The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938)

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.

Directors:

Michael Curtiz, William Keighley

Writers:

Norman Reilly Raine (original screenplay: based upon ancient Robin Hood legends), Seton I. Miller (original screenplay: based upon ancient Robin Hood legends)

Stars:

Errol Flynn, Olivia de Havilland, Basil Rathbone

Won 3 Oscars. Another 3 wins & 2 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
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

Storyline

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.

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Plot Keywords:

swashbuckler | little john character | king john character | robin hood character | king richard lionheart character | 

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Taglines:

Only the rainbow can duplicate its brilliance!

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Genres:

Action | Adventure | Romance

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG for adventure violence

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

14 May 1938 (USA)

Also Known As:

The Adventures of Robin Hood

Filming Locations:

Jungleland, Thousand Oaks, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$1,900,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Warner Bros.

Technical Specs

Runtime:

102 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

One of the areas of conflict or dislike between Errol Flynn and director Michael Curtiz during this movie may have been because Flynn was married to Curtiz's former wife, Lili Damita.

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Goofs

Following his escape from the gallows, Robin closes the gate and then climbs over the wall and down a rope, while facing the wall. Just as he lands on the ground, while facing the wall, the scene jumps to a close-up showing him landing facing away from the wall.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Title card: In the year of Our Lord 1191 when Richard, the Lion-Heart, set forth to drive the infidels from the Holy Land, he gave the Regency of his Kingdom to his trusted friend, Longchamps, instead of to his treacherous brother, Prince John.
Title card: Bitterly resentful, John hoped for some disaster to befall Richard so that he, with the help of the Norman barons, might seize the throne for himself. And then on a luckless day for the Saxons...
Town Crier announcing capture of Richard: News has come from Vienna: "Leopold of Austria has seized...

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Crazy Credits

The Warner Brothers shield is in the form of an English coat of arms.

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Connections

Referenced in The Band Wagon (1953)

User Reviews

Color. Costumes. Fun. Film History.

The first big budget 100% color film, The Adventures of Robin Hood is a rousing, sweet-tempered and big, fun film.

To be candid, many things about the movie have suffered in the 70 years since its release. History, uh, no, there's none of that here. It's all very mythic and fairy tale. The continuity errors shouldn't even be called errors; they are pretty much continuous (so when I found out it won Best Editing at the Oscars I laughed). The score, made much of on the DVD case, and an Oscar winner at the 11th Oscars, is bombastic, repetitive and completely at odds with the scenery at least 80% of the time, IMNSHO.

That said, the dialog still crackles, the costumes are UNBELIEVABLE and gracefully shot, Olivia de Havilland is stunningly gorgeous, Basil Rathbone is young and evil, Claude Rains plays John as gayer than a go go dancer on Pride day, and Errol Flynn takes effortless het masculinity and a beautiful smile further than it should legally be allowed to go. All the bit parts are well cast, and while it's not possible to know for sure, the whole production looks like everyone in it had a scenery chewing bang up good time. The bit parts are SO well cast, that Roy Rogers bought Trigger, the horse that Olivia de Havilland rides, and Trigger then rode out into history.

And when Olivia exclaims "You speak treason!" and Errol replies, purringly, "Fluently!" you'll smile. Recommended; a great movie for the whole family.