeping or doing little though he knows he will get the credit for a lot since Zorro being an outlaw he cannot claim credit for what he does.I find it yet maybe too colorful to really make me nostalgic of the original in black and white. In fact it has become very funny and it made me laugh a lot, especially with the great number of flower pots and other pottery artifacts that end up on the heads of some bandits or disruptive individuals. After all the bragging that is behind this tale is probably typically Californian since we know California has the best soil in the world and produces the biggest tomatoes in the whole universe.Dr Jacques COULARDEAU
A_Different_Drummer
For the boomers who actually saw this in real time, this review is redundant. At the time of course we had no idea: 1. We were watching the most expensive TV show ever filmed in that era, each done in color because Disney could do it no other way 2. We were watching the original original original superhero source material, experts generally agree that the idea of a secret identity and masked hero started here. Ditto the "Batcave" motif and hidden passages 3. We were watching the start of the branding phenomenon. Today Disney Studios could not imagine doing a project without pre selling the toys and spinoffs. Then, the studio was shocked at how lucrative that market was. There were dozens of Zorro toys, all valuable today. Yes, there have been other Zorros but this the template. (We will not mention the versions with Sir Anthony Hopkins because the less said about them the better) These shows are over a half century old and hold up well. Check out THE LUCKIEST SWORDSMAN ALIVE episode, it is especially compelling.
mcmugged
I watched the original Walt Disney's Zorro TV series when it first aired in the late 50s. I was in grade school, but I remember having a huge crush on Zorro and also wanting to be Zorro, as did most kids back then. We all ran around making Zs in the air or on things with sticks or toy swords.I renewed my love of Zorro a couple of years ago when I read Isabel Allende's book, Zorro, It made me want more, so I started doing online searches until I found out I could buy the whole series if I joined the Disney Movie Club. I normally do not like to join those types of clubs but it seemed this was the only way I could get these DVDs which were colorized. I loved watching them, but the colorized DVDs are not as good quality as the black and white DVDs which recently came out as a WD Treasures. I bought those too and am enjoying watching this set even more than the colorized ones simply because the detail is so much better.I usually watch a movie once and that is it. If it is a really "feel good" movie, I might watch it a couple of times, but for some reason, I can watch these 82 episodes of Zorro over and over. It takes a few weeks to watch them start to finish, then I just start over and watch them all again.Disney did this right. Guy Williams is the best Zorro ever. I have seen most other Zorro films but I like Guy Williams best. Sgt. Garcia is also a great character whom you grow to love. The man who plays him, Henry Calvin was apparently an opera singer and once in a while we get to hear him sing. These TV episodes are full of action, humor, and some good story lines that sometimes take up to 13 episodes to get through them. The theme song is one of the catchiest ever. The music used for background is just perfect. Since the show is about California in the early 1800s under Spanish rule, it doesn't seem very dated even today. Whenever I watch an episode of Zorro, I want to watch another one. It always makes me feel good.
John T. Ryan
Zorro has long been a favourite of film goers! Ever since Douglas Fairbanks' l920 trail blazer, THE MARK OF ZORRO. This film adapted to the screen just a year after the character's introduction. That would be Johnston McCulley's story "The Curse of Capistrano", published in the Pulp Magazine, ALL-STORY.After viewing the Fairbanks film, one can see how this Masked Avenger of Olde Spanish California was so successful. Very much like Edgar Rice Borrough's Tarzan, a veritable explosion of films with many different actors in the role over the years.The Walt Disney Productions' Zorro Television Series came to fruition with all sorts of stated and implied comparisons to those who had traveled that route and given their interpretations to "The Fox". Most commonly heard was of that to Tyrone Power's performance in the 20th Century-Fox film, THE MARK OF ZORRO(1940). Tyrone Power was still active at the beginning of the ZORRO Series TV run. He would succumb to a heart attack, November 15, 1958, while filming the Biblical costumer, SOLOMON AND SHEBA (Edward Small Productions/UNITED ARTISTS Corporation 1959), in Spain. (Yul Brynner with full beard and hairpiece, replaced him on the production.) The other comparison was to my favourite actor to essay the part, and that is Reed Hadley in the REPUBLIC PICTURES Serial, ZORRO's FIGHTING LEGION (1939). Reed was still active and died in 1971.These comparisons are okay up to a point, but only on the basis of the actors' portrayals. The film types are all different, one being a Feature Theatrical Film, one a Serial made for viewing in the movie houses on the installment/week to week method. And then we have the Walt Disney TV Series.* The TV series was action-filled, well written, pleasantly acted, well presented and as far as it went, Historically accurate, though strictly fictionalThey gave us a Hero who had returned to Olde California suddenly. Having been summoned by his Father, Don Alejandro de la Vega(George J. Lewis), Don Diego relates the stories of troubles in California to his dumb servant, Bernardo.** They formulate a plan whereby they will both put up a false facade for their public persona. Diego would feign being a soft, ineffectual and even sort of an effeminate weakling and intellectual. You know, an early 19th century California "Girlie Man." Bernardo added a pose of being deaf, as well as being unable to talk.Then, for two full seasons we followed Zorro's swashbuckling deeds in fighting unjust government and the unknown, secret society of enemies led by the mysterious Aguila(Eagle).They went through 77 half hour episodes before the series wound up and pitched for the last time. This was followed by 8 hour-long stories on Walt Disney's DISNEYLAND Show. The same cast members were employed and the use of guest stars was the order of the day. A few of Zorro's "Guest Starring" Performers were: Paul Picerni, Annette Funicello and Kent Taylor.At the end of the day we're able to give this ZORRO Series an O.K. mark and a great mention as a weekly series. ***1/2(Stars, that is!) * It isn't really to compare these renditions of the ZSorro legend as they were done in 3 different formats, two different media.** I was surprised to see that the Speechless("Dumb")Servant, Bernardo was a character in the original Johnston McCulley stories.