Ghost of the Mission

Season 1 - Episode 4

Airdate: 10/31/57
Starring: Guy Williams (Zorro and Don Diego)
With: Britt Lomond (Capitan Monastario), Henry Calvin (Sergeant Garcia), Romney Brent (Padre Felipe), Gene Sheldon (Bernardo), George J. Lewis (Don Alejandro), Jan Arvan (Nacho Torres)
Directed by: Norman Foster
Teleplay by: Teleplay by: Norman Foster. Based on the Zorro Stories by Johnston McCulley
Associate Producer: William H. Anderson
Music: William Lava
Title Song Zorro: George Bruns, Norman Foster
Art Director: Marvin Aubrey Davis
Photography: Gordon Avil, A.S.C.
Film Editors: Roy Livingston, A.C.E., Hugh Chaloupka
Set Decoration: Emile Kuri, Hal Gausman
Costumer: Chuck Keehne
Make-up: Pat McNalley
Sound: Robert O. Cook
Assistant Director: Vincent McEveety
Production Coordinator: Louis Debney
Acknowledgement: The producer is grateful to the Franciscan Padres of Mission San Luis Rey at Oceanside, California.
Production #5854

The Story Line

Monastario has a new plan to capture Torres. He claims a captured Indian was part of a plot to raid the mission, telling the prisoner that he will kill him and his family if he tells the truth. The fake confession gives Monastario the excuse to use his soldiers to occupy the church for its "protection". Hoping to drive Torres out of his hiding place, Monastario sends his men to surround the mission with orders not to let any food or water into the church.

Zorro tries to foil the plan by sneaking food to the prisoner but instead he narrowly escapes being caught himself. He then decides to use psychology on the soldiers by telling Garcia a tale about the ghost of a mad monk that haunts the mission. That night, Zorro and Bernardo scare away the soldiers by impersonating the "ghost". Monastario is left alone when his men flee, seemingly under attack by Indians just as he had predicted in the faked confession.

Production Notes

  • The working title of this episode was The Secret of the Mission.
  • This episode marks the first time the credits were added for the theme song.
  • The fiendish laugh of the mad monk was taken from the Headless Horseman sequence of the film Ichabod & Mr. Toad.

Scene Images

Monastario orders an Indian whipped
Monastario orders an Indian whipped so he can pretend to extract a confession from his hapless victim.
Monastario orders the lancers to the mission
Claiming that the Indian revealed a plot to attack the mission, Monastario orders a confused Garcia to take the lancers there to protect it.
Diego tries to teach Bernardo to play the guitar
Meanwhile, unaware of this latest turn of events, Diego is attempting to teach Bernardo to play the guitar in case he ever has to cover for Diego while he is away as Zorro.
Diego visits Torres at the mission
Diego then rides to the mission to check on Torres. At first, all seems well.
Monastario arrives at the mission
The calm doesn't last long as Monastario arrives and orders his men to surround the mission.
Padre Felipe is worried Monastario will violate the sanctuary of the mission
Padre Felipe and Diego worry that Monastario has decided to violate the law of sanctuary and seize Torres by force.
Monastario claims the Indians will soon attack
Monastario instead tells them of the purported Indian uprising, with the captive Indian too afraid to tell the truth.
Diego plans to sneak food into the mission for Torres
Diego tells Bernardo that he will have to sneak food and water to Torres to defeat Monastario's latest plan.
Monastario confiscates the food
The padre attempts to take food to Torres, but Monastario adds insult to injury by confiscating the food and then eating it.
Zorro sneaks into the church
Zorro sneaks into the church past a dozing Garcia and hungry commandante.
Zorro is forced to flee
A guard spots Zorro and he is forced to flee by sliding down a rope from the bell tower.
Bernardo plays the guitar, pretending to be Diego
Back at the hacienda, a frantic Bernardo tries to play the guitar while Alejandro pounds on the door, demanding that Diego stop making a racket so he can sleep.

Scene Images

Diego gets home just in time
Diego gets home just in time to apologize to his annoyed father, who once again expresses his disappointment at Diego for not confronting Monastario.
Diego realizes he needs a new plan
Diego recounts the nights adventures and says he will have to use brains rather than brawn to win this challenge.
Zorro rides to the mission
Diego starts his newest plan by riding to the mission the next morning.
Diego tells Garcia the legend of the Mad Monk
There he casually tells Garcia the tale of the ghost of a mad monk who haunts the mission late at night.
Garcia is terrified
Garcia is terrified to learn that the monk was hung from the very tree he is sitting under.
Garcia tells the others about the Mad Monk
Although he promised to keep the story secret, Garcia predictably tells the other soldiers about the monk, and soon the whole patrol is jittery.
The monk appears!
Much to Garcia's horror, a faceless apparition arises from the bushes that night, moaning and clanking chains.
Monastario wants answers
Monastario rushes up and demands to know what is going on.
Monastario is knocked out
The commandante is rendered unconscious by a flower pot dropped from the tree by a hiding Zorro.
Zorro wins again
When he recovers Monastario gets another surprise, for a faked Indian attack results in three arrows striking nearby in the shape of a "Z".

Publicity Photos

All captions are from the Disney syndication publicity kit. Click on the photos for larger versions.

Zorro stops the whipping

The slashing whip of Zorro (Guy Williams) wrests the rifle from a lancer's hand, as he comes to the rescue of Padre Felipe (Romney Brent) and Torres (Jan Arvan).

Escape from the church

The agile Zorro (Guy Williams) slides down a rope from the mission belfry to make his escape from Monastario's lancers.

Down the rope to safety

The agile Zorro (Guy Williams) slides down a rope from the mission belfry to make his escape from Monastario's lancers.

Preview of this episode

"Join us next week, as Zorro continues his fight to save the famous Mission San Gabriel"

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