Don Q, Son of Zorro (1925)

Director: Donald Crisp
Writer: Jack Cunningham, based on the novel Don Q’s Love Story by K. & Hesketh Prichard
Stars: Douglas Fairbanks, Mary Astor, Jack McDonald and Donald Crisp

Index: That's a Wrap!

It’s a long while since I’ve seen the original The Mark of Zorro, a Douglas Fairbanks vehicle based on the first appearance of Zorro, a short story called The Curse of Capistrano, published a single year earlier. Zorro came quickly to film.

However, this is only a sequel in name, as it was based on a Don Q novel instead, a Spanish character called Don Quebranta Huesos, who first appeared in 1904, so predated Zorro. Don Q’s Love Story was the first Don Q novel after a couple of short story collections, all written by a mother and son writing team.

Here, due to Hollywood story manipulation, Don Quebranta Huesos becomes Don Cesar de Vega, son of Don Diego de Vega, now formally outed as Zorro. He’s a Californian of Spanish blood, though almost the entire story unfolds in Spain, with young Don Cesar visiting “for a period of travel and study”, as per a tradition for eldest de Vega sons.

The Great Impostor (1960)

Director: Robert Mulligan
Writer: Liam O’Brien, based on the book by Robert Crichton
Stars: Tony Curtis, Edmond O'Brien, Arthur O'Connell, Gary Merrill, Joan Blackman, Raymond Massey, Robert Middleton and Karl Malden

Index: 2025 Centennials.

Like many, I thoroughly enjoyed Catch Me If You Can, the 2002 movie with Tom Hanks and Leonardo DiCaprio. It was fiction but based on the true story of a ballsy conman called Frank Abagnale, Jr. who became different people to get what he wanted. Well, partly true, because many doubts have been cast on the veracity of his claims and I can see why. Some of them do seem to have been borrowed from this film.

This is another true story about a different ballsy conman who became different people, a man called Ferdinand Waldo Demara, Jr. As far as I can tell, it hasn’t been debunked and yet it came first by half a century. Tony Curtis plays Demara, and he’s called him his favourite role from a long and distinguished career.

While Abagnale did what he did for money, Demara seems to have done what he did for a much better reason: to help people. Well, that and because he simply can’t grasp why anyone has to settle for less than they’re worth, just to comply with society’s rules. He learns that as a child when his father loses his small chain of movie theatres then is hired back as a simple projectionist. It isn’t right, he thinks.