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The Adventures of Robin Hood


Keyser Corleone's Robin Hood Week, Review 7

The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938) - Directed by Michael Curtiz and William Keighley

"I'll organize revolt, exact a death for a death, and I'll never rest until every Saxon in this shire can stand up free men and strike a blow for Richard and England."



If you ask any guy off the street what the best Robin Hood movie was, you'd likely be given the answers, "the Disney one" or "Prince of Thieves." But if you asked most Robin Hood fans what the best Robin Hood movie is, chances are they'll say The Adventures of Robin Hood, a 1930's film with Errol Flynn. I've been getting into 30's movies lately, and I checked this out so I could find a 30's movie to put IN my top 30 movies. And even though this movie failed, it came pretty close.

The best of the best Robin Hood movies featured Robin at it again, except now he's newly acquainted with Maid Marian, and directly confronting the Prince and Sir Guy of Ginsbourne. With his only motive being defending truth and honesty in Nottingham, little does he know King Richard is on his way home.

This movie was flat out the best of the seven Robin Hood movies I watched for this week. I knew I was gonna have a kick-ass time but it ended up being one of my favorite movies. It was mostly because of the action. I thought it was a little violent for a 30's movie, but there was no blood. The direction for the action was FANTASTIC. What do you expect from the director of Casablanca?

Errol Flynn easily makes the best Robin Hood seen in film, and his role continues to put other people who've tried the role to shame. His attitude towards people, blunt yet surprisingly civil, is the kind of Robin Hood other actors should have taken an example from, and yet they still can't even come close. Errol Flynn's charm is constant through the film, and he puts most of the cast to shame. This isn't to day the other cast members were lame. Olivia de Havilland did a fine job as Marian, really bringing the sentimental and romantic side of the story to life, and Claude Rains had the proper kind of, how do I phrase this, jealous brother sleaze a person like Prince John needs.

The movie makes the same common Robin Hood mistake of neglecting focus on the Merry Men. Occasionally the Merry Men felt like paper cutouts, but they had a fair bit to do with the action, which was nice. Still, I want to know more about Little John and Will Scarlett. Besides that, there's nothing that ruins this movie or tarnishes it.

The Adventures of Robin Hood is the best Robin Hood movie so far, and even if Hollywood tried it would be hard to make a better one. Errol Flynn's version of the character is one of the most enjoyable heros of the classic age, and the film overall is very family-friendly, action packed, heartwarming and stays very true to the stories.