Tyrone Power sets out to bring justice to California in The Mark of Zorro, an excellent swashbuckler from Hollywood's Golden Age.
We open in Madrid in the 1820s, where young Diego Vega (Tyrone Power) is the pride of the military academy, a renowned swordsman, and quite the ladies' man. However, he's forced to resign his commission when he's summoned home to Los Angeles by his father, Don Alejandro (Montagu Love), who's been ousted as alcalde. In his place is Luis Quintero (J. Edward Bromberg), a slovenly, greedy coward - but one with a rather ruthless streak. He's raised people's taxes to an oppressive degree to line his own pockets, and he ruthlessly crushes any dissent with the aid of his soldiers - particularly Captain Esteban Pasquale (Basil Rathbone).