The Dryden will screen The Mark of Zorro (Fred Niblo, U.S. 1920, 107 min., 35mm) with live piano by Philip C. Carli.

Douglas Fairbanks, the screen's first action superstar, stars as Don Diego Vega—aka Zorro—the witty, sword-wielding masked champion of the oppressed in old Spanish California. This first screen adaptation finds Vega returning from Spain, only to bristle at the tactics of the tyrannical Governor Alvarado. As Zorro, Vega steals from the rich and gives to the poor, while winning the heart of his oblivious fiancée. The enormous success of Zorro paved the way for a series of more smash hit swashbucklers starring Fairbanks, like Robin Hood, The Thief of Baghdad, and The Black Pirate.

[source: George Eastman Museum calendar, 2019-Apr-8]