Rating: 
Summary: The Definitive Swashbuckling Adventure!
Review: If you like high-spirited adventure, chivalry, good vs. evil, archery, swordfights, and Merrie Olde England, you will LOVE this movie! Errol Flynn is the definitive movie Robin Hood, and it is possibly his greatest role ever. He faces off against Basil Rathbone as the evil Sir Guy of Gisborne, who is allied with the conniving and usurping Prince John (played prissily by Claude Rains). Olivia de Haviland is lovely as Maid Marian, who is won over by Robin Hood's selflessness and goodness.King Richard the Lionheart is captured and held for ransom in Austria, on his way back from fighting the Crusades. Prince John appoints himself regent and immediately implements a program of oppression of the Saxons. He levies oppressive taxes, claiming to be raising money for Richard's ransom, while, in fact, he plans to use the money to buy the throne for himself. Sir Robin of Locksley (aka Robin Hood) leads a revolt against John and his regime. John seizes his property, and Robin flees to Sherwood Forest, where he gathers a large band of men around him. Indeed, they steal from the rich to particularly delightful effect when they rob Sir Guy of Gisborne and his band, and agree to send the money to ransom their king. King John sets a trap for Robin Hood and catches him, but his Merrie Men rescue him from the scaffold. A corrupt archbishop discovers that the ransomed King Richard has returned to England and reports this to John, who sends a knight to kill him. This sets up the final conflict, with plenty of swashbuckling, sword-fighting action! The Merrie Men live up to their name, particularly Little John (Alan Hale), and some of the most purely fun moments in the movie come when Robin Hood fights with strangers, partly to test their mettle, and partly for the love of the fight. (This is how Little John and Friar Tuck come to join the band.) The movie is shot in gloriously vivid (if somewhat fuzzy) color. It's a great story, with a good script and all-around good acting. Whenever I mention this movie to my friends, and they ask me which version of "Robin Hood" I mean, I answer: "the only one that matters!"
Rating:
Summary: Robin Hood: The Personification of Fun
Review: If anyone wants to compare the gritty realism of films in the post World War II era to the nostalgia generated by Hollywood prior to that war, then one need not look further than THE ADVENTURES OF ROBIN HOOD. Director Michael Curtiz presents a wildly anachronistic yet hugely entertaining view of an age that seems destined to provide swashbuckling for as long as audiences desire to see fancy duelling, archery contests, and eminently believable romance set against a backdrop of ancient urban versus rural sprawl. Errol Flynn stars as Robin Hood, a rousingly, energetic hero who dominates each scene with athletic ability, macho good looks, a loud voice, and of course, a disarming smile that never seems to leave him, even when the odds are stacked against him. With his bouncing off walls, climbing of trees, and general derring-do, Flynn set a standard for future action stars who have copied the essential Flynn style, but have failed to master the far more difficult trick of making all that machismo look like plain old fun. And fun it is. No one doubts that for even a second, Flynn is enjoying himself enormously. It is hard to imagine James Cagney, who was briefly considered for the part, as having the requiste joy, even if he had the equally obvious Cagney energy. Olivia de Havilland, as Maid Marian, is sweet and fetching as the Norman ward of the imprisoned King Richard, whose brother John, (wonderfully portrayed by the elegant Claude Raines), revels in the opportunity to plot with his evil henchman Sir Guy of Gisbourne (Basil Rathbone). It was not uncommon for Hollywood to use Rathbone's machine-gun rhetoric as the prototype for a wicked but educated villain that Alan Rickman would later emulate in DIE HARD. But it was most uncommon to use Raines in a similar vein, since he had made a career of playing trusted psychiatrists and the occasional corrupt prefect of French police. THE ADVENTURES OF ROBIN HOOD is a film that places Flynn just as squarely in the bulls-eye of audience interest as he placed his arrow splitting a second arrow in the acclaimed archery contest. Surrounding Flynn was the balancing of the goodness of Havilland played against the contrapuntal evil of Raines and Rathbone. Nearly every scene is endlessly quotable and memorable. It is difficult to top the shadow on the wall duelling between Flynn and Rathbone, while punctuated by such witticisms as (Rathbone): 'You will never leave this castle alive, Robin Hood.' (Flynn):'After today, I won't have to.' Then there is the sterling supporting cast of Eugene Pallette as the pudgy Friar Tuck (Robin: 'Don't worry, he is one of us.' Alan a Dale: 'One of us? He's more like three of us.') Alan Hale as Little John and Una O'Connor as Marian's lady-in-waiting shine in their frequent vignettes. Other versions of the Robin Hood legend have been filmed,most notably with Sean Connery as the overage, washed up Robin, but none has come close to capturing the essence of nailing the audience's heart and soul to the screen as well as Curtiz's version, which won a deserved nomination as Best Picture. Truly, for the short space of two hours, Flynn reminds us exactly what the Golden Age of Film was all about.
Rating:
Summary: They Don't Make 'Em Like This Any More!
Review: This is probably the very best movie Errol Flynn ever made, and hang the historical inaccuracies (like those vivid aniline colors). Still youthful, athletic, and just plain brassy, he does Robin as nobody else has before or since, supported by an able cast that includes frequent romantic co Olivia deHavilland as a spirited Maid Marian, Eugene Pallet and Alan Hale Jr. offering comic relief as Friar Tuck and Little John, Claude Rains suitably oily as Prince John, and Basil Rathbone at his most sardonic as Sir Guy of Gisborne. Swift, deftly choreographed action alternates seamlessly with humor and thoughtful moments like Robin's talk with Marian in the greenwood, and all the major elements of the Robin legend are fitted in and done justice to. This movie would be a good way to introduce young viewers to Howard Pyle's written version--is, indeed, to filmed Robin as Pyle is to the great English outlaw in print. No one who loves adventure films, historic epics, or swashbucklers can possibly call his collection complete without it.
Rating:
Summary: rousing adventure
Review: I own a dvd of robin hood. chinese copy.quality is fair//middle portion of film is out of sync. The adventure is 1st rate//characters are perfectly cast///excitment..laughter..love story can not be beat. waiting for a dvd to be produced in the usa
Rating:
Summary: Perfection In Technicolor!
Review: There's no escaping the Romance of the legend of Robin Hood and his "merrie men." And there's no question that this movie is absolutely perfect! Not one wasted frame, not a single superfluous scene, and action galore, swash and buckle aplenty, and comedy, and romance, and intrigue, and. . .well, for heaven's sake, SEE THIS MOVIE and remind yourself what it used to mean to go to "THE MOVIES." It's a little startling to think that this movie came out, and competed against "GONE WITH THE WIND" as best picture. Even the most cursory glance at the cast will tell you that ennui will NOT ensue during this 90 some odd minutes. All right, all right, some of the love scenes seem a bit dated, but with all the vim and vigor of the rest of the movie, that's only nit-picking, and by a small soul at that. Flynn surpasses his own legend in this adaptation of the Sherwood legend; Rathbone is deliciously and terrifyingly nasty; and Claude Raines as Prince John is the embodiment of pure oily evil charm. Oh, there's also Olivia de Havilland in all her costumes as the vain, but true Maid Marion. This is a movie you watch again, and again, and again, and each time find more and more to enjoy. Bring on the popcorn, settle back, and be transported to "merrie olde Englande" and adventure and chivalry when ideas were worth fighting and dying for. Better yet, go back to when movies had plot, story, characters, dialogue, and enough action for the most jaded viewer. A sure-fire hit, and an absolute necessity to the serious movie-afficiando's collection.
Rating:
Summary: This one is the best!
Review: For a 1930's movie this one is right up the top of the best. Errol Flynn is wonderful. If you like old black and white movies with adventure you will not be disapointed. If you are, "WHAT'S WRONG WITH YOU??????" Enjoy!
Rating:
Summary: The Greatest Swashbuckler Movie Of All Time
Review: What a fantastic movie. The heroes are heroes and the villians are villians. And good triumphs over evil. That may sound trite to the modern liberal, but feh to them! None of the filth and foul language, none of the political commentaries, none of the stench of today's movies. Others have tried to protray Robin Hood, but there is only one real Robin Hood.... and that's Errol Flynn. I first saw this film as little boy in 1948, and made my aunt bring me back three more times that summer; I still watch it at least twice a year. Each time I see it I love it more than the time before.
Rating:
Summary: Made back in Hollywood's golden, inoffensive era
Review: Acclaimed by many as the definitive adaptation of the Robin Hood story, "The Adventures of Robin Hood" is a wonderful film that is likely not to age over the years, with fast paced and exciting direction by Michael Curtiz (Angels With Dirty Faces, Casablanca, Yankee Doodle Dandy) and a great cast to boot: The charismatic Errol Flynn as Sir Robin Hood who is impossible to dislike (He smiles in about every scene, for one thing), the beautiful Olivia de Havilland as Maid Marian, Claude Rains as the despicable Prince John and Basil Rathbone's haughty Sir Guy of Gishbourne. At the time in 1938, this film was produced for a then massive $2,000,000, making it the "Titanic" of its day. This permitted, in addition to the top notch cast, for first class production values. The sets are amazing and creative, enough in fact that they received an Oscar. Awards also went to the film editing and the exciting film score of Wolfgang Korngold. The movie looks good on the VHS edition I saw it on, except for some grain and lack of clarity with the color. Sometimes, it looked a little washed out (Then again, it was the late 1930s and the infancy of color). Hopefully, this movie is at the top of the list for films Warners needs to give DVD treatment. After seeing their work on "Citizen Kane" and "North by Northwest", I eagerly await the results.
Rating:
Summary: Peerless
Review: Rousingly performed, expertly paced, and beautifully photographed, this initial entry in the process of technicolor is a triumph of Hollywood movie-making. Errol Flynn gets the role he was born to play, likewise his foil, the hawk-nosed Basil Rathbone whose eloquent voice and sinister manner penetrate as deeply and lastingly as any rapier thrust and parry. In fact, a whole host of middling studio players find their perfect visual counterparts in this glorious production which apparently was tossed off without recognition of the classic it is. Nor has technicolor ever produced richer splashes of color than in the outdoor gallery scenes and forest celebrations that tellingly oppose the coldly cavernous interiors of the pretender king. (Note also the occasional off-angle camera setups that tend to slip by, but add wonderfully to the action flow.) Like John Wayne, Flynn had a narrow thespic range, but once there, he could be commanding, such that here as the lord of Sherwood, he forever foredooms all attempts at a remake. Viewed sixty years later, the film reminds me of a low-tech, pastoral version of Star Wars -- the appeal is the same, though the Keighley/Curtiz film wins the Jenny Craig no-flab award hands-down. Probably, no film before or since has so expertly mixed action with romance, humor, and solid human values as this one. Nor has any screen experience functioned more effectively in the quest for justice and fulfillment than this apparently light-hearted Warner Bros. entertainment. For once everything cinematic fell into place in the dressed-up scrub lands of southern California, to produce an uplifting fairy tale, which by any measure, should qualify among the all-time best of any film genre. Above all, it remains a genuine and much beloved classic of the studio era. So whatever you do, don't miss it.
Rating:
Summary: Bring on the DVD!
Review: This is one of the greatest films of all time. The swordplay, horseback riding, and archery put all other Robin Hoods to shame, and the vivid color and fantastic costumes make this a film to remember. ...
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