Movie-A-Day #154: Adventures of Robin Hood

[Chaplin]

The quintessential swashbuckler starring Errol Flynn as the outlaw, Olivia D'Havilland as Maid Marion, Claude Rains as Prince John, and the suitably bad Basil Rathbone as Sir Guy of Gisbourne.

Another great adventure film, punctuated by the miraculous (and expensive) Technicolor process. Even today, you would never see such vibrant colors because the price is astronomical for it.

What else is there to say about this movie? It is the perfect Sunday afternoon popcorn movie, full of romance, action and humor. Errol Flynn is at his absolute best, continuing his long career as a swashbuckling hero begun in Captain Blood and continuing in The Sea Hawk.

A lot of fun and highly recommended.

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[Renz]

Gotta love Claude Rains! Did he ever put in a bad performance?

 

[mdamien13]

I screened this film the other day, ironically. We laughed about how since this was filmed at Chico St. University there were probably passed out students just out of frame during most of the exteriors.

Time has not been good to the film. It's severely dated but it's also kind of funny how many action movie cliches are presented here that are still used in films today.

One humorous "goof" in the film is during one of the swordfighting scenes, they sped up the film to make the action quicker and more enthralling. This works well cause the primary actors moved at an appropriate speed, but the extras in the background appear to be hummingbirds with their darting movements.

 

[Bada0Bing]

I recently watched this. Very enjoyable movie, doesn't seem like it's 70 years old. I think the colors were a little too vibrant though.

They sure had to cut a lot of corners to keep the costs from ballooning too much. Here's one example:

The ending that exists now in the film is not the one that was originally written. In the original ending, King Richard and his forces help battle Prince John's and Guy of Gisburne's forces outside the castle - this ending was scrapped because it was too expensive to film. In the back-up ending, Prince John and Guy of Gisbourne's forces chased Robin Hood's and King Richard's forces into Sherwood forest and the climax took place there. This second ending was really never satisfactory, and was scrapped too. Finally, a third ending was written, in which the climactic battle takes place inside the Castle of Nottingham. Now King Richard's forces could be pared down to a handful of faithful retainers, and the new ending proved to be less expensive to shoot. To prepare the audience for the new ending, the abbot's scenes were given to the Bishop of the Black Canons.

 

[dreamcastrocks]

This is a movie that I think could really benefit from HDDVD. I have been meaning to pick it up, after seeing Casablanca in HD.

 

[Bada0Bing]

This is a movie that I think could really benefit from HDDVD. I have been meaning to pick it up, after seeing Casablanca in HD.

I’m not sure I’d want to see much more detail in those outfits.

 

[Linderbee]

This is a movie that I think could really benefit from HDDVD. I have been meaning to pick it up, after seeing Casablanca in HD.

Don't get me started on Casablanca...

 

[dreamcastrocks]

Don't get me started on Casablanca...

Get started.

 

[Chaplin]

I recently watched this. Very enjoyable movie, doesn't seem like it's 70 years old. I think the colors were a little too vibrant though.

You're kidding, right??

 

[Bada0Bing]

You're kidding, right??

No, I really did enjoy it.

Maybe it was the massive amounts of color or the fact that it had actions sequences, but it really didn’t seem 70 years old.

Those colors were awful Chaplin. Maybe it was just my laptop, but they really did look ridiculous.

 

[Linderbee]

Get started.

Don't want to threadjack...let's just say I'll never waste my time re-watching that snoozefest again. Hated it.

 

[Chaplin]

No, I really did enjoy it.

Maybe it was the massive amounts of color or the fact that it had actions sequences, but it really didn’t seem 70 years old.

Those colors were awful Chaplin. Maybe it was just my laptop, but they really did look ridiculous.

Must have been your laptop. Technicolor movies are simply amazing to look at.

 

[Nasser22]

I watched this in my Film Study class during first quarter. It's pretty good. Plenty of action for an old movie and funny too.

I prefer regular color over Technicolor. But still a heck of a lot better than black and white, unless it's a movie like Casablanca, Double Indemnity or Sunset Bouldevard.

Oh, and The Searchers sucks so far in the first 50 min. High Noon was better.