The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938)

User Rating:

8.1/10   

Directors:

Michael Curtiz
William Keighley

Writers:

Norman Reilly Raine (original screenplay) and
Seton I. Miller (original screenplay)

Release Date:

14 May 1938 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Adventure | Romance

Tagline:

The Best Loved Bandit Of All Time!

Plot:

When Prince John and the Norman Lords begin oppressing the Saxon masses in King Richard's absence, a Saxon lord fights back as the outlaw leader of a rebel guerrilla army.

Plot Keywords:

Prince | Outlaw | Forest | Sherwood Forest | Usurper

Awards:

Won 3 Oscars. Another 2 wins & 2 nominations

Cast

Errol Flynn	...	Robin Hood
Olivia de Havilland	...	Maid Marian
Basil Rathbone	...	Sir Guy of Gisbourne
Claude Rains	...	Prince John
Patric Knowles	...	Will Scarlett
Eugene Pallette	...	Friar Tuck
Alan Hale	...	Little John
Melville Cooper	...	High Sheriff of Nottingham
Ian Hunter	...	King Richard the Lion-Heart
Una O'Connor	...	Bess
Herbert Mundin	...	Much
Montagu Love	...	Bishop of the Black Canons
Leonard Willey	...	Sir Essex
Robert Noble	...	Sir Ralf
Kenneth Hunter	...	Sir Mortimer

Also Known As:

Robin Hood (Australia) (TV title)

MPAA:

Rated PG for adventure violence.

Runtime:

102 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Australia:PG (DVD rating) | USA:Approved (original rating) (PCA #3790) | Portugal:M/6 | Canada:G (video rating) | West Germany:6 (nf) | Germany:6 (video rating) | South Korea:12 (DVD rating) (2003) | USA:TV-G (TV rating) | New Zealand:G (single DVD) | New Zealand:PG (2 dvd set) | Sweden:Btl (uncut) (1969) | Argentina:Atp | Australia:G | Canada:F (Ontario) | Canada:G (Manitoba/Nova Scotia/Quebec) | Chile:TE | Finland:K-16 (1938) | Ireland:G | Norway:7 | Peru:PT | Sweden:Btl (cut) (1938) | UK:U | USA:PG (re-rating) (2003)

Filming Locations:

Alhambra, California, USA

Company:

Warner Bros. Pictures

Trivia:

German audiences will wait in vain for the notorious lines "You speak treason!" - "Fluently." In the German version, it is dubbed as "Ihr sprecht unbedacht!" - "Weiß ich." ("You speak before you think!" - "I know.") Probably they chose this quip (clever in its own right, but in a different vein than the original) because a more faithful translation would have lost the play on words completely.

Goofs:

Continuity: After his capture, the distant shots show Robin two steps below Prince John and Sir Guy. But during their conversation, they are on the same level.

Quotes:

[first lines]
Town Crier announcing capture of Richard: News has come from Vienna: "Leopold of Austria has seized King Richard on his return from the Crusades. Our king is being held prisoner. Nothing further is known. His Highness Prince John will make further public pronouncement tomorrow."

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Terror Night (1987)

"You Speak Treason"................................"Fluently"

Although my personal favorite among Errol Flynn's films is The Sea Hawk, most will argue that his career role was this one in The Adventures of Robin Hood. It certainly has a deserved enduring popularity that's lasted for generations.

Just about every version of the Robin Hood legend from Douglas Fairbanks's silent classic to the one in 1997 with Kevin Costner, deals with the same story facts. A young nobleman, deprived of his lands and title by Prince John and his cohorts, takes to Sherwood Forest and gathers a band which practices their own form of financial leveling. Robbing from the rich and giving to the poor until the day comes when good King Richard the Lionhearted comes back from the Crusades and sets things right.

Were there ever a more attractive and idealistic a pair of young lovers on the screen than Errol Flynn and Olivia DeHavilland? If there were, I'd be hard pressed to name them. They did eight films together from 1935 to 1941 and this one is probably the best. Errol all dash and charm and shy and retiring Olivia who just lights up the screen with beauty and romance.

Directors Michael Curtiz and William Keighley photographed this in some gorgeous technicolor. And they put together an almost perfect cast. You can't tell at all which scenes were directed by Curtiz and which by Keighley so seamless is the film's fabric.

The small roles are truly memorable. The best comic moments in the film come from Melville Cooper, the not quite so bold Sheriff of Nottingham and from Herbert Mundin and Una O'Connor as Much the Miller's Son from Robin Hood's band and DeHavilland's maid. Herbert Mundin was the first one in this cast to die, he was killed in an automobile accident just two years after this film was finished. He was a funny little man who played nervous types, a kind of English Don Knotts. But in what was probably his career role, he literally decides the fate of English history here in a superb act of bravery. We expect bravery and courage from the Errol Flynns on the screen, but Mundin's performance shows the virtue can be found in some of us you wouldn't expect. His is my favorite performance apart from the leads.

Basil Rathbone and Claude Rains make a superb pair of villains as Prince John and Guy of Gisborne. Rains covets the throne and Rathbone covets Olivia. They both provide the right touch of menace and make their performances real.

As I write this Olivia DeHavilland is the last surviving member of this classic film. During her career she fought hard with her studio to get roles where she would be more than the crinoline heroine waiting for her man to finish his brave deeds. She knew her worth and talent and got a pair of Oscars to prove it.

Back in the day DeHavilland dismissed films like The Adventures of Robin Hood. But several years back she attended a revival of both The Adventures of Robin Hood and Dodge City two very different type films she did with Errol Flynn.

As she watched it she saw the reverence and respect the audience had for both of these classics. When they were over she got a stunning ovation and she confessed that looking back now, she was real proud to have been associated with these films.

You have every reason to be proud Olivia. And we're real proud of you.