John Carroll plays James Vega, the great grandson of Don Diego Vega (the original Zorro), who becomes a senior partner in the California-Yucatan Railroad following the death of his uncle Manuel. The crooked investment banker J.A. Marsden seeks to wrest control the railroad from the owners Joyce and Phillip Andrews. When they refuse his offer, he funds and supplies the notorious outlaw El Lobo to carry out a campaign of terror against the railroad. While James is more concerned with composing ballads and reading than running the railroad, he assumes the role of Zorro to thwart El Lobo's schemes while trying to expose his connection to Marsden, his identity known only to Manuel's servant, Renaldo.
As stated above, there's a greater emphasis on the western element of the story, with Zorro using twin pistols rather than a sword. Nonetheless, he's still a great hero and you want to root for him. Being a B-Movie serial, the production values are quite low and some of the cliffhanger endings are a little contrived, but that's expected for something intended to fill time at a Saturday matinee. The story's simple to follow, but that's required. After all, unless you went to the pictures all the time, you probably wouldn't see every episode, so you'd have to be able to pick it up easily. There's some great action and stunt work, while the cheapness can get an unintentional chuckle now and then.
I think the best moment is a scene in which Zorro has to leap onto a moving truck from his horse. If you look at the previous post, you'll see I talked about the desert chase from Raiders of the Lost Ark. This serial is where it originally came from.
If you're interested, the whole serial is public domain, and quite easy to find online.
I'll be back tomorrow, where I talk about Republic's follow-up serial, Zorro's Fighting Legion.
Ha-ha! Cliffhanger!
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