MAJESTIC THEATRE

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 83, Issue 49, 28 February 1939, Page 9

MAJESTIC THEATRE

“ADVENTURES OF ROBIN HOOD” "The of Robin Hood,” a technicolour melodrama, produced by Warner Bros., starring Errol Flynn, and featuring Olivia de Havilland, Claude Rains, Basil Rathbone, lan Hunter, and a supporting cast of some thousand players, is continuing its Wanganui season at the Majestic Theatre. The handsome young star, Errol Flynn, who had such triumphs in “Captain Blood” and “The Charge of the Light Brigade,” plays Robin. The beautiful young Olivia de Havilland, who was the heroine of this successes, is Maid Marian. This is their third picture together, and it excels its predecessors. This version of “The Adventures of Robin Hood” is altogether different from the great picture which Douglas Fairbanks made in silent form in 1922. It is filled with fighting—bows and arrows, quarter staffs, pikes and broadswords being the weapons—and is played in immense and beautiful scenic settings both indoors and out. Years of research preceded the filming of the great production. All of the vast body of “Robin Hood” literature was finecombed by the research department of Warner Bros, in order to find out the customs of the folks of that era, what they wore, what they ate, what kind of furniture they had, and all the other details that make for authentic movie props. A special contingent of the department worked only on the medieval weapons—bows and arrows, quarter-staves and pikes —which play a large part in the action of the picture. The original story and the screen play were devised by Norman Reilly Raine and Seton I. Miller, and has several of the well-authenticated incidents contained in most of the legends surrounding England’s greatest outlaw, but the bulk of the story is original in form. Four of the eleven existing technicolour cameras in the world, each valued at £7500, were employed throughout the making of this thrilling romance.