The Middle Ages in Technicolor

The Adventures of Robin Hood     ★★★★

by Michael Curtiz & William Keighley 

England, 1191. On the way back from a crusade, the English King Richard I (aka Richard Lionheart) is taken hostage by the Duke of Austria. King Richard's unreliable brother Prince John (played by Claude Rains) takes advantage of the situation by usurping the English throne and commissioning Sir Guy of Guisborne (Basil Rathbone) to impose high taxes on the fearful people in England. The Saxon nobleman Sir Robin of Locksley (Hollywood star Errol Flynn), however, isn't afraid of Prince John. On the contrary: Sir Robin of Locksley becomes the mischivious rebel Robin Hood and gathers other freedom fighters in the forests of Sherwood, to start a guerrilla uprising against the tyrannical Prince John...

From left to right: 

Olivia de Havilland as Maid Marian, 

Claude Rains as Prince John, 

and Basil Rathbone as Sir Guy of Guisborne.

Old fashioned family entertainment

The Adventures of Robin Hood is a delightful 1938 adventure movie by the Hollywood directors Michael Curtiz and William Keighley. The film offers enough old fashioned entertainment to please young and old alike: sprightly swordplay, witty dialogue, excellent performances by most of the cast members, romance between Robin Hood and his love interest Lady Marian (played by Olivia de Havilland), and beautiful costumes and sets, all shot in radiant Technicolor. 

The film won three Acadamy Awards, for:

- Best Art Direction and Color, by Carl Jules Weyl;

- Best Editing, by Ralph Dawson;

- and Best Music, by Erich Wolfgang Korngold.

Olivia de Havilland as Lady Marian,
and Errol Flynn als Robin Hood.

The screenplay, which is based on old English folklore about a legendary Medieval heroic outlaw called Robyn Hode, has little to do with historical accuracy, but who cares! The Adventures of Robin Hood is the kind of exciting adventure movie that awakens the rebel kid in ourselves. Rewatching it recently, I felt once again what I felt when I saw the movie for the first time on tv in my childhood: the irresistible urge to go and hide somewhere in the forest with a couple of friends, build a treehouse together and use our secret hideout as a base camp from which we would fight the injustice in the world. My childhood buddies and I failed miserably, ofcourse, because the world is still full of injustice today. But at least we built a (small) treehouse.   

Joeri Naanai

The Adventures of Robin Hood - USA - 1938.

Cast: Errol Flynn, Olivia de Havilland, Basil Rathbone, Claude Rains, Alan Hale and Eugene Pallette.

Genre: adventure / historical drama / romance / action