Robin and the Mythical Merry Men (With Marian)

The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938) – The legendary English outlaw fights for the rights of the poor and stands against the greedy Prince John and his henchmen!

Directed by Michael Curtiz and William Keighley

Starring Errol Flynn, Olivia de Havilland, Claude Rains, Basil Rathbone

Why I Liked It – A true spectacular version of the story in the old Hollywood style.

There’s a tendency to think that the “blockbuster” movie is a recent Hollywood invention. This movie shows the parentage of the modern offspring. Just a few details about this production:

• Up to that time, this movie employed the most stunt men for a single movie
• It was the biggest budget movie Warner Brothers had made (again to that time)
• It was the biggest grossing movie of the year for the studio
• It was a hit from the first preview. Reaction was so good that NO changes were made.
• It used the largest, most expensive and detailed set ever. The Nottingham castle set would hold that distinction until 1964.
• It used ALL the state-of-the-art Technicolor cameras in the world. There were only 11 of them.
• And it won three Oscars.

Add in big stars, conflict on the set (Flynn once climbed a camera crane to grab director Curtiz by the throat!), plenty of combat scenes, and a cast of stars and well-known actors, and you get – a blockbuster!

So, eighty-seven years later, how does it stand up?

Overall, I’d say pretty well. One thing that modern viewers need to keep in mind is that movies and acting was different back then. Not as different as comparing today’s “realism” to the stylized acting of the silent movies, but still different. There was a different visual palette and a different approach to the art and craft of acting. It’s not bad, nor is it “wrong”. It’s just different. Thus, I can acknowledge that Errol Flynn is not a great actor, BUT he is great at being Errol Flynn. And that’s all you need/want from this and all his best movies.

This movie brings brilliant color, enormous sets, and sweeping strokes of morality. English history buffs will roll their eyes at the presentation of the royal brothers, John and Richard, but then this is all fable. And fun fable at that.

Just in case there’s anyone not familiar with the basic outline of the Robin Hood stories, please allow me a quick swing through the important bits. Robin of Locksley is a minor Saxon noble devoted to the Norman king of England, Richard the Lion Heart. While Richard is off fighting in the Crusades, his evil younger brother Prince John plots to replace him and eventually to murder him. With henchmen Guy of Gisbourne and the Sheriff of Nottingham, John taxes the Saxons heavily and is generally a bad guy. Robin turns outlaw to “take from the rich and give to the poor”. He and Maid Marian fall in love, and together lead the resistance to the usurping prince.

Pretty standard Robin Hood. And most of it became “canon” from this movie.

All of it delivered gorgeous colors, frantic battles, and legendary daring. It’s an old school adventure movie, and well worth your time.

You can stream “The Adventures of Robin Hood” on Tubi, Google Play, Amazon Prime, Apple TV, and Fandango.

Rating – **** Recommended

A trailer from back in the days when they ran more than two minutes long!