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Amazon.com essential video: Dashing Errol Flynn is the definitive Robin Hood in the most gloriously swashbuckling version of the legendary story. Warner Brothers reunited Michael Curtiz, their top-action director, with the winning team of Flynn and Olivia de Havilland (Maid Marian) and perennial villain Basil Rathbone as the aristocratic Sir Guy of Gisbourne, and pulled out all stops for the production. It became their costliest film to date, a grandly handsome, glowing Technicolor adventure set to a stirring, Oscar-winning score by Erich Wolfgang Korngold. The decadent Prince John (a smoothly conniving Claude Rains) takes advantage of King Richard's absence to tax the country into poverty but meets his match in the medieval guerrilla rebel Robin Hood and his Merry Men of Sherwood Forest, who rise up and, to quote a cliché coined by the film, "steal from the rich and give to the poor." Stocky Alan Hale Sr. plays Robin's loyal friend Little John (a part he played in Douglas Fairbanks's silent version), Eugene Palette the portly Friar Tuck, and Melville Cooper the bumbling Sheriff of Nottingham. Flynn's confidence and cocky charm makes for a perfect Robin Hood, and his easygoing manner is a marvelous counterpoint to Rathbone's regal bearing and courtly diction. The film climaxes in their rousing battle-to-the-finish sword fight, a magnificently choreographed scene highlighted by Curtiz's inventive use of shadows cast upon the castle walls. --Sean Axmaker Customer Reviews: Rating: 
Date: 2008-07-07
Classic Family Fun
This is a wonderful classic adventure film, which can be enjoyed by the whole family despite the fact a number of persons meet their end by the sword or bow and arrows of Robin Hood. The action scenes are well staged but there is little in the way of blood spilled on the silver screen. Errol Flynn does a superb job of filling the role of the hero and the other actors are also well cast and rise to the occasion.
As for my criticism, Robin seems a little too over confident at times during the situations he places himself in but I guess being familiar with the script helped Errol with this point. For someone who can split an arrow in half with his own from many yards away it is also difficult to believe that Robin could not recognize King Richard from a few feet away. Finally, some of the costumes seem more suited for a high school play.
If you can overlook these latter points and just going along for the ride I am sure you will enjoy this film. Rating: 
Date: 2008-07-05
Glorious Film in a Spectacular Presentation
Warner Brothers has gone all out in theit DVD presentation of 1938's The Adventures of Robin Hood starring Errol Flynn and Olivia DeHavilland. Robin Hood is one of the greatest examples of Technicolor film making from Hollywood's Golden Age. The great thing about this film is that at 70 years old it does not feel dated. It is an hour and forty minutes of pure escapism. What you see is what you get. There are no hidden agendas no subtexts just simple romance and swashbuckling adventure.
The film was perfectly cast with a young Flynn as the lead but kudos need to be given also to Basil Rathbone, Claude Rains, and Alan Hale. The score by Erich Wolfgang Korngold won the Academy Award that year and is still a great example of how effective scoring enhances a film experience. The direction by Michael Curtiz and William Keighley is crisp and strong.
The highlight of the presentation is Warner's selection of extras that really places the film in perspective. There is an audio commentary by Rudy Behlmer that is one of the best that I've heard. Included is Leonard Maltin's Warner Night at the Movies 1938 which attemps to present the film as it would have been back then with trailers, short subjects and cartoons. The package includes the hour long documentary Technicolor Glorious Technicolor that gives an insiders view of the film process.
This is one of those classic films that needs to be seen and Warner Brothers is to be complemented for putting together such a great package. Rating:
Date: 2008-06-04
Errol Flynn - The Actor
What can I add to what has already been said about this film. But, there is some perspective I would like to give regarding Mr. Flynn.
Errol Flynn was not regarded as a good actor by many people. He never received an Oscar but was a much better actor than he got credit for. How many people could have played this role? When you look at Flynn's career, Captain Blood, The Sea Hawk especially, but also his later roles, he was a very good actor who was just not given the opportunity to move beyond that style. When he did Elizabeth and Essex (with Bette Davis), she didn't want him because she said he was not an actor. I totally disagreed with that. He was good. Of course, in Robin Hood, he had some very good people around him like Basil Rathbone, Claude Rains (John Gieguld's teacher at RADA), Olivia (who was an extremely good actress besides good looking) and Paulette as Friar Tuck.
The music was great, the script was great but what made this movie was Errol Flynn. He was the center of the picture and he carried it. Of course, it was an ensemble picture, but Flynn was very good. He was a natural actor. In Charge of the Light Brigade, or even Santa Fe Trail, he was much better than he was given credit for. I think because, like Robert Mitchum, he was never caught acting. There are actors like that and he was one of them. Curtiz, the director, saw this in him and it is no coincidence that he directed him in his greatest performances.
An especially good scene in the film is where Errol Flynn enters the castle in the major opening scene. Cagney? I don't think so. It took someone who not only had the look but the ability to project that look from inside the character. Not only did he do it, he did it well.
As movie historians know, Errol Flynn did not like the way he fenced in the Sea Hawk. He took lessons and became very good. Being a good fencer is a staple for British classical actors, but Flynn really had to learn and he did it well. Unlike Richard Greene (who played Robin Hood in the TV series and was captain of his school's fencing team), Flynn took it to heart that he looked like an amateur next to Basil Rathbone (who was a great fencer) in his first film.
Although Errol Flynn's personal life matched his life on stage, and he died young because of his lifestyle, one only has to think of Robin Hood and know that he was born to play this role, and it would be this role that keep him alive for years after his career was over. Rating:
Date: 2008-05-25
The Best still
Although the film is dated to the 30's its great fun and you really, really feel the chemistry between Errol Flynn and Olivia de Havilland. This film set the standard for all Robin Hoods that followed. Absolutely Great. Rating:
Date: 2008-05-24
Fun and Adventure Excapism
Certainly those times were not this good but this is such fantastic escapism and fun. The golden days of Hollywood make virtue look like a grand time on a large scale. |
