Search - The Adventures of Robin Hood on DVD

MPAA Rating: PG Content Advisory: Suitable for Children Movie Release: 1938 DVD Release: 09/30/2003 Format: DVD - Closed Captioned Edition: Dual Layered Audio Tracks: English, French, Spanish Subtitles: English, French, Spanish SwapaDVD Credits: 2 Number of Discs: 2 Run Time: 1 hrs 42 mins Studio: Warner Home Video Members Wishing: 40 Genres: Adventure, Swashbuckler, Romantic Adventure, Costume Adventure See Also: The Adventures of Robin Hood [HD DVD], The Adventures of Robin Hood [Blu-ray]

In order to avoid the material copyrighted by Douglas Fairbanks Sr. for his 1922 Robin Hood, the scripters of this Flynn version relied on several legendary episodes that had never before been filmed, notably the battle between Robin and Little John (Alan Hale Sr., who played this part three times in his long career) and the "piggy-back" episode between Robin and Friar Tuck (Eugene Pallette). The film ties together the various ancient anecdotes with a storyline bounded by the capture in Austria of Richard the Lionheart (Ian Hunter) on one end and Richard's triumphant return to England on the other. Robin Hood is already an outlaw at the outset of the film, while Maid Marian (Olivia de Havilland) is initially part of the enemy camp, as one of Prince John's (Claude Rains) entourage. Marian warms up to Robin's fight against injustice (and to Robin himself), eventually becoming a trusted ally. James Cagney was originally announced for the role of Robin Hood, just before Cagney left Warner Bros. in a salary dispute. William Keighley was the original director, but he worked too slowly to suit the tight production schedule and was replaced by Michael Curtiz (both men receive screen credit). A lengthy opening jousting sequence was shot but removed from the final print; portions of this sequence show up as stock footage in the 1957 Warners film The Story of Mankind. The chestnut-colored Palomino horse ridden by de Havilland in the Sherwood Forest scenes later gained screen stardom as Roy Rogers' Trigger. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Errol Flynn - Robin Hood
Olivia de Havilland - Maid Marian
Basil Rathbone - Sir Guy of Gisbourne
Claude Rains - Prince John
Patric Knowles - Will Scarlett

Warner Home Video's special edition of Michael Curtiz's The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938) rivals the company's earlier special DVD editions of Casablanca and Singin' in the Rain. The film-to-video transfer offers resolution and color rivaling that of even restored theatrical prints, and is the first home-viewing edition to exceed the quality of the Criterion CAV laserdisc of more than a decade past. In addition to the movie, the DVD comes with an optional commentary track by Rudy Behlmer, perhaps the foremost expert in the history of Warner Bros., who takes viewers on an entertaining tour through the movie, its history (including the origins of the Robin Hood legend and the original Warner Bros. notion of doing the film with James Cagney), its actors, directors (which included several beyond William Keighley and Curtiz), various creative hands, and the crew. By itself, that would justify the cost, but the second disc comes complete with outtakes, a chronologically related Warner Bros. blooper reel, a pair of thematically related Warner Bros. cartoons (the better of which features Bugs Bunny), a radio broadcast version of the story, a portrait of Errol Flynn, home movies of Basil Rathbone, and documentaries about the making of the movie and about Technicolor in the 1930s. All of this material, in tandem with Behlmer's work, makes the disc good for about a week of entertainment.

The set is well organized, following the same pattern as on the Casablanca two-disc Special Edition. The first disc is the primary part of the release, and is a state-of-the-art creation. The Academy ratio (1.33:1) film is a full-screen release with no 16 x 9 enhancement needed or desired -- the sharpness is downright astounding at various points. The audio has been set at a healthy volume that brings out the boldness of Erich Wolfgang Korngold's score, which Behlmer delves into in detail in his discussion. It's little known today, but The Adventures of Robin Hood very likely saved Korngold and his family from a terrible fate. The Viennese composer had hesitated to take on the movie, thinking it didn't offer him anything as a composer, and had returned home, when he was advised by a friend with better political instincts not only to accept the project, but also to arrange to bring his whole family to Hollywood while he worked on it -- they got out of Austria not too far ahead of the Nazis coming in. Both discs open automatically on menus that are nicely structured and allow the viewer to roam freely over their contents. ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide