a5c7b9f00b It's 1865 and the telegraph is heading west. George Crane, wanting to keep law and order out of his territory, is out to stop the construction. The engineer on the job is Ken Mason and he is the grandson of Zorro. As Crane sends his men or Indians to stop the work, Mason repeatedly puts on the Zorro costume and rides to the rescue in this 12-chapter serial. Clayton Moore (Ken Mason), Pamela Blake (Rita White), Roy Barcroft (Hank Kilgore), Gene Roth (George Crane), George J. Lewis (Moccasin), Dale Van Sickel (Mike Hodge), Alex Montoya (Yellow Hawk), Marshall Reed (Fowler), Steve Clark (Jonathan White), John Crawford (Mulvaney), Steve Farrell (Marshal Simpson), Holly Bane (Larkin), George Blystone (Dan Foster), George Chesebro (leading townsman), Roger Creek (Mike, wagon shotgun), John Daheim (thug at cave), Frank O'Connor (doctor), Jack O'Shea (freight agent), Bob Roninson (winch operator), Tom Steele (thug with Indians).<br/><br/>Director: FRED C. BRANNON. Screenplay: Royal K. Cole, William Lovely, Sol Shor. Based on a character derived from Johnston McCulley. Photography: John MacBurnie. Film editor: DeWitt McCann. Art director: Fred A. Ritter. Set decorators: John McCarthy, jr and James Redd. Make-up: Bob Mark. Music director: Stanley Wilson. Unit manager: Roy Wade. Special effects: Howard Lydecker and Theodore Lydecker. Optical effects: Consolidated Film Industries. Sound recording: Dick Tyler, sr. RCA Sound System. Producer: Franklin Adreon. Executive producer: Herbert J. Yates.<br/><br/>Copyright 1949 and 1959 by Republic Pictures Corp. No recorded New York opening. U.S. release: 30 June 1959. 69 minutes. <br/><br/>SYNOPSIS: A descendant of Zorro helps a lady lay a telegraph line across hostile Indian territory, despite opposition from a band of outlaws.<br/><br/>NOTES: This is a cut-down of Republic's 12-chapter serial of the same name, originally released in 1949.<br/><br/>COMMENT: Of minor interest to Lone Ranger and Zorro devotees, this is pretty humdrum stuff, despite generous slices of solid action lifted from Republic's 1943 serial "Daredevils of the West". <br/><br/>Clayton Moore enacts the masked avenger, whilst Pamela Blake makes an attractive heroine. And it's good to see Roy Barcroft in a major role as the not over-bright heavy. (It's well-spoken blacksmith Gene Stutenroth who gets all the nasty ideas. Outlaw Roy just puts them into effect). "Ghost of Zorro" is a pretty good serial so I will give it a rating of six. But there are a few things wrong with it that need to be noted. The main thing I found wrong with it were the night shots and shots in caves, etc. Could not make out much of the detail and could not see what the characters were doing. In the 1940s, especially in Roy Rogers movies, "night" scenes were actually shot during the day in bright sunlight. A red filter was used making the scene look like it was a moonlit night. Very effective. Don't know why that was not used in this serial. As noted by another reviewer two chapters had the same "cliffhanger" endings. As far as scenes being used from other serials that was done in making several serials as well as other movies in the 1940s.
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