Zorro - on Archive.org et al.,

 Salvete Omnes,

Don Diego de la Vega aka Zorro

a little off topic- a fictional American character of Zorro.  Zorro is a masked horseman riding a fabulous steed and vanquishing evil, greed and defending the poor, women and children... 

The original 1924 book -  The Mark of Zorro. was originally serialized in five parts in issues of All-Story Weekly dated between August 9 and September 6, 1919. Filmed first in 1920 and again in 1940 as The Mark of Zorro and serialized for television in 1957 as Zorro by Walt Disney Productions. 

Over 40 films have been made since 1920AD.  Many books and plays written, including comic books etc.

Douglas Fairbanks in Mask of Zorro (1920)

The Zorro-theme has been resurrected in Poland during the current presidential elections campaign, with the state police allegedly chasing a person dressed as Zorro and  exercising his right to free speech, guaranteed under the Polish constitution, during the political meeting in Tarnow, Poland-EU. Which led to a creation of many memes eg this one.

Ad rem, I do like very much all Zorro films and stories, enjoyed many novel and especially the 1940 American film with Tyrone Power,  the Italian 1975 film with Alain Delon, and the 1998 & 2005 American films - great equestrian scenes in all of them. 

So I would like to point your wagons to Archive World Library where you can read and enjoy old Zorro comics... and novels and films... 

ps Libribox has the audiobook - Mark of Zorro.

Valete

Napoleon- the 2023 movie by R.Scott - 2 reviews in English & Polish etc

 Salvete Omnes,

today a little about the new Napoleon-themed film production directed by Ridley Scott.
so we waited for this latest attempt at the famous French Corsican who waged war, was a law giver and modernized the world around him.
For us, Polish people around the world, Napoleon also may represent our forlorn hope of restoring the Polish statehood - paradoxically this hope was realized by his enemy, tsar Alexander of Russia, who in fact created the Polish state, the so called Congress Kingdom of Poland, and crowned himself as our king  in 1815, in spite of the resistance from our friends -  Great Britain, Prussia and Austrian Empire. 

Ad rem, Mr. Scott directed a feature film, supposedly based on Napoleon's life and times, bu this motion picture is a real biopic? 

So I offer you two reviews for your pleasure:
First review is in English - from HistoryLegends of Yt channel of the same name. Among many things,  the author, History Legends, analyzes the historic battles, from Toulon to Waterloo,  allegedly 'portrayed' in  his feature film.

The second one is the more scholarly review, via interview, by prof. Dariusz Nawrot of Silesian University,  a Polish professional historian and Napoleonic period reencator, author of many scholarly articles and books, done for the Polish National Radio. You can translate the review via Google translate, which does quite decent translating job from English to Polish. 

Like historians Helena Schrader et al in their learned opinions about the other film by Mr. Scott,  Kingdom of Heaven via Real Crusade History-YT (part 1-one & 2-two on R C H  channel ) ,  here prof. Nawrot is critical and precise in his review.

so could a horse laugh here - it does seem so... 
ps, 

now, if you wanna see & read an interesting take on the Napoleonic wars you could obtain a French comic novel - The Battle (eg from Amazon) which is a story drawn by Spanish artist Gill after being adapted from a novel by Rambaud.

Napoleonic soldier and author of this painting, the battle of Pyramids, Louis-Francois Lejeune is the protagonist of the mentioned French comics 

enjoy

Valete

Легенда о Коловрате

Salve,
I just saw this preview on youtube - u la la...
I have seen a number of Russian films on the Kievan Rus and the Mongols, including the animated Knyaz Vladimir.
I enjoyed the Russian version of the Chinggis Khan story (after the Secret History of the Mongols) and  the movie The Horde, thus it appears that  this movie Легенда о Коловрате (The Legend of Kolovrat)  is looking like an awesome adventure for many an armchair warrior  and film aficionado - :) .

The story came down to us from the old Ruthenian epic titled Повесть о разорении Рязани Батыем (The Tale of the Destruction of Riazan).

The plot takes place during the Mongol invasion of the vast Kievan Rus (this was not Russia), when the Mongol armies under Batu Khan destroyed and subjugated all of the Kievan Rus principalities between 1237-40, making the surviving principalities their vassals.

The storyline is more or less about a desperate revenge raid led by the Riazan warlord Evpaty Kolovrat, a Rus bogatyr/vityaz, who went after Batu Khan, of the Golden Horde, and his army. The culminating point or the climax of this story was the duel between Kolovrat and a Mongol champion, Khostovrul, whom Kolovrat killed but the Rus champion was also killed later on. But his heroic death led to Batu recognizing his valor and bravery, and thus making his memory persist and spirit survive amongst the conquered Rus.

artful Russian animation on the same story.
enjoy

Some interesting video links

Salve,
just some videos to share with you all 
 Mr. Sheperd Paine, passed away in August 2015, was a great master of historical miniature art - and there is this nice tribute to His art available on youtube for all to see and enjoy.
Keep in mind that:
 'In that spirit and per his[Sheperd Paine]  wishes, the MMSI has established the Shep Paine Education Fund, which is accepting tax-deductible donations in his honor to continue his invaluable work as an educator and proselytizer for the art of miniatures via classes, seminars, and other projects. Contributions to this dedicated fund can be made via PayPal at MMSIChicagoShow@gmail.com or by mail to The Shep Paine Education Fund care of MMSI Treasurer Tom Surlak, 3136 Secretariat Dr., Aurora, IL 60602.'

Several outstanding horsearchers from Polskie Stowarzyszenie Lucznictwa Konnego ( Matuesz Gieryn et Michał Sanczenko, Michał Szubski i Michał Tomaszewski ) and stuntmen from Poland took part in the Bollywood production titled Mirzya - teaser trailer here
this the interview with them (in Polish) - they rode Kathiawari horses in the film - filmed at more than 3000meters above sea levels altitude,  (differences between Kathiawari and Marwari horses in this article)
From M. Horace Hayes - Points of Horse (circa 1893):

Caveat! if you watch the second video provided on the page in this link, then you could see the world's best horsearcher Anna Sokólska in action :) (her saddle seen in the video was made by Mr. Plachecki - link to his shop )
enjoy

''Wspaniałe stulecie'' - wywiad

Salve,
lubię czytać o historii Turcji osmańskiej, zwłaszcza aspekty związane ze sztukami walki, wojskowością,  sztukami pięknymi oraz  o koniach tureckich i jeździectwie Osmanów. Te tematy gościły już wiele razy na naszym blogu. Ale kwestie jeździectwa i koni we współczesnej Turcji nie były zbyt częstym tematem u nas. Niecodzienna produkcja filmowa zmieniła na chwilę ten trend.

Mianowicie telewizja turecka nakręciła serial historyczny zatytułowany 'Wspaniałe stulecie', na  kanwie dziejów Imperium Osmańskiego  podczas panowania słynnego sułtana osmańskiego Sulejmana zwanego Wspaniałym i jego żony Roksolany Hurrem.

Dla miłośników koni i jeździectwa ciekawym aspektem produkcji tego serialu jest udział polskich speców od jeździectwa filmowego pod wodza Mateusza Gieryna, znanego na świecie i nagradzanego na konkursach łuczniczych łucznika konnego i trenera koni, z którym można przeczytać sobie wywiad na blogu Styk kultur -  oto link.

Życzę milej lektury :)