The following was printed in the Sunday November 2 New York Times "Holiday Movies" section, in an article entitled Favorites From Some Insiders, which has five Hollywood filmmakers talking about favorite holiday movies. To read the entire article, go to:

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/02/movies/moviesspecial/02fave.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=mark%20of%20zorro%20catherine%20hardwicke&st=cse&oref=slogin

And now the Zorro story:

THE MARK OF ZORRO (1940)

My favorite holiday film experience was in the small Mexican town of Yelapa, south of Puerto Vallarta. I was in architecture school at the University of Texas at Austin, and my friend Suby and I had traveled south for Christmas break, taking a “tourist” boat across the Bay of Banderas. The funky old boat held only about 50 people, but there was a D.J. who thought he was on a Princess Cruise — he loved coaxing the gringos into dancing. He shared his surefire secret to a good life: “Move your bonbon and be happy.” (It turns out he was right. If you say his line and actually move your bonbon, you pretty much have to smile.)

After about an hour, we arrived at a remote fishing village without electricity or automobiles. Suby and I set up our tent on the beach under the coconut trees. We swam and hiked during the day, and at night the jungle roads were lighted with candelaria. We heard they were showing a movie near the church, so we hiked up the hill and sat on wooden benches in a tiny dirt plaza. We watched as two guys hung a sheet on the side of the building. A projector hooked up to a generator started playing the 1940 black-and-white “Mark of Zorro,” with Tyrone Power.

The flickering images drew the townspeople like moths — the benches filled up — everyone was riveted to the “screen.” The locals were especially amused to see the Mexicans speaking lines in English — “Let’s go!,” “Get ’em!” — which were then subtitled back into Spanish. The highlight of the film, which had the entire village howling with laughter, was when a fleeing “peasant” got whipped by a villain on horseback — and his pants fell down.

CATHERINE HARDWICKE, director of "Twilight," set to open Nov. 21.

Thanks for sharing this with us, Peachtreegal.

I hope your hand's much better, too!

(This little smiley needs a Zorro hat!)

You never know where a Tyrone Power anecdote will pop up.:)

And yes, the hand is 99 percent better so the translations will resume as soon as I find time. It is BUSY at work and at home!