Rating: 
Summary: A Restored Miracle
Review: As fine as this DVD surely is, for me the great miracle of this enterprise is that after 65 years, the separate dialogue and music tracks still survived, making the audio restoration far easier to pull off. I compared the video and audio of the DVD with the print on my VHS tape and the print which aired on cable channel Turner Classic Movies (TCM) just the night before the DVD release. These unrestored videos were grayer in color and obviously scratchy, but the sound was so bad I nearly needed subtitles. The new DVD displays audio and a picture of such clarity, I was bowled over by it. For the first time, I could actually hear crisp "s" sounds in the voices, and background noises, such as twittering birds and running water in the Sherwood Forest sequences. I was also glad to hear the cymbals in the orchestra track for a change, which help to make Korngold's magnificent score all the more heroic. A true success in every respect. Highly recommended!
Rating:
Summary: Yikes and Away!!!
Review: At Last....what every classic movie DVD package should be. The BEST looking version ever of this great movie, tons of awesome extras, two of the best Looney Tunes ever and lots more! Let's hope that Warner Home Video will do the same with unreleased titles such as "Meet Me in St. Louis", "The Bandwagon", and "Easter Parade". We're still waiting............................
Rating: 
Summary: TRANSFER LACKING ON THIS SWASHBUCKLING CLASSIC!
Review: "The Adventures of Robin Hood" was the second film based on our hero in green tights. The original silent version starred Douglas Fairbanks Sr. and although in this version, Errol Flynn lacks something of Doug's viceral masculinity (he does look a tad feminine in those tights) Flynn more than makes up for this shortcoming with bravado, charm and (darn I state the obvious) sound! The original was silent. Also, Olivia DeHavilland - long a Warner stock romantic female costar, shines beautifully as Maid Marianne. It's sword-fights and high comedy on this effortlessly masterful swashbuckler from director, Michael Curtiz.
TRANSFER: Unfortunately, Warner's transfer is a mixed bag. After a beautiful main title sequence we get several opening shots that are excessively grainly. Here and there the grain structure crops up - particularly in long shots. Because it's not consistent it tends to look glaring when it does show up. Although the negative looks better than ever before there continue to be chips present throughout. Also, there's NO EXCUSE for the aliasing and edge enhancement that crops up every now and then - once again, particularly in long shots.
EXTRAS: Documentaries, audio commentaries, featurettes, musical outtakes, trailers and oh, just too, too much to discuss herein - almost 4 hours worth. You really get your money's worth with this disc! Bravo!
BOTTOM LINE: Considering the vintage of the film elements and, in considering how bad the film looked before, Warner Brothers has acheived a monumental restoration effort. If they could get a handle on the digital mastering they'd really be off to the races! Still, A MUST HAVE for any classic film buff!
Rating:
Summary: The Best There Is And Every Will Be!
Review: Errol Flynn was born to play Robin Hood. A PERFECTLY cast film.
You couldn't ask for anything better. Let's hope it's not too
long before Captain Blood and The Sea Hawk find their way to DVD.
Rating:
Summary: Classic Swashbuckler looks vivid
Review: Although not a perfect DVD transfer (then again, I've yet to see one), Warner has done a great job of restoring and remastering this classic from director Michael Curtiz. Errol Flynn was/is Robin Hood (you can dismiss Kevin Costner's poor performance out of hand)in this classic film. Basil Rathbone is the perfect foil for Flynn and Olivia DeHavilland an unmatchable Maid Marian. What's interesting is the fact that Alan Hale almost seemed to live the role of Little John; he played it a number of times including the original silent version with Douglas Fairbanks, Snr. Oh and we can't forget Claude Rains as the evil Prince John. What an amazing cast this film had!The extras befit a king and they seemed to have been robbed from the vaults of time itself to give to us poor film lovers. Like the recent re-release of Casablanca, Robin looks great and has been graced with the type of extras we're used to seeing from Criterion and other specialty houses. It's about time that Warner (which has done a shoddy job with many releases in the past including their DVD releases of the first trio of Hammer horror films)got its stuff together! Thanks Warner Brothers Entertainment for putting together a number of classic, classy titles the way they were meant to be viewed at home. Now if you could just recognize the other treasures in your vault (such as Horror of Dracula and 2001)and put together discs of similar quality, I'd be a happy viewer./
Rating:
Summary: Pure swashbuckling entertainment as Poetry!
Review: Welcome To Sherwood Forest Out of gray dust-bowl Great Depression
Crystal Technicolor Dream
Black tables swell with rich-pilchard food
Orange fire licks bleeding Saxon wounds
Basil Rathbone sneers blue Norman arrogance
Claude Rains seethes corrupt yellow rule
Enter childhood hero
Forever hope-filled, bold
In passionate defeat of evil chaos
Strong as long-bow hewn from ancient tree
Straight as arrow splitting bulls-eye arrow
In deep kelly-green tights
Lightening white-toothed cocky smile
Errol Flynn brandishes poached antlered stag
Fighting off stumbling Norman legions
Olivia DeHavilland radiates chaste sensual lust
Wild forest supermen
On thick oak branches
Down tankards of golden nut ale
Tear brown bread in white fist-full chunks
Devour haunches of red simmering meat
Spill ruby wine down neatly trimmed chins
Sing merry songs into midnight
Strip faux-Royal henchmen to their underwear
Rough order in absence of lion-hearted king God Bless You Robin
Rating:
Summary: An Incredible Score by the "Second Mozart" Himself
Review: In order to understand the score to "Robin Hood," you must first venture back years earlier to Korngold's childhood in Vienna. As a boy, his talents had shown themselves quite early. At the age of five, he was a good enough pianist to perform in public (and he was mostly self-taught at that!), by six or seven, he was composing, and, most astonishingly of all, had developed a completely mature and instantly recognizable style by the age of nine, a feat unprecedented in all music history (even by Mozart!). His compositions were soon after picked up by the musical luminaries of the time, including Mahler, R. Strauss and Schnaebel among others, as well as by an unusually enthusiastic public. As a teenager, he was producing masterpiece after masterpiece, often getting praise from the critics (who had nicknamed him "the second Mozart") and audiences alike. It is ironic, therefore, that the early work that this award-winning score was primarily based on, the Sursum Corda Overture (written when the composer was 21-22), had proved actually to be his first all around public failure. It was, in fact, booed off the stage three times and considered too radical and modern. Additionally, its complex orchestration made it one of the most difficult pieces to play in the repetoire. He was derided for attempting to imitate R. Strauss' tone poems, whereupon one critic went as far as saying that Strauss wasn't even good enough to copy, and also for his complex rhythmic structure which called for a seemingly constant bombardment of meter changes. But (thank goodness!), this work may now be returned to a hopefully more savvy public in the guise of "Robin Hood," and perhaps eventually, Sursum Corda itself will be able to lay claim to its rightful place in the regular orchestral repetoire.
Rating:
Summary: Possibly the best swashbuckler ever made
Review: "The Adventures of Robin Hood" starring Errol Flynn, Olivia DeHavilland, and Claude Rains is possibly the best swashbuckler ever made--if not the best--and it was made at a time when almost everything its star, leading lady, director, and studio made was blessed with a golden touch.
Everything about this film was top-notch. Curtiz was the best action man at Warners. Flynn was at his dashing best. The music was made by Erich Wolfgang Korngold ('nuff said) and every bit player at the Warner lot did their best work--especially Alan Hale and Eugene Palette--that might be a mis-spelling.
The color and the costumes come togehter in such a way that the film resembles many of the full color pictures one might find in an old picture book--this is especially true of the fight between Robin and Little John when they meet on the log. Note how the camera pulls back and you see the sweep of the action--and this in the days before Cinemascope! And if some see the film as old fashioned and without some relevant characters for the current audience--as they tried to do with the dreaded Kevin Costner vehicle--well too bad. "The Adventures of Robin Hood" remains a classic of its type and well worth the price of a special edition and, trust me, worthy of your time and trouble waiting for it! Thank you Warners. Now, how about "The Sea Hawk" and (especially) "Captain Blood"!!!
Rating:
Summary: It's About Time!
Review: I have the Criterion Laserdisc of this Technicolor marvel and I just wanted to add my two bits about Rudy Behlmer's commentary on that disc. It is worth the price of the video itself. Mr. Behlmer offers fascinating scholarly and anecdotal comments about the history of the Robin Hood legend and the making of the film. I will probably head straight for his commentary when the disc arrives!
Rating:
Summary: Flynn's Greatest on DVD at Last!
Review: The pinnacle of Errol Flynn's string of swashbuckling adventures...The most expensive film Warners had ever made (until 1938), and in glorious Technicolor, to boot...The film with the most cherished of Erich Wolfgang Korngold's many film scores...The film that literally set the standard for every 'Robin Hood' and 'Knighthood' movie since...One of the greatest films, not only of the 1930s, but of all time...THE ADVENTURES OF ROBIN HOOD is, in EVERY sense of the word, a CLASSIC, and the new DVD edition is LONG overdue! The story of Sherwood Forest's favorite bandit had been a movie staple since silent films (Douglas Fairbanks' acrobatic 1922 version was regarded as one of his finest roles), and the WB, riding high on a string of hits by Fairbanks' younger and sexier successor, Errol Flynn, knew they had all the elements in place to create a grand entertainment that no other studio could match! Originally intended for James Cagney, the property had languished for three years, until Errol Flynn exploded onto the scene, and the studio knew they had the actor 'born' to play the role. Not wishing to run into legal problems with United Artists, who'd produced the 1922 film, an original script, incorporating ancient legends, medieval ballads, a popular 19th century stage production, and a bit of Howard Pyle, was written by Norman Reilly Raine and Seton I. Miller (with some uncredited assistance by Rowland Leigh). Casting nearly all of their "British Colony" in speaking roles, the studio brought back Alan Hale to reprise his 1922 role of Little John (an excellent choice, as Flynn and Hale had terrific rapport), casted rotund comic actor Eugene Pallette (Guy Kibbee was the first choice) as a gravelly-voiced Friar Tuck, and wisely chose Claude Rains to play the fey Prince John, and Basil Rathbone (whose duel with Flynn in CAPTAIN BLOOD was a film highlight) as the villainous Sir Guy of Gisbourne, Maid Marion's Norman suitor, and Robin's arch-nemesis. In the role of Marion, could anyone OTHER than Olivia de Havilland have been cast? Flynn and de Havilland had already done two films together (and would do four more, after ROBIN HOOD), and their chemistry was so perfect that 1930s screen magazines were always hinting of a romance between the two (there wasn't; they were simply friends). Not that the production was problem-free; the original director, William Keighley, was axed after the location shooting was completed, as the studio didn't like his approach to the script and actors; Michael Curtiz, who had 'made' a star of Flynn, in CAPTAIN BLOOD, was quickly brought in, adding his sense of drama, lighting (the
'light-and-shadow' climactic duel between Robin and Sir Guy was a Curtiz 'trademark'), and style. Both Curtiz and Keighley would share the 'Director' credit when the film was released. THE ADVENTURES OF ROBIN HOOD was Warners' biggest box office hit of 1938, became a multiple Academy Award winner, and it's luster has only increased through the years, being named as one of the AFI's 100 Greatest Films of All Time. This is a classic that TRULY lives up to the term, and is an absolute MUST for your DVD collection!
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