Overview
Zara Montalve, half Spanish and half America, returns to her native California in time to see her parents murdered for their hacienda and gold by Sheriff Jim Harding and his gang. Posing as Lola Belmont, an American visiting from Detroit, teams up with Joaquin Murietta, posing as Carlos Del Rio, to form a Robin-Hood type band that takes vengeance on the gang and restores stolen gold to its rightful owners, aided by militia leader Dan Hinsdale.
Reviews
When her parents are murdered before her very eyes, “Zara” (Barbara Britton) vows revenge but she has little wherewithal to carry out that threat! She decides to take a more subtle tack, though, and arriving in the town disguised as a travelling American she quickly finds an ally in the local “Murietta” (Phillip Reed) and together they assemble a group of vigilantes all of whom have an axe to grind with the perpetrators of numerous crimes visited upon the Spanish community whose assets are to be seized or stolen by the newly arrived and avaricious American townsfolk. Now we know all along who the baddies are, and after about fifteen minutes this just becomes an episode of “Zorro” only with a feisty female antagonist. The production is basic and the acting ridiculously static from start to finish, especially the terribly wooden Britton and her partner in crime Reed who go through the swashbuckling motions as if someone were calling 1-2-3, 1-2-3 from out of vision. The title offers excitement, the execution - well not so much.