California Gov. Don Manuel de Paredes has had Zorro locked in a cell for 15 years.
And he’s blackmailed himself into a pending marriage to lovely Virginia de Santa Anna thanks to the fact that her father is on the verge of financial ruin.
Life should be good for the governor.
Problem is, a new masked avenger yielding whip and sword has been harassing his troops and righting wrongs committed by his henchmen.
Turns out the very night he captured Zorro years earlier, the governor orphaned two young children, Maria and her adopted brother Diego.
Zorro saved Diego’s life that night. Now Diego works as a priest’s assistant by day, but takes on the role of Zorro whenever an injustice requires his attention.
And if the governor’s men are having trouble finding the new Zorro, the new Zorro has no trouble finding Virginia de Santa Anna.
When bandits attack her carriage on its way to the governor’s palace, Zorro shows up to save the day.
Virginia, dreading marriage to the much older governor, is intrigued by Zorro from that moment forward.
So intrigued, the governor might use her to set his next trap for the masked avenger.
Everyone’s soon in for a surprise. Because the Zorro rotting away in prison, the man who thought his wife and young son were killed by the governor’s men when they torched his home years earlier, is the father of the new Zorro.
Guy Stockwell as Zorro, smiling maniacally as he prepares to dole out vengeance to the governor’s soldiers in Sword of Zorro (1963)
Antonio Prieto as Gov. Dan Manuel de Parades, attempting to change the attitude fiance Virginia de Santa Anna (Gloria Milland) has toward Zorro in Sword of Zorro (1963)
Review:
This Zorro outing benefits from a more complex script than most and solid cinematrography. The capture of the original Zorro is especially well done.
Guy Stockwell looks a bit goofy grinning wide in is Zorro mask as he fends off seemingly insurmountable hoards of government troops, all the while seriously injuring no one.
But Gloria Milland helps save the day as a leading lady who’s as defiant to the governor as she can be given her situation.
Spanish actress Mikaela plays grown up Maria. She now sings and dances in a tavern frequented by the governor’s soldiers, fending off advances of many admirers. She’s still close to Diego. And she’s the reason the Spanish title of the movie translates to The Three Swords of Zorro.
Guy Stockwell as Don Diego Guadaloupe, realizing the governor’s men might be close to figuring out his secret in Sword of Zorro (1963)
Mikaela (aka Mikaela Wood) as Maria, asking Virginia, the governor’s bride to be, for help freeing her brother Diego from prison in Sword of Zorro (1963)
Directed by:
Ricardo Blasco
as Richard Blasc
Cast:
Guy Stockwell … Don Diego Ortiz / Zorro
Gloria Milland … Virginia de Santa Ana
Mikaela… Maria
as Mikaela Wood
Antonio Prieto … Gov. Dan Manuel de Paredes
Franco Fantasia … Col. Martinez
Raphael Vaquero … Juan Ortiz
Giuseppe Addobbati … Marguis de Santa Ana
as John McDouglas
Juan Luis Galiardo … Felipe
as Robert Dean
Manrico Melchiorre … Lieutenant
Julio Cesar … Diego as a child
Felix Fernandez … Padre Jeronimo
Pilar Gomez Ferrer … Nodriza, Santa Ana governess
Anna Petrocchi … Anna
Runtime: 92 min.
aka:
Three Swords of Zorro
Le tre spade di Zorro
Las tres espadas del Zorro
Raphael Vaquero as Juan Ortiz, the original Zorro, bracing himself as government troops prepare to storm the home in which he’s taken refuge in Sword of Zorro (1963)
Julio Cesar as young Diego, watching in horror as government troops force their way into his home in their search for Zorro in Sword of Zorro (1963)
Memorable lines:
Sorry, I watched a foreign language version of this film.
Franco Fantasia as the colonel and Antonio Prieto as Gov. Don Manuel de Parades, planning a new scheme to capture Zorro in Sword of Zorro (1963)
Giuseppe Addobbati as Marguis de Santa Ana, the man whose financial troubles leads to the engagement of his daughter Virginia in Sword of Zorro (1963)
Trivia:
The brother of actor Dean Stockwell, Guy Stockwell was 29 when this film was released. He appeared in about 30 films, dozens of TV shows and starred in two other Westerns, as Buffalo Bill in a remake of “The Plainsman” (1966) and in “The Gatling Gun” (1971).
Gloria Milland appeared in several of the early Euro Westerns, though seldom as the primary love interest in spite of the fact that she was in her mid-20s when the Spaghetti Western craze began. This marked her first Euro Western. Her final film was the 1967 Spaghetti Western “Hate for Hate,” in which she played the wife of John Ireland’s character. She died of cancer in 1989 at age 48.
The same year this film was released, Spanish actress Mikaela played Maria Huertas, the saloon girl Richard Harrison once loved in “Gunfight at Red Sands,” one of the early Spaghetti Westerns. Ricardo Blasco also directed that film. Her final film was another Zorro movie, “Red Hot Zorro” from 1972.
Antonio Prieto as Gov. Don Manuel Parades, threatening the life of young Diego in order to take Zorro into custody in Sword of Zorro (1963)
Raphael Vaquero as Juan Ortiz, a man who’s been rotting away in prison for 15 years before coming face to face with the son he believed had died years earlier in Sword of Zorro (1963)
Anna Petrocchi as Anna, Virginia’s maid, trying to relay a warning to Zorro by tracking down Diego at the mission in Sword of Zorro (1963)
Anna Petrocchi as Ann, Gloria Milland as Virginia de Santa Anna and Pilar Gomez Ferrer as her governess, reacting as Zorro arrives to chase away bandits in Sword of Zorro (1963)
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