Zorro Rides Again (1959)

Director: John English, William Witney

Cast: Helen Christian, Reed Howes, Duncan Renaldo

Synopsis: Edited version of the 1937 Republic serial “Zorro Rides Again.”

Zorro does indeed ride again – 20-odd years after he first saddled up – in this cobbled together compilation of a 1930s Republic serial. Not only does he ride, but he warbles in a rather tuneless tenor voice as he trots endlessly around the Californian desert.   Because it’s condensed into a running time of little more than one hour, the action is disjointed to say the least, with our dashing hero rushing from one perilous situation to the next with barely enough time to romance his leading lady.   The serial might have been quite good, because some of the set-pieces are reasonably well done for this sort of thing – in particular a fight on the railroad tracks between Zorro and the baddie which ends up with Zorro’s foot trapped between the rail tracks.   But the pace is so breathless, and the strokes so broad, that it very often doesn’t make a lot of sense.

(Reviewed 10th November 2011)