Yesterday I posted the sword fight from the 1920 version of ‘The Mark Of Zorro’ starring Douglas Fairbanks. Today I’ve jumped up twenty years to show you the same fight as staged by director Rouben Mamoulian in his 1940 remake. In this version, Tyrone Power faces down Basil Rathbone, who appears to be doing most of his own stunts–the scene is much less cutty and gimmicked up then the fight from ‘The Sea Hawk’ which I posted Monday. But while it’s a distinct improvement over the earlier version, I miss a musical score accompanying it–sword fights just scream for some of the rousing swashbuckling stuff that Erich Korngold, Alfred Newman and others slathered onto the soundtracks. Power is good-humored (like Flynn) and you can’t help but loathe Rathbone, even without knowing the plot.  This seems to be one of the keys to a good sword fight–one sympathetic (and usually dashingly good-humored) player versus a far too serious, self-regarding enemy. More swordsmanship to come…