Movie Review: 'The Adventures of Robin Hood'

The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938)

Directed by: Michael Curtiz and William Keighley

Written by: Norman Reilly Raine and Seton I. Miller

Starring: Errol Flynn, Olivia De Havilland, Claude Rains, Basil Rathbone, Alan Hale. Eugene Pallette

On May 14, 1938, Warner Bros. Pictures released The Adventures of Robin Hood, a Technicolor action-adventure film starring Errol Flynn, Olivia De Havilland, Claude Rains, Basil Rathbone, Alan Hale, and Eugene Pallette. Based on ancient English legends that date as far back as the 1200s, The Adventures of Robin Hood was written by Norman Reilly Raine (The Life of Emile Zola) and Seton I. Miller (Here Comes Mr. Jordan), from a story treatment by an uncredited Rowland Leigh (The Charge of the Light Brigade).

The Adventures of Robin Hood was originally assigned by producer Hal B. Wallis to director William Keighly when the project began as a vehicle for James Cagney. When Cagney didn’t take on the role of Robin Hood and was replaced by 28-year-old Errol Flynn, Keighly stayed on and began filming The Adventures of Robin Hood on September 26, 1937. However, after watching some of the early footage, Wallis thought the action scenes were too slow and lacked excitement and cinematic energy and replaced Keighly with Hungarian-born director Michael Curtiz.

This decision did not please the film’s leading man; Flynn and Curtiz did not like each other much and often argued on and off the set. Nevertheless, Flynn was a professional and stayed on, giving Wallis, Curtiz, and audiences one of the best portrayals of the legendary English nobleman who challenged the regency of Prince John and “robbed from the rich and gave to the poor” during Richard the Lion Heart’s absence from England in the 1190s.

Title card: In the year of Our Lord 1191 when Richard, the Lion-Heart, set forth to drive the infidels from the Holy Land, he gave the Regency of his Kingdom to his trusted friend, Longchamps, instead of to his treacherous brother, Prince John.

Bitterly resentful, John hoped for some disaster to befall Richard so that he, with the help of the Norman barons, might seize the throne for himself. And then on a luckless day for the Saxons...

As written by Leigh, Raine, and Miller, The Adventures of Robin Hood tells the story of how Saxon noble Sir Robin of Locksley (Flynn) becomes the legendary archer-rebel Robin Hood and leads a small band of guerrillas against the corrupt rule of Prince John (Rains) and his Norman noble allies, Sir Guy of Gisbourne (Rathbone) and the High Sheriff of Nottingham (Melville Cooper).

Robin’s path from aggrieved noble to the leader of the Merry Men from Sherwood Forest begins when Much, the Miller’s Son (Herbert Mundin) kills a deer in the king’s forest preserve. Such an act is illegal and, according to the evil Sir Guy, punishable by death. Much, though, is hungry; burdened by heavy levies imposed on them by Prince John, the peasant class is unable to afford enough food to survive.  When Sir Guy and a band of knights loyal to the usurper John captures Much and sentences the poor poacher to death, Robin comes on the scene and intercedes.

From this moment on, Sir Guy and Robin are adversaries. At first, both men limit their hostilities to verbal sparring. But once Sir Robin of Locksley throws down the gauntlet at Prince John for taxing the lower classes and not paying the ransom that can save Richard the Lion-heart from the dungeon of Leopold of Austria, the duel of wits and words becomes one of swords and arrows instead.

The Adventures of Robin Hood also tells the love story of Robin and Lady Marian Fitzwalter (De Havilland). In this version of the tale, Marian is the ward of the absent Kong Richard and the object of Sir Guy’s ambitions to marry.

At first, Marian is loyal to John and disdainful toward Robin and his band of upstart rowdies. But as time passes and sees that the Prince and his retinue of Norman noblemen and disgruntled Saxon knights is more interested in deposing the rightful King, she sees Robin Hood in a different light.

Lady Marian Fitzswalter: Tell me: when you are in love, is it hard to think of anybody but one person?

Bess: Yes, indeed, m'lady, and sometimes it's a bit of trouble sleeping.

Lady Marian Fitzswalter: I know! But it's a nice kind of not sleeping!

Bess: Yes. And it affects your appetite, too. Not that I've noticed it's done that to you, 'cept when he was in the dungeon waiting to be hanged.

Lady Marian Fitzswalter: And does it make you want to be with him all the time?

Bess: Yes. And when he's with you, your legs are as weak as water. Now, tell me, m'lady: when he looks at you, do you feel a kind of pricky feeling, like goosey pimples running all up and down your spine?

Lady Marian Fitzswalter: [blushes]

Bess: Then there's not a doubt of it.

Lady Marian Fitzswalter: A doubt of what?

Robin Hood: [eavesdropping from the window] That you're in love!

 

Errol Flynn as Robin of Locksley, aka Robin Hood. (C) 1938 Warner Bros. Pictures. Photo Credit: Everett Collection 

The Adventures of Robin Hood was not the first film to tell the story of the legendary hero from England's Medieval era, but it became the standard by which all other Robin Hood movies made since are measured. It is a tale full of exciting action, a classic confrontation between well-defined heroes and villains, and a sweet love story added in as an extra bonus. 

My Take

Like most Baby Boomers, I first watched The Adventures of Robin Hood in over-the-air television broadcasts. In my case, it was in the early 1970s, when Miami's WCIX-TV (now WFOR) ran it either in its weeknight The Eight PM Movie show or as a weekend matinee feature in its afternoon and early evening movie line up. Most independent television stations around the country had similar programming slots, so kids growing up in different television markets/metro areas in the 1960s, 1970s, and early 1980s probably saw The Adventures of Robin Hood the same way I did - on TV, either in color or on black-and-white TV sets, and with commercial breaks edited in. (The movie is only 102 minutes long, so it is unlikely that any scenes were deleted during the editing-for-television process.) 

But until I purchased Warner Home Video's 2008 Blu-ray disc (BD) just in time for its 80th anniversary, I don't recall ever seeing The Adventures of Robin Hood in its original uninterrupted version. (If I did catch it on Turner Classic Movies when our cable provider carried the channel in its "expanded basic" lineup, I have no memory of it.) I watched it last night, though, and I enjoyed it thoroughly. 

Now, I'm not a huge fan of movies from the Hollywood Golden Era, when the big studios cranked out one new feature film every week. I like some of the films produced between 1930 and the late 1950s, obviously, but according to the statistics chart in my Blu-ray.com "Collection" page, I don't own a lot of 1930s-produced titles. (I only own The Adventures of Robin Hood and Gone With the Wind, which together make up 0.8% of my total Blu-ray collection.) 

For some reason, though, I like The Adventures of Robin Hood. Maybe it's the witty dialogue written by Norman Reilly Raine and Seton I. Miller; or maybe it's the insouciance of Errol Flynn, the classic beauty of Olivia De Havilland, and the charming-yet-slimy villainy of Claude Rains that all combine on screen for a fun if sometimes campy jaunt back to a cleaned-up, glamourized version of the 12th Century. 

It's not a perfect film, of course; there is no such thing as a movie that doesn't have any errors, whether they're technical goofs in continuity or character non sequiturs, or historical, like setting the film in a year where there is no way that Richard the Lion-Heart could have been held for ransom by one of his European peers. (In 1191, the real Richard was still in the Middle East fighting in the Crusade.) 

But director Michael Curtiz, despite his personal clashes with Flynn off and on the set, does a marvelous job with the fast-paced storytelling, the well-choreographed fights and archery scenes, and a great balance between the dramatic and comic elements of the story. 

Also noteworthy is the Academy Award-winning score by Erich Wolfgang Korngold, one of Hollywood's most prolific composers and a role model for contemporary film music creators, including John Williams, Hans Zimmer, Howard Shore, and Michael Giacchino. Korngold's themes include swashbuckling cues that are heard during various fights and battles, gentle romantic melodies like the Love Theme for Marion and Robin, and fanfares for both Prince John and King Richard. 

The Adventures of Robin Hood was retroactively rated PG for "adventure violence," but the mayhem is rarely bloody and there is a tongue-in-cheek vibe around the whole endeavor. The villains are never as dark as the ones seen in the Kevin Costner 1990s version, Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, and the back-and-forth verbal repartees are witty and delivered with savoir faire by the talented cast. Overall, despite the occasional arrow shooting, brawling, and cinematic sword play, the film is fun family fare that should please most viewers. 

Special features:

• Commentary by film historian Rudy Behlmer
• Leonard Maltin Hosts Warner Night at the Movies featuring vintage newsreel, musical short Freddie Rich and His Orchestra, classic cartoon Katnip Kollege, and Angels with Dirty Faces theatrical trailer
• Welcome to Sherwood Forest: The Story of The Adventures of Robin Hood
• Glorious Technicolor: Celebrating the revered color filmmaking process
• Outtakes
• Robin Hood Through the Ages: Excerpts from the 1912 first screen adaptation, Douglas Fairbanks' rousing 1922 silent, and this 1938 version dubbed in German
• A Journey to Sherwood Forest: Basil Rathbone and Erich Wolfgang Korngold home movies shot during production
• Two classic cartoons: Rabbit Hood and Robin Hood Daffy
• Splitting the Arrow: Historical art, costume design, scene concept drawings, cast and crew, publicity and poster galleries
• Two vintage short subjects: Cavalcade of Archery and The Cruise of the Zaca
• Breakdowns of 1938: Studio blooper reel
• Audio-only bonuses: Music-only audio track showcasing the film's Oscar-winning score; The Robin Hood Radio Show; Korngold piano sessions
• Errol Flynn trailer gallery

Blu-ray Specs:

Video

• Codec: VC-1 (19.45 Mbps)
• Resolution: 1080p
• Aspect ratio: 1.37:1
• Original aspect ratio: 1.37:1

Audio

• English: Dolby Digital Mono
• French: Dolby Digital Mono
• Spanish: Dolby Digital Mono
• Music: Dolby Digital Mono 

Subtitles

• English, English SDH, French, Spanish

 Discs

• Blu-ray Disc
• Single disc (1 BD-50)

Playback

• Region free