The Mark of Zorro (1920)

It was always one of the highlights during the school holidays to watch Guy Williams and Henry Calvin in the 1957 television series of this story - and you can clearly see it's roots in this. A classic piece of action adventure based around the antics of Fairbanks' "Zorro" - a Scarlet Pimpernel style character that couldn't tie his own shoelaces on the outside, but with a secret persona determined to fight for justice and equality in the face of the corruption of the Governor (George Periolat) and the nasty "Capt. Ramon" (Robert McKim). His identity is known only to a few loyal friends; not even his often disappointed parents, nor his would be señorita "Lolita" (Marguerite de la Motte) who see him as a bit of a wastrel - know how courageous "Don Diego" actually is!. There is quite a lot of humour in this, McKim and a fairly hammy Noah Beery ("Sgt. Gonzales") bring some light-hearted menace to the proceedings and plenty of fisticuffs, sword fencing and a really well choreographed cat and mouse sequence for the last twenty minutes make for a most enjoyable feature. Fred Niblo and Douglas Fairbanks were clearly on the same wavelength in this picture - which wasn't always the case between the star and his directors - and their efforts provide for a great film to look at, with the costumes (how hot must they have been under all of that?) and casting looking every the inch the part, too... Short, certainly, but that just makes it all the sweeter.