114. The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938)

Directed By Michael Curtiz and William Keighley.

Synopsis

Robin Hood, steals from the rich, amasses money to pay for the ransom of a stupid king fighting a stupid war abroad. Historical factuality much disputed. As you can see in the picture he is all about Black Power!

Review

Well... it's a swashbuckler, if you like that kind of thing this is the movie for you. Frankly, despite the impressive technicolor and some good action seens the film left me a bit cold. Errol Flynn is a ham, but so is everyone else around him. When the characters in a film deliver their speeches with their hands on their hips you know that you are watching something interesting.

Ok, the film was pretty and incredibly flashy, from the colorful clothing to the fun action sequences and the technicolor there is plenty here to please the eye. Still, the acting is bad, the direction, although with some inspired moments like when Robin fights Guy and you see the fight as their shadows, was lacklustre. If you are someone that gets annoyed by historical innacuracies this is really not the film for you, but it should be watched in that spirit.

What I can advise is that you take it for what it is. A bit of fun, in colour! There is no depth to any of the characters, but they are such myths that you really don't need the depth, take it as a fairytale and you won't be too disappointed. So get it at Amazon UK or US.

Final Grade

6/10

Trivia

From Wikipedia:

The Adventures of Robin Hood was filmed on location in multiple areas of California including Chico and Pasadena as well as having several scenes shot at the Warner Bros. Burbank Studios.

The Adventures of Robin Hood was produced at an estimated cost of $2 million, and was the first Warner Bros. film to be shot in the three-strip technicolor process (one of the few major motion pictures of the 1930s to do this). It was an unusually extravagant production for the Warner Bros. studio, which had made a name for itself in producing gritty, low-budget gangster films, but their adventure movies starring Flynn had generated hefty revenue and Robin Hood was created to capitalize on this[citation needed]. James Cagney was originally cast as Robin Hood but walked out on his contract, paving the way for Flynn.

Slightly surreal German dubbing of an excerpt of the film...: