La maschera del vendicatore

Italy in 1848 is the setting for MASK OF THE AVENGER, which borrows heavily from every Zorro-like swashbuckler or "Count of Monte Cristo" film ever made. Columbia's fledgling stars, JOHN DEREK and JODY LAWRENCE play the romantic leads with ANTHONY QUINN lending his presence to a colorful supporting role. He was on the verge of his own big-time stardom.

Derek is the masked aristocrat who must engage in swordplay with military tyrant Quinn. Although given Technicolor and some appropriate sets, it has the look of a second-rate epic indistinguishable from a dozen other such stories.

Nor is it any help that JODY LAWRENCE is a strictly one-note actress who brings nothing but a pretty face to her role as the lovely heroine.

JOHN DEREK fares slightly better but it's no more than a cardboard, by-the-numbers sort of adventure done countless times in more inventive ways. This one stirs up only a moderate amount of interest and can be easily forgotten.

Obviously designed to give Derek's teen-age fans a thrill since he gets solo billing over the title.