The 1920 film The Mark of Zorro is actually the first silent film and also beleive it or not the first Zorro film out of the many I have ever watched. In all honesty this film was super hard for me to watch due the fact that it was a black and white silent film. Not knowing what I was coming into was a new experience and when I saw the first couple of words pop up on The screen I actually just thought it was going to be a little introduction to open up the movie. Little did I know that I would be reading throughout the whole movie. This was probably the hardest part for me due to the fact that my attention span when it comes to reading on any type of elecetronical device is just very limited.
My first reaction to this film is that it remined me of Le Magnifique in the sense that both protagonists have these somewhat alter egos. The only difference for myself personally was that I actually enjoyed the alter ego of Bob Saint-Clair because I thoguht of the over exaggeration in the character as a form of hilarity. Whereas, Zorro I just saw him as somewhat of a loser. However, now that I am typing this out I don’t know if it’s truly Zorro who I find to be the loser or Don Diego. When you have the girl right in front of you just go for it buddy! This could be debated about both Merlin and Diego though but I think I just grew founder to Merlin because I saw his character develop more simply because there was audio in the film (perhaps I would dislike him just as much if it were a silent film too).
What did catch my attention while watching The Mark of Zorro was the way Zorro moved with such skillfull quickness. I couldn’t help but think “PARKOUR!” which then made me lose my complete attention and led me to think of The Office episode where the charactes “perform” parkour (please watch the link provided, it’s a good laugh https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Kvw2BPKjz0). The whole parkour takes of the movie left me wondering if this could be said to be the first parkour to ever be seen on screen. It also left me curious as to how exactly it was filmed, asking myself how many shots did it to take? How was this whole thing edited, was it even edited? How exactly did the process of cinematography work in the past during an era with such limited technology as today?
As I read through Kevin Starr’s chapters in his novel Inventing the Dream I found myself turning away from completely disliking the silent film of Zorro to being more appreciative of it. Ever since I was a kid I’ve always been captivied by the city of Hollywood due to the fact of my interest in film. I’m no movie critic but I’ve always enjoyed the whole movie theatre experience. As I read through Kevin’s Starr’s chapters I found myself laughing in amusement as to how Hollywood came to be. What made me laugh first was that the founders of the city of Hollywood, hoped for the city to be a Christian community, a place with no saloons or liqour, offering freeland to Protestant churches. Now, I’ve walked along Hollywood Boulevard and it’s no Vegas strip but it also isn’t a wholesome church community. In fact, I think one of the largest “churches” you see in Hollywood is the Church of Scientology. Another thing I found interesting was that the first ever motion picture was of a man named Fred Ott sneezing (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8PaJ1r0udvQ). It’s funny to read these things and imagine that something that seems so small to us in present day was looked at in the past as entertainment. The reading’s for this week definitely made me appreciate the process that Hollywood and cinematography has gone through.
Great point on the parkour scene. I thought the same thing when was watching Zorro, the action was surprisingly good!
Interesting notes on the evolution of Hollywood too and Starr’s history of the city. Connecting it back to Zorro, it sure seems that today the aristocracy or a ruling elite has control of hollywood. The industry is run by highly motivated people who do not always realize the magnitude and influence that film has globally. (In other classes my professors called this a form of ‘soft power).
I also had a new appreciation for the early films of Hollywood after reading Starr’s chapter. If I were to rewrite my Zorro response, I would not assume it to be as simple as I did in the first place.
Hi Gaby,
I do agree with you about the difficulty in watching a silent movie such as “The Mark of Zorro” given that my attention span for such films require extra focus from my part. Either way, the pop up signs help to imagine what they charters were saying even though sometimes I found that they spoke longer than the actual text.
Thank you for leaving the link to the Office parkour scene. It was very entertaining and funny to watch. It definitely puts into perspective the skill that Douglas Fairbanks had in becoming Zorro. He was a show off and make the whole being fit to interpret action figures a requirement.
Overall, I enjoyed your blog post. Good job!