The Mark of Zorro

The Mark of Zorro is a 1920 American silent film starring Douglas Fairbanks as Don Diego Vega, a nobleman in Spanish colonial California who secretly fights injustice as the masked, sword wielding vigilante Zorro. Adapted from Johnston McCulley's pulp magazine story The Curse of Capistrano, the film paired Fairbanks's established reputation for athletic, good humored heroics with swordplay and stunt work that helped define the swashbuckler genre in American cinema. Its commercial success led Fairbanks toward further costume adventure roles and cemented Zorro as a recurring figure in American popular culture.