85 Year Anniversary of The Adventures of Robin Hood

 

                                    I was reminded while back that the classic swashbuckling film The Adventures of Robin Hood is 85 years old, and though I had to make a point at time to watch this earlier golden age of summer movies though there was so much I was doing I lost track of time, especially movies I was wanting to watch. And as luck would have it, we're still in the month of the summer Blockbuster movies seasons, so why not recommend a classic action genre that started the action-adventure genre. The Adventures of Robin Hood was one of the few films that set the standard for the golden age of action adventure, in fact it was one of these films alone that influenced George Lucas in creating the Star Wars Saga and the Indiana Jones Trilogy. The character of Robin Hood as always been kind of a folk lore in English literature moreover was a great way to use for movies back in the late thirties since it helped to get over the Great Depression and the beginning of World War II. So, let's get right down and talk about this 85-year-old classic.

                                    When King Richard the Lionheart is captured, his scheming brother Prince John (Claude Rains) plots to reach the throne, to the outrage of Sir Robin of Locksley (Errol Flynn), the bandit king of Sherwood Forrest. Rounding up his band of men and eventually winning the support of the lovely Maid Marion (Olivia de Havilland). 

                                    One of the first adaptations I've seen and moreover heard about the legend of Robin Hood was probably the Disney classic cartoon version of Robin Hood, which was a whole lot different than I remember when you compare the Errol Flynn version. Then when I got older and thanks to Turner Classic Movies I finally sat down and watched this great film, and to be truthful this is hands down one of the better adaptions to Robin Hood since Robin Hood: Men in Tights, though that's a spoof of the original but still is hilarious. And I still hold that as a fact because through the course of the years with Ridley Scott's version to 2018 film were they try to make him more like a Batman type character, and sure I can add the Kevin Costner one but it's been a long time since I watched that movie and I have no memory of it other than Costner not holding up on a English accent. But those movies I've listed alone still don't hold up as much as Michael Curtiz's adaptation, because this film has a strait forward story that gets right to the point and doesn't let up in terms of the action, romance and adventure that it provides. And sure, when you make a Robin Hood movie, you can probably make it realistic like Ridley Scott's version or make him a Batman type hero it just defeats the purpose of who he is, also when you change things about him it just doesn't seem fun at all. The film itself cost around two million dollars to make for which not is not much of course but at that time it was consider the most expensive film to date, moreover was almost the same amount as The Wizard of Oz but with another eight million more than Robin Hood, and really when you take a look at these kind of movies back in the mid-thirties it was really easy to make for many reasons California wasn't what it was today, moreover you can go to a nearby forest resort in Cali and film all of those scenes to make it look like it was set in Medieval England, and with the castile's scenes when it comes to interior shots all they really did was use a lot of Burbank Studio's in Warner Bros, to bring the Castle feel to life, for which yeah those are just standard things when it comes to filmmaking back in the late thirties but really you had to do that because the technology wasn't what it was until 1977 came around. One of the most interesting and the "really" fact, was that James Cagney was originally considered for the role of Robin Hood, Cagney in case you're not familiar with him he stared in a lot of those Gangster movies like Public Enemy moreover started in a lot of black and white films, furthermore I wouldn't consider Cagney for many reasons he just wouldn't fit the role of Robin Hood, since they we're shooting the whole film in color it was wise to cast Flynn as the dashing archer. Errol Flynn himself did a lot of his own stunts in the movie though there were some scenes in the movie where he didn't take part in like the famous scene where he's riding on the horse with his hands tied behind his back. Speaking of Stunts in the film, all the arrows in the film were shot by professional archer Howard Hill, moreover all those men that got shot by those arrows wore clothing padded with balsa wood on protective metal plates, those metal plates in fact prevented injury (though the impact was painful), and the arrows lodged in into the balsa wood to create the illusion of bodily penetration. There really nothing to say about Errol Flynn because let’s be honest movies like this were made for Flynn because the man was charming dashing and moreover looked like a great action star of the golden age of film, though one of those actors that deserve some recognition is Claude Rains who does such a great job playing a scheming, manipulative scumbag who will do everything to get what he wants, and if you don't believe me check out Casablanca because he does a great job playing that type of sleazy filth. The one interesting thing I found out was that there was two directors at the helm of Robin Hood, for which I didn't realize until I began researching a little bit about the movie, and although I didn't find much the only conclusion I found was that Curtiz and Flynn didn't like one another for the main reasons Flynn was married to Curtiz's wife and I guess that was the main reasons other than stunt works as well, but I think that was one of the main reasons for which is weird because Keighley was a great collaborator with Flynn and apparently the studio kicked Keighley to the curb and brought in Michael Curtiz but really yes Curtiz got the directing credit but Keighley was main reasons that this film worked. The movie itself is a breath of fresh air and was fantastic to watch from start to finish though I must admit this did reminded me of Robin Hood Men in Tights, because when they were preparing traps, I sang to myself "We're men in Tights" which is funny in fact I now need to watch that movie because that's another movie I haven't seen in a while. A great movie from start to finish and it needs to be seen because this was one of the few great films that reminds you of other great films like of course Star Wars and Indiana Jones but also Pirates of the Caribbean and the Princess Bride, and everyone needs to see this film to appreciate the fact that this was one of the few films that started off the Action/Adventure genre.