The Adventures of Robin Hood 1938 123movies

Watch: The Adventures of Robin Hood 1938 123movies, Full Movie Online – Sir Robin of Locksley, defender of downtrodden Saxons, runs afoul of Norman authority and is forced to turn outlaw. With his band of Merry Men, he robs from the rich, gives to the poor and still has time to woo the lovely Maid Marian, and foil the cruel Sir Guy of Gisbourne, and keep the nefarious Prince John off the throne..
Plot: Robin Hood fights nobly for justice against the evil Sir Guy of Gisbourne while striving to win the hand of the beautiful Maid Marian.
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Ratings:

	7.9/10 Votes: 51,440
	100% | RottenTomatoes
	97/100 | MetaCritic
	N/A Votes: 585 Popularity: 12.825 | TMDB

Reviews:

Outstanding – no other word for this. Easily the best of the adaptations of the “Robin Hood” stories of English folklore from the end of the 13th century. The magnificent colour, costumes, sword and archery prowess, even the slightly unconvincing sets all contribute to an excellent effort. Errol Flynn leads as as the loyal, mischievous outlaw who defies and systematically robs the rich and redistributes to the poor, whilst he awaits the return of the kidnapped King Richard from his prison in Austria. Basil Rathbone, as “Guy of Gisbourne” steals this for me; he really does convey a degree of menace and I certainly would rather he had come out on top in the end!! Olivia de Havilland and Claude Rains are brilliant too – as is the underrated Melville Cooper as the hugely incompetent High Sheriff, and Alan Hale who reprises his role as “Little John” from the 1922 (Douglas Fairbanks) silent version of this legend. Eugene Pallette and Patric Knowles lead the rest of the usual suspects who make up a wonderfully enthusiastic supporting cast and Korngold comes up with, arguably, his best score of all for this fantastic historical drama.

The Definitive Robin Hood

A classic in beautiful Technicolor with iconic fencing scenes, dastardly villains, and the definitive Robin and Marian. Mixing adventure, humor, and romance, Michael Curtiz’s film set the bar for Robin Hood movies for decades, so much so that there was a slew of Robin Hood movies in the 40s and 50s that were actually about the sons and daughters of Robin Hood, not wanting to be compared to this version. All the iconic scenes from the story are there, from the staff fight with Little John to the archery contest to Marian’s rescue. Errol Flynn’s best known performance, with De Havilland and Rathbone memorable as Maid Marian and Sir Guy of Gisborne. A treat for young and old.

In like Flynn – the ultimate Sherwood classic
This film *is* the Robin Hood of the screen: it’s merry and witty, tender and bold, impudent, dashing and brightly clad… and an undoubted legend in its own lifetime! I recently had the chance to see it in the cinema for the first time, with the release of the remastered print, and wondered if it could possibly hold up to televised childhood memories. The joyous answer is that indeed it does. It’s not only the breathtaking adventure I remembered; it’s a fiery and surprisingly gentle romance that isn’t afraid of laughs.

It’s unthinkable, once you’ve seen it, to imagine this film with anyone other than Errol Flynn. Every subsequent interpreter has had to struggle to reclaim the part from the memory of his roguery and grace – and most modern ‘Robin’s have been handicapped by an insistence on authentic mediaeval murk and grime. In the 1930s, with Technicolour the latest craze, mud and homespun were the last thing a studio wanted. Flynn’s Robin Hood sports the Lincoln green of legend and a forest as brightly coloured as a painted backdrop, and the rich furs and silks on show at Nottingham Castle are straight out of fairy-tale; or an illuminated manuscript.

The story itself is purest escapist magic. Greedy barons, a wicked usurper, a rightful king in exile, and a proud beauty in distress… and, of course, England’s eponymous outlaw hero, robbing the rich to give to the poor with a jest on his lips in true swashbuckler style. The script sparkles. And the stunts, in those days before wire-fu or CGI, are all for real and still take the breath away. Flynn was in superb physical condition at the time – co-star Basil Rathbone, who played his proud opponent and would-be suitor to Marian’s hand, Guy of Gisbourne, described him simply as ‘a perfect male animal’ – and misses no opportunity to show off his flamboyance.

Unlike today’s pretty-boy heroes, however, Flynn shows a surprising talent for acting with his face alone. The expressive reaction shots throughout his boudoir scene with Marian tell a different tale to the quickfire banter of his words, and, like Marian, despite ourselves we are drawn in. Olivia de Havilland, as Marian, is somewhat ill-served by her period costume – she is at her most beautiful in this scene, without her hair confined in her wimple – but together they duel their way through a classic tempestuous romance of the high-born lady and the outlaw, ultimately risking their lives to save each other. Marian is no anachronistic action heroine, but no-one, not even Robin, can keep her from what she thinks is right.

As Guy of Gisbourne, Basil Rathbone is also playing one of the landmark roles of his career, and gives a superb performance. His Gisbourne is no cardboard villain, but a clever, arrogant man, who matches wits and blades with Robin as a worthy rival, and whose courtship of Marian is not without grace. And his wily master, rufous Plantagenet Prince John (Claude Rains, in a small but well-cast part) is no fool either. He knows precisely what he wants and what he can get away with, wasting no time in bluster or empty threats.

Comedy of a broader nature is provided by the cowardly Sheriff of Nottingham, and by Bess, Marian’s maid. But even Bess’s farcical courtship with timid Much (she has buried more husbands than he has had kisses) is not without its tender moments, and perhaps only the Sheriff is entirely a cut-out figure of fun.

Few people can whistle ‘the theme from Robin Hood’. But the famous Korngold score, with its full orchestral depth and rousing fanfares, is as familiar today as it was seventy years ago, when it won its Academy Award. From the faultless casting through unforgettable pageantry and timeless romance to the final spectacular duel, when Robin and Gisbourne meet “once too often”, this picture richly deserves its reputation as *the* Robin Hood on film – from which on present showing it is unlikely ever to be dethroned.

Best Swashbuckler Ever
The legend of Robin Hood has been filmed many times, but probably remains the best-known version, despite the fact that it was made nearly three quarters of a century ago. It sticks closely to the traditional story. Robin is a dispossessed Saxon nobleman, the Earl of Locksley, during the reign of Richard the Lionheart. Richard is being held prisoner by his enemy Leopold of Austria, and his brother Prince John has usurped power in England and is plotting to usurp the throne. Robin leads a rebel army against the tyrannical John and against the corrupt Norman barons who are oppressing the Saxon commoners by imposing heavy taxes on them. A subplot deals with Robin’s romance with Maid Marian and his enmity with the wicked Sir Guy of Gisbourne, a prominent supporter of John and his rival for Marian’s hand.

Filmed versions of the Robin Hood story often reflect the periods in which they were made. The Richard Greene television version from the fifties reflected the patriotic sentiments widespread in a decade when many Britons were talking about a “New Elizabethan Age”. Richard Lester’s “Robin and Marian” from 1976 was a dull, pessimistic film for the dull, pessimistic seventies. Kevin Costner’s “Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves”, made in a more optimistic period following the end of the Cold War, restored something of the swashbuckling glamour to the story but, in keeping with nineties political correctness, introduced a prominent black character. The recent Russell Crowe version gives us a grittier, more egalitarian Robin, no longer an earl or a knight but a man of the common people.

“The Adventures of Robin Hood” was made in 1938, only a year before the outbreak of war, when Europe was confronted by the menace of Fascism, and clearly reflects many of the concerns of those days. Robin and his men stand against both tyranny and racism. Although they are fighting for the rights of the oppressed Saxon peasantry, they do not hate the Normans. (“It’s injustice, not Normans that I hate”, says Robin). They are not fighting to reverse the Norman Conquest, to restore a Saxon to the throne or to expel the Normans from England. Rather, they recognise Richard as their rightful King and dream of a future in which Normans and Saxons can live in peace together with equal rights. Despite this stress on the Rights of Man, however, the scriptwriters may have thrown a sop to that influential lobby which wanted America to keep out of foreign wars; towards the end Richard makes a speech regretting his involvement in the Crusades and promising that in future he will devote all his energies to his own country.

The continuing appeal of this film, however, has nothing to do with its relevance to thirties politics and a lot to do with the dash and style with which it was made. It was shot in Technicolor, still very much an innovation in 1938 even for swashbuckling adventure stories. It starred in the leading role Errol Flynn, probably the most charismatic adventure hero of the period, who gave one of the most perfectly judged performances of his career. Flynn’s leading lady was (as so often was the case) the lovely Olivia de Havilland; this was the third of eight films they were eventually to make together. The director Michael Curtiz was to direct Flynn and de Havilland in another film, “Dodge City”, the following year.

The film gives us not one but three memorable villains, all carefully differentiated from one another. Claude Rains plays the smooth, scheming Prince John, Melville Cooper provides comic relief as the cowardly, inept Sheriff of Nottingham and Basil Rathbone almost eclipses Flynn as Gisbourne, a man whose aristocratic demeanour barely conceals the fact that he is really no more than a crude thug. His final, justly famous, swordfight with Robin provides the great climax to the film. The swordfight is one of a number of great action sequences- others include the archery tournament and the scene where the Merry Men ambush Gisbourne’s party transporting tax money through Sherwood Forest. (And Sherwood does look convincingly like an English woodland, something which was not always the case during this period in Hollywood films supposedly set in England. The rural scenes in another Flynn movie from the following year, “The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex”, were all too obviously shot in that corner of England which is forever California).

Flynn was one of those actors who had a fairly small range but could give some excellent performances if he remained within that range. (In “Elizabeth and Essex”, for example, he was perhaps straying a bit too far from his comfort zone). As a swashbuckling hero he had never been surpassed and never, really, even been equalled. (Tyrone Power and Stewart Granger have perhaps come the closest; Burt Lancaster’s efforts in the genre, like “The Flame and the Arrow” and “The Crimson Pirate” do not really measure up). “The Adventures of Robin Hood” is perhaps the best swashbuckler ever made. 9/10

Other Information:

Original Language en
Runtime 1 hr 42 min (102 min)
Budget 2033000
Revenue 3981000
Status Released
Rated PG
Genre Action, Adventure, Romance
Director Michael Curtiz, William Keighley
Writer Norman Reilly Raine, Seton I. Miller, Rowland Leigh
Actors Errol Flynn, Olivia de Havilland, Basil Rathbone
Country United States
Awards Won 3 Oscars. 6 wins & 2 nominations total
Production Company N/A
Website N/A

Technical Information:

Sound Mix Mono
Aspect Ratio 1.37 : 1
Camera TECHNICOLOR THREE-STRIP CAMERA, Technicolor, Technicolor 3 Strip, Technicolor Three-Strip Camera
Laboratory Technicolor (photographed in)
Film Length (11 reels), 3,035 m
Negative Format 35 mm (Three-Strip Technicolor), 35 mm (color), 35 mm
Cinematographic Process Technicolor, Technicolor (1937), Spherical
Printed Film Format 16 mm, 35 mm (Technicolor), 35 mm (color), Super 8, 35 mm