The rather bland hero played by John Derek is overshadowed by the colorful villainy of Anthony Quinn who has assassinated Derek's father so he can take over his position as governor, setting Derek on the path to revenge. Derek disguises himself as the masked abenger, utilizing a ridiculous phony accent where I couldn't decide whether or not he was trying to imitate Boris or Natasha since the accident doesn't match anyone else in the film. The accent somehow disappears later. Jody Lawrence is the rather bland leading lady whose voice really gets in the way making her believable in this time period and in the setting. Then there's Arnold Moss has the sneering valet to Quinn, spying around every Corridor and never being caught, just as he did later in the epic "Salome" as Judith Anderson's evil assistant.
Good use of recycled sets from all of Colombia's previously released swashbucklers, but it's a basically formula story that miscasting only makes worse, unlike "The Prince Who was a Thief" at Universal which turned ridiculous casting into a droll comedy. Quinn starts off seemingly good, utilizing the statue of the Count of Monte Cristo to proclaim justice for all before he uses his position to get into his friend the governor's office to shoot him in cold blood. His performance is free of the typical mustache twirling of similar movie villains, making him much more interesting than Derek who also seems like he's in thecwring century and continent. Enough action to move this along at a brisk pace, but easily forgettable B matinee cheese.
Good use of recycled sets from all of Colombia's previously released swashbucklers, but it's a basically formula story that miscasting only makes worse, unlike "The Prince Who was a Thief" at Universal which turned ridiculous casting into a droll comedy. Quinn starts off seemingly good, utilizing the statue of the Count of Monte Cristo to proclaim justice for all before he uses his position to get into his friend the governor's office to shoot him in cold blood. His performance is free of the typical mustache twirling of similar movie villains, making him much more interesting than Derek who also seems like he's in thecwring century and continent. Enough action to move this along at a brisk pace, but easily forgettable B matinee cheese.