''Zorro's Black Whip'' is a 1944 12-chapter

film serial A serial film, film serial (or just serial), movie serial, or chapter play, is a motion picture form popular during the first half of the 20th century, consisting of a series of short subjects exhibited in consecutive order at one theater, ge ...

Republic Pictures Republic Pictures is currently an acquisition-only label owned by Paramount Pictures. Its history dates back to Republic Pictures Corporation, an American film studio that originally operated from 1935 to 1967, based in Los Angeles, California ...

starring

Linda Stirling Linda Stirling (born Louise Schultz; October 11, 1921 – July 20, 1997) was an American showgirl, Model (person), model, and actress. In her later years, she had a second career as a college English professor for more than two decades. She ...

. The film was made after the 1940

20th Century-Fox 20th Century Studios, Inc., formerly 20th Century Fox, is an American film production and distribution company owned by the Walt Disney Studios, the film studios division of the Disney Entertainment business segment of the Walt Disney Com ...

remake of '' The Mark of Zorro'' in order to capitalize on it. Republic was not able to use the character of

Zorro Zorro ( or , Spanish for "fox") is a fictional character created in 1919 by American Pulp magazine, pulp writer Johnston McCulley, appearing in works set in the Pueblo de Los Ángeles in Alta California. He is typically portrayed as a dashin ...

himself, however, and despite the title, the hero(ine) is called The Black Whip throughout. The serial is set in pre-statehood

Idaho Idaho ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest and Mountain states, Mountain West subregions of the Western United States. It borders Montana and Wyoming to the east, Nevada and Utah to the south, and Washington (state), ...

, and involves a fight to prevent and ensure statehood by the villains and heroes respectively. Parts of the serial were reused as

stock footage Stock footage, and similarly, archive footage, library pictures, and file footage is film or video footage that can be used again in other films. Stock footage is beneficial to filmmakers as it saves shooting new material. A single piece of stock ...

to pad out later serials such as '' Don Daredevil Rides Again'' (1951) and '' Man with the Steel Whip'' (1954) – despite the fact that both of those serials had male leads.

Plot

In ''Zorro's Black Whip'' the word

never occurs, but a female who behaves like Don Diego in

fights a cabal of corrupt politicians as "The Black Whip" after her brother (the original Black Whip) is killed. Hammond, owner of the town's

stagecoach A stagecoach (also: stage coach, stage, road coach, ) is a four-wheeled public transport coach used to carry paying passengers and light packages on journeys long enough to need a change of horses. It is strongly sprung and generally drawn by ...

line and a leading citizen on the council, is secretly opposed to

becoming a state—because government protection would destroy the system and organization he has constructed—and conducts raids against citizens and settlers alike to prevent order, while keeping his own identity as the organization's leader secret. The town

marshal Marshal is a term used in several official titles in various branches of society. As marshals became trusted members of the courts of Middle Ages, Medieval Europe, the title grew in reputation. During the last few centuries, it has been used fo ...

is meanwhile powerless to act outside his jurisdiction beyond the town boundary. Randolph Meredith, owner of the town's

newspaper A newspaper is a Periodical literature, periodical publication containing written News, information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray background. Newspapers can cover a wide variety of fields such as poli ...

, as the Black Whip, opposes this scheme to defeat statehood, but one day he is killed after preventing yet another coup. Meredith's sister Barbara, expert with a

bullwhip A bullwhip is a single-tailed whip, usually made of braided leather or nylon, designed as a tool for working with livestock or for competition cracking. Bullwhips are pastoral tools, traditionally used to control livestock in open country. A ...

and

pistol A pistol is a type of handgun, characterised by a gun barrel, barrel with an integral chamber (firearms), chamber. The word "pistol" derives from the Middle French ''pistolet'' (), meaning a small gun or knife, and first appeared in the Englis ...

, dons Randolph's black costume and mask and becomes "The Black Whip" in her brother's place, dealing a blow to Hammond and his gang each time they perform some heinous act in their efforts to keep the town, and their power over it, unchanged. Aided by recently arrived

undercover A cover in foreign, military or police human intelligence or counterintelligence is the ostensible identity and role or position in an infiltrated organization assumed by a covert agent during a covert operation. Official cover In espionage, a ...

US government

agent Agent may refer to: Espionage, investigation, and law *, spies or intelligence officers * Law of agency, laws involving a person authorized to act on behalf of another ** Agent of record, a person with a contractual agreement with an insuran ...

Vic Gordon, Barbara (

) as ''The Black Whip'' is quite obviously female but, even after a bout of wrestling, the villains do not realise they aren't fighting a man. Some reference is made to this in the script, however, when the villains are trying to determine who the Black Whip's secret identity could be: Hammond orders her taken, but the day is saved when Vic Gordon discovers Barbara's secret and removes her from suspicion by appearing in her costume and overcoming her captors. From this point on, despite relinquishing the costume at her insistence that she must continue as the Black Whip, he tends to assume the hero role while Barbara becomes slightly more of a traditional

damsel in distress The damsel in distress is a narrative device in which one or more men must rescue a woman who has been kidnapped or placed in other peril. The "damsel" is often portrayed as beautiful, popular, and of high social status; she is usually depicted ...

, even while she still holds her own in successive violent confrontations with Hammond's henchmen, and more than once saves Vic's life. After the town has finally voted on whether or not to accept statehood, most of Hammond's gang are gunned down while attempting to steal the ballot boxes. Hammond escapes, and secretly trails and confronts Barbara in her cave when she removes her mask. He takes aim, but is struck down by the Black Whip's stallion. The reign of terror has ended. Vic remains with Barbara and the marshal to help maintain peace in the territory.

Cast

as Barbara Meredith, The Black Whip and newspaper proprietrix *

George J. Lewis George J. Lewis (December 10, 1903December 8, 1995) was a Mexican-born actor who appeared in many films and eventually TV series from the 1920s through the 1960s, usually specializing in westerns. He is probably best known for playing Don Aleja ...

as Vic Gordon, a US government agent allied with the Black Whip. In a related role, Lewis later portrayed Don Diego de la Vega/Zorro's father, Don Alejandro de la Vega in the

Walt Disney Walter Elias Disney ( ; December 5, 1901December 15, 1966) was an American animator, film producer, voice actor, and entrepreneur. A pioneer of the Golden age of American animation, American animation industry, he introduced several develop ...

television series ''

''. *

Lucien Littlefield Lucien Littlefield (August 16, 1895 – June 4, 1960) was an American actor who achieved a long career from silent films to the television era. He was noted for his versatility, playing a wide range of roles and already portraying old men befor ...

as "Tenpoint" Jackson, the comic relief newspaper typesetter working with Barbara Meredith *

Francis McDonald Francis McDonald (August 22, 1891 – September 18, 1968) was an American actor whose career spanned 52 years. Early years Born on August 22, 1891, in Bowling Green, Kentucky, McDonald was the son of John Francis McDonald and Catherine Ashlu ...

as Dan Hammond,

villain A villain (also known as a " black hat", "bad guy" or "baddy"; The New Oxford Dictionary of English (1998) – p.126 "baddy (also baddie) noun (pl. -ies) ''informal'' a villain or criminal in a book, film, etc.". the feminine form is villai ...

ous owner of the town's Stagecoach company *

Hal Taliaferro Floyd Taliaferro Alderson (November 13, 1895 – February 10, 1980) was an American film actor who specialized in westerns. After serving in the Great War, he began his career in the era of silent films, when he frequently used the name Wally ...

as Baxter, one of Hammond's henchmen * John Merton as Ed Harris, one of Hammond's henchmen *

Stanley Price Stanley Price (December 31, 1892July 13, 1955) was an American film supporting actor who appeared in over 200 films between 1922 and 1956. He was a charter member of the Screen Actors Guild. Career Price was an actor whose artistic career s ...

as Hedges, Hammond's Clerk-Henchman * John Hamilton * Tom Chatterton * Tom London The surnames of the two lead characters, ''Meredith'' and ''Gordon'', are an in-joke referencing two earlier Republic serials. The character Nyoka the Jungle Girl and her father had the surname Meredith in '' Jungle Girl'', but their last name was Gordon in the semi-sequel '' Perils of Nyoka''.

Production

This serial was put into production, with Linda Stirling as the main star, following the actress' popular performance in '' The Tiger Woman''. ''Zorro's Black Whip'' was budgeted at $134,899 although the final

negative cost Negative cost is the net expense to produce and shoot a film, excluding such expenditures as distribution and promotion. Low-budget movies, for example '' The Blair Witch Project'', can have promotional expenses that are much larger than the ne ...

was $145,251 (a $10,352, or 7.7%, overspend). It was the cheapest Republic serial of 1944. It was filmed between 29 July and 26 August 1944 under the

working title A working title is a preliminary name for a product or project. The usage is especially common in film and TV, gaming, music and publishing. It is often styled in trade publications as (wt) and is synonymous with production title and tentative ...

''The Black Whip''. The serial's production number was 1495. Despite physically wrestling with her, the villains never realize that the very obviously female Black Whip is a woman. Footage from this serial was reused in '' Don Daredevil Rides Again'' and '' Man with the Steel Whip''.

Stunts

* Babe DeFreest as The Black Whip (doubling Linda Stirling) *

Dale Van Sickel Dale Harris Van Sickel (November 29, 1907 – January 25, 1977) was an American college football, basketball and baseball player during the 1920s, who later became a Hollywood motion picture actor and stunt performer for over forty years. Van ...

as Vic Gordon/Rock Heavy Karl/Camp Heavy/Danley (doubling George J. Lewis] * Tom Steele (stuntman), Tom Steele as Baxter/Ed (doubling Hal Taliaferro) * Helen Thurston *Carey Loftin *Cliff Lyons

Special effects

Special effects by Republic's in-house team of the

Lydecker brothers Howard "Babe" Lydecker (June 8, 1911 – September 26, 1969) and Theodore Lydecker (November 7, 1908 – May 25, 1990), billed together as Howard and Theodore Lydecker, were a special effects team primarily working as contract staff members of Re ...

Release

Theatrical

''Zorro's Black Whips official release date is 16 November 1944, although this is actually the date the sixth chapter was made available to film exchanges. The serial was re-released on 8 July 1957 between the similar re-releases of ''

The Purple Monster Strikes ''The Purple Monster Strikes'' is a 1945 Republic Movie serial. It was also released as a Century 66 television film under the title ''D-Day on Mars'' (1966). The original production title for the serial was ''The Purple Shadow Strikes''. The ...

'' and ''

Radar Men from the Moon ''Radar Men from the Moon'' is a 1952 Republic Pictures' 12-chapter movie serial, the first Commando Cody serial starring newcomer George D. Wallace, George Wallace as Cody, Aline Towne as his sidekick Joan Gilbert, and serial veteran Roy Barcr ...

''. The last original Republic serial release was '' King of the Carnival'' in 1955.

Chapter titles

183 minutes = 3h, 2m, 15s #The Masked Avenger (23min 23s) #Tomb of Terror (14min 27s) #Mob Murder (14min 24s) #Detour to Death (14min 24s) #Take Off That Mask! (14min 28s) #Fatal Gold (14min 27s) #Wolf Pack (14min 27s) #The Invisible Victim (14min 26s) – a re-cap chapter #Avalanche (14min 28s) #Fangs of Doom (14min 27s) #Flaming Juggernaut (14min 27s) #Trail of Tyranny (14min 27s) _Source: This was one of two 12-chapter serials released in 1944, along with Linda Stirling's serial debut, '' The Tiger Woman''. It had been Republic's standard pattern to produce two 12-chapter serials and two 15-chapter serials each year since 1938 but 1944 was the last year that occurred. In fact, Republic would only produce two more 15-chapter serials, '' Manhunt of Mystery Island'' and ''

'', both in 1945 and both starring Linda Stirling.

References

External links

* *
Stomp Tokyo review of ''Zorro's Black Whip''

Download or view online

Episodes 2–12 free online
{{Authority control 1944 films 1944 Western (genre) films American Western (genre) films American black-and-white films 1940s English-language films Films directed by Spencer Gordon Bennet Films set in Idaho Republic Pictures film serials Zorro films Articles containing video clips American sequel films Films based on works by Johnston McCulley Films with screenplays by Joseph F. Poland 1940s American films English-language Western (genre) films