jimbo-53-186511
Prince John (Claude Rains) begins oppressing the Saxons in the absence of his brother King Richard (Ian Hunter). A Saxon Lord and one of the best archers in the country Sir Robin of Loxley (Errol Flynn) is determined to fight against Prince John in Richard's absence and with the help of a few of his Saxon followers he attempts to overthrow Prince John and protect his people at the same time.For what it is this is a fairly enjoyable picture - albeit there are times during the middle portion of the film (mainly when there isn't any action) that the film does suffer slightly. However, the main issue I had with this film is how over-the-top it felt at times. As far as I was concerned, this film was painfully theatrical - particularly in the early stages of the film. One example of this is when Errol Flynn is with his cronies and they are all laughing together; for some reason a lot of these scenes felt too rehearsed and unnatural and I just didn't find a lot of it convincing. The likes of Claude Rains and Basil Rathbone were both excellent, but again they felt more like pantomime villains than anything else and I didn't find them particularly threatening and found them more amusing than anything else - although I'm sure that this wasn't the director's intention.Although I've criticised a lot of the actors for being overly theatrical ironically they are the very reason that the film is worth watching. Flynn's charisma and energy and anti-hero sensibility make him an enjoyable screen presence - the only thing that annoyed me slightly about him was his forced laughter every 2 minutes which started to grate after a while. The likes of Claude Rains and Basil Rathbone were the best actors in this film as the evil snivelling Saxon suppressors.Overall then The Adventures Of Robin Hood is worth watching; it has just about enough energy and charm to make it enjoyable and it has many capable actors on board whom all give 110% throughout the picture. Yes it's overly theatrical, and a tad cheesy, but it's perfect fodder for a wet Sunday afternoon.FINAL NOTE; this film has a U certification, but it does contain scenes of people being stabbed with swords and shot with arrows so it's probably best not to let really young children watch it.
gogarrett
They took no short cuts in this movie and it shows. Enjoyable to watch over and over for so many reasons. It is the best of all the Robin Hood movies to date, especially with Errol Flynn's roguish, but fun loving characterization of Robin Hood. As an archer myself, I am very impressed with the actual archery of the movie and know that the famed archer, Howard Hill, coached all the actors who shot on camera, but all the actual shooting was done by him, including all the arrows that hit the stunt men! I am astonished at what was allowed back in 1938.The outdoor scenes were amazing, the costumes, the acting, directing, high energy, fast pacing and humor were parts of what we love about this movie.
Idiot-Deluxe
"Spectacular! One of the most splendid entertainments ever devised." - David Shipman***************************Included here is a check-list for the 1938 Techni-Color masterpiece "The Adventures of Robin Hood". A favorite of mine and many others.***************************The best Flynn film. Check. The best Robin Hood film. Check. The best Techni-Color film. Check. The best swashbuckler film. Check. The best film of the 1930's. Check.****************************Truly one of the most spectacular films of all time, The Adventures of Robin Hood is indeed a very special movie (the Library of Congress see's it that way too) and if you love epic adventure film's, this one's absolutely not to be missed. The story-line and/or plot should be known to all by now, which hinges on the systematic torture, theft, oppression and murder of all the Saxon's in the shire, by the sword n' spear of the Norman knights under the cruel reign of their leader, the treacherous Prince John. A revolt is in order! And Errol Flynn is, very much so, the right guy for the task!Starting with it's casting of Errol Flynn, Olivia De'Haviland, Basil Rathbone and Claude Rains (and many others), this classic film boasts one of the best casts ever and their used most effectively, from the movies opening frames till it's end. This opulently-staged adventure-classic has stood the test of time for nearly 80 years and for the many people who worked on it, it remains a collective career-high. One of the earliest full-length features to be filmed in the newly developed 3-strip Techni-Color process, The Adventures of Robin Hood is brilliant showpiece and was the state-of-the-art in it's day; dazzling audience's with it's gorgeous splashes of Techni-Color and rousing musical score. As others have said, I'm not alone when I say that this is the most strikingly beautiful of all the films shot in 3-trip Techni-Color (and era spanning from 1934 to 1955), sure there are some strong rivals - but none that surpass it. Rarely does an adventure film (or any film for that matter) "move" better then The Adventures of Robin Hood, it's pacing is phenomenally exciting and never the slightest bit boring at ANY time. The reasons for this are many, here's some: a brilliant cast of characters, award-winning Techni-Color cinematography (my favorite aspect of the movie), award-winning musical score, award-winning film-editing, amazing costume designs, supremely masterful feats of archery (including the splitting of arrows), one of the best sword duels ever captured on film, rondevu's of "forbidden" romance and a dash of high-spirited rope-swinging! Never a dull moment. On the matter of the spectacular music heard throughout this movie and as film music buff's world-wide will readily attest to, the renowned Austrian maestro Erich Wolfgang Korngold, created the best score of his career, which, in a very big way, further enhances the grandeur of this sweeping Techni-Color classic. Now obviously, this goes without saying, it's main man Errol Flynn in the title role, who's the biggest reason for this movie's initial success and for it's long-lasting appeal - generation after generation. But he also had a lot of help - as mentioned earlier the supporting cast is faultless, Olivia De' Haviland as Maid Marian, Basil Rathbone as Guy of Gisborn, and Claude Rain as Prince John - the casting in this film is entirely grand and every scene is a true pleasure to watch. It's been mentioned by others, but I'll repeat their words, Flynn, our hero in the film is granted not 1, not 2, but 3 grand entrances throughout the course of the film; my favorite is the second entry, where he defiantly interrupts the royal banquet of Prince John and the knights in "the great stone hall" of Nottingham Castle, entering the scene carrying a deer carcass over his shoulders, while at the same time beating back two meddlesome guards with said dead deer, then moments later throws it down on the table directly in front of Prince John. Truly inspired entertainment. Also this movie boasts several instances of some of the best, no-margin-for-error archery ever seen (or "stunt-shot's" as I refer to them) such examples are: the splitting of arrows (at the archery tournament) / extinguishing candle-flames (that's, without, hitting the candle) / the shootings of numerous moving human-targets (again, no-margin-for-error) / the disarming of evil foes by literally shooting their weapons from out of their hands / slaying enemies by way of arrow-shots fired, at night, backwards on horseback while galloping hell-for-leather at full-speed and a defiant "exclamation point" to a regal document; a royal decree of a kind. Not to mention the arrow-shots sound incredible!Having seen this grand classic dozens of times over the years, the way I see it, even the most discerning of viewers, try as they might, will find it remarkably difficult to find any real weaknesses; and to my way of thinking, The Adventures of Robin Hood is easily one of the most perfect movies ever made. With an immense budget (for it's day) of over two-million dollars, Warner Brother's clearly knew the grand potential of this project and thus they gave it their all, to insure that it would be a top-notch film and for nearly the past 80 years - reality reflects just that. An Ageless Wonder. As of yet I've never seen a film of this vintage, which over the years has proved to be so resilient to the unrelenting trials and tribulations of time and age - as this movie show's no sign's of age what-so-ever. An agelessly radiant Techni-Color document of a by-gone Hollywood-era. This is my favorite of the Robin Hood flicks, with Prince of Thieves right on it's regal Techni-Color heels and then we have Russel Crow's & Riddley Scott's charisma-less monstrosity.........Conclusion - The Adventures of Robin Hood is a Techni-Color masterpiece and one of the most popular films of all-time. For good reasons.
