This is still the best movie about the legendary outlaw, it's swashbuckling adventure defined! it shows almost all the most important and famous pats of the legend and does so with happy optimism and wonderful fight scenes. Robin Hood is one of those characters who's story was made to be told this way, no "updating" needed, no dark and brooding Robin of Locksley needed! It's upbeat and colorful, it's a fun adventure flick that has stood the test of time. Errol Flynn will always be the best Robin Hood!

Michael Curtiz and William Keighley's "Adventures of Robin Hood" is a swashbuckler all right, but it's a little more than that: the film is a time capsule of Hollywood's Golden Age (tainted with emerald brilliance). Even if you didn't see, you certainly saw countless movies that owe something to it, starting with the score from Erich Wolfgang Korngold, the European composer who intuitively knew that a score should be composed of various and light motifs, indicating a different shift of tones, romantic, ominous, thrilling, but with a main musical theme to overarch the whole thing, Korngold was the James Horner of his time.Since the score is the first notable quality, it was a necessary preamble, now, what's the second thing you notice? Exactly. When you think of masterpieces in color, your mind prompts you to 1939 with "Gone With the Wind" and "The Wizard of Oz", movies that are impossible to imagine in monochrome. Maybe you would also think of Disney's milestone "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" of 1937, but don't overlook the year between them. The glorious Technicolor picture, with a unique and defining pastel-like saturation, came from Warner Bros, of all the studios, the one that built its reputation for black-and-white gangster pictures. But the studios had a trick in their sleeve, a dashing new leading man for a dashing hero, no time for baddies!And Robin Hood is perhaps the most enduring of all heroes, an outlaw who rebels against a tyrant and leads a guerrilla like a Medieval "Che". There's something so timeless about his crusade, "stealing from the rich to give to the poor" is a rather revolutionary notion, and the film insists in showing the oppression inflicted by despotic and despicable Prince John (Claude Rains as cunning as his Captain Renault but without the warmth), they allow Maid Marian (OIivia de Havilland) to reconsider her opinion about the King and Robin, but it also helps us to free our hearts from any mercy when the villains are shot. This is no "rebel without a cause", like Zorro or Superman, Robin fights for truth and justice and the just way, not the Norman or Saxon way.And just like these superheroes, Robin Hood has the outfit: the bow and arrows, and the hat that put 'conic' in iconic. Sure, legends, ancient writings suggest various versions of Robin Hood (even Lionheart's reputation seemed to be closer to Scar than Mufasa) but still, the 1938 version features the definite green-clad Robin Hood, king of the bucolic scenery of Sherwood Forest and leader of the Merrie Men. So many good things depend on this representation: gentle giant Little John (Alan Hale), comic relief Much (Herbert Mundin), Friar Tuck, Prince John, Sir Guy of Gisbourne (Basil Rathbone as the perfect nemesis) and buffoonish Sheriff of Nottingham (Melville Cooper). I grew up with the Disney version but this film made me feel at home, it had everything, even the archery tournament, which I thought was a Disney invention. And Errol Flynn even managed to surpass the fox, I was surprised by how good he was. When he confronts Prince John, there's something defiant in his eyes, in his razor-sharp wit that almost equals John's evil suaveness. And his eyes aren't just there to deliver stares, look at him watching the door being closed and anticipating his escape, , this is not your grandstanding hero making all solemn poses, he's a man of action, conventional maybe, but aren't getting all too cynical about things? I'm the first New Hollywood fan, and I love my character edgy, cynical, antiheroic, I love my story to be a multilayered bag of contradictions, of delightful and dark ironies... but sometimes, I'm wondering if we're not giving too much credit to villains? Maybe heroes are tougher to play because the actor has to make them look interesting, Robin Hood isn't just about archery and fights, he's got charm, wit, charisma, even nobility and Errol Flynn knew how to convey these virtues because you could tell he took his role seriously yet had fun playing it, unlike comatose Kevin Costner in "Prince of Thieves" or Russel Crowe as 'Maximus in tights'. A good thing James Cagney declined the role for only an actor of Flynn's stature could play Robin Hood with such gusto, like Douglas Fairbanks a decade before. The Warner producers noticed his energetic and flamboyant performance as "Captain Blood" and knew he had the right stuff, the hero we immediately idolize, the man's man. And the woman's man as well.Olivia de Havilland's youthful beauty is so adorable and breathtaking she's the perfect match for Robin, an Alpha woman for an Alpha male, she's as brave as he's fearless, as noble in blood as she's in spirit and even she has a funny lady-in-waiting in Bess, played by the irresistible and fidgety Una O'Connor (her flirting with Much was cute beyond words). Robin's journey couldn't do without the romance and the beautiful balcony pledge of love, but once again, the film challenges your expectations and instead of ending with a conventional ride into the sunset, it ends with a funny line and an abrupt ending that respects the spirit of the hero and doesn't overplay the romantic tone.Now, I started by saying that it's more than a swashbuckler, but let's keep in mind that it's one after all, and the ultimate one. The swordfights (especially the climax) are wonderfully executed. While most action movies today mix messy fights where people get shot for real fights, looking at the stunts involving the arrows, the way Flynn ride the top atop the castle, you can tell they're not perfect but that's because they're real. For all it's old-fashioned look, "The Adventures of Robin Hood" still holds up today and is so generous in fun, thrills and colors that it's a school-case of classical film-making and entertainment, a game-changing milestone to content any movie lover.

Executive producer: Hal B. Wallis. In charge of production: Jack L. Warner. Copyright 14 March 1938 by Warner Bros. Pictures, Inc. New York opening at the Radio City Music Hall, 12 May 1938 (ran 3 weeks). U.S. release: 14 May 1938. Australian release: 15 September 1938. 11 reels. 9,177 feet. 102 minutes. (Available on a superb Warner DVD). SYNOPSIS: England, 1194. Loyal "outlaw" defeats the ambitions of usurping Prince John.NOTES: "Unfortunately, the action scenes were ineffective, and I was forced to replace the director in mid-production. I felt that only Mike Curtiz could give the picture the color and scope it needed. Why hadn't we used him in the first place? Errol wanted Keighley (who had directed him in The Prince and The Pauper)." — Hal B. Wallis.Dawson, Weyl and Korngold all won awards in their various categories. Also nominated for Best Picture (lost to You Can't Take It With You). Number 8 on the New York Times Ten Best list. Number 7 on the Film Daily Ten Best. Shooting commenced 27 September 1937, finished 15 January 1938. Negative cost: $1,900,000.COMMENT: We can be thankful that Warners saw the error of their ways. Fortunately, there is far more Curtiz than Keighley in the picture. It starts off with Curtiz in the great castle confrontation between Flynn and Rains and then goes into the weaker Keighley stuff in which Una O'Connor is allowed to put on her usual tiresome antics as Maid Marian's maid and Herbert Mundin is encouraged to overact atrociously.Olivia de Havilland is also extremely wet — a fact that Keighley seems to have realized. He asked the photographer to give her some extra allure by soft lensing her reaction shots. Patric Knowles is likewise a far too colorless a Will Scarlett, and even Rathbone seems somewhat bland in the Keighley segments. He's much more powerful under Curtiz where he really delivers his lines with as much relish as he wields his sword. What a shame Curtiz wasn't permitted to re-shoot more of the Keighley material! Richard is weak too, while Littlejohn and Friar Tuck are also disappointing — Curtiz would have given them far greater impact. But Flynn is always perfect — a dashing Robin Hood whom it takes no less than three villains to balance: Rathbone as the fastest swordsman in the north, deliciously blustering Melville Cooper, sublimely egocentric Claude Rains. Fed with some marvelous lines, these three are absolutely admirable in nastiness. As for all the action with its stupendous climactic duel between Flynn and Rathbone, plus the sumptuous music score, the gorgeous sets, pacey film editing, exuberant color . . . Robin Hood is simply unbeatable.

Few storybooks have been more brilliantly brought to life, page for page, chapter for chapter, derring-do for derring-do than this full-coloured recounting of the fabulous deeds of legend's arch-archer, Sir Robin of Locksley. In Errol Flynn, Sir Robin of Sherwood Forest has found his man, a swashbuckler from peaked cap to pointed toe, defiant of his enemies and England's, graciously impudent with his lady love, quick for a fight or a frolic. He moves swiftly when there's need and Guy of Gisbourne rues it.Author - Neville Bardoli IMDb