Robin Hood's Very Fine Adventures

Radio Record, Volume XII, Issue 31, 13 January 1939, Page 16

Robin Hood's Very Fine Adventures

["The Adventures of Robin Hood." Warner Bros. Directed by Michael Curtiz and William Keighley. Starring Errol Flynn, Otivia de Havilland, Basil Rathbone, Claude Rains. First release: Wellington, January 12; ape and Christchurch, January ND now some of the wiseacres are telling’ us that there néver was such a person as Robin Hood, that he is just a fragment of folk-legend. Don’t you believe it. Go along to this new Warner Bros. picture and you will meet a-Robin Hood who is as real and vivid as anyone could wish. He looks and behaves a bit like Captain Blood and the young man who led the Charge of the Light Brigade; but is none the less the almost perfect personification of all one’s romantic, childhood images of the Robber of Sherwood Forest, who plundered the Norman rich to give to the AngloSaxon poor. ‘

This heroic, allegedly nonexistent figure moves in an en-_ chanted world which is as momentarily real, as richly hued in Technicolor, as the cinematic realm of Snow White and her seven dwarfs. The men behind the colour cameras for "The Adventures of Robin Hood," and the setdesigners, had the souls of artists, plus technical efficiency and apparently bottomless purses. Where Skies Are Blue JN the Merrie Engiand of their creation, the skies have the purnished blue appearance of Southern Italy, the greenwood is gloriously and everlastingly green, and, in the raiment of the populace, reds and blues and yellows jostle one another in spectacular and continuous profusion. One might pause for a moment to wonder if the England of 1190 enjoyed such continuously fine weather and if the lords and ladies-and even Robin Hood’s merry men-hbhad the benefit’ of such expert tailoring and laundering; but that is a reflection rather out of keeping with such a picture. The first thing to do is to accept it in the spirit in which it is offered; and then everything is for the best in this best of all adventure films-at least, that’s the way | feel about it. Fond Memories O be quite frank, I did not altogether expect to feel that way about it, for almost my earliest, clearest and fondest recollection of the cinema is of Douglas Fairbanks in doublet and hose leaping like a young gazelle through Sherwood Forest, swinging from battlement to batilement, a |

and shooting arrows into his foes with horrid thuds that you could sense but not hear. (You can hear them now, when Errol Flynn wields Robin Hood’s longbow, and the effect is'twice as thrilling.) . . ° Flynn.omits the gazelie-antics of Fairbanks, but is otherwise just as.- fabulously athletic, whether he be bandying quarterstaff blows with Little John, hacking his way" with a broadsword out of tight corners in Nottingham Castle, or merely scaling the. ivy for a midnight rendezvous. with Maid Marian. He and his robber band, their allies and enemies, should do nothing to spoil any fond memories you may have of the earlier "Robin Hood." Re-told, the story loses none of its atmosphere of sword-swishing, head-thwacking, bow-bending deeds of derring do; but instead, enances its appeal enormously with the flamboyance of Technicolor. It is incredible, but it is magnificent.

Headlong Action LF you have thought that the day of the "costume picture" is over and that they have lost the art of producing movies in which the emphasis is on action and spectacle, I would recommend you to see "The: Adventures of Robin Hood" in order to get some idea of what this kind of film-making really means. . It means that the whole picture moves in 2a headlong rush of action; it means that it is utterly honest in its purpose and entirely lacking in intellectual pretence; it

means, too, the employment (presumably without counting the cost) of two ace directors-Michael Curtiz and William Keighley-who miraculously were able to work in harmony, and an all-star cast who ali seem to glory in their roles, including (in addition to Errol Flynn), Olivia De Havilland, 3 Maid Marian, with the prettiest smile in Hollywood, and as appealing a damsel in distress as ever

came out of a storybook; Basil Rathbone as Robin’s arch-enemy, Sir Guy of Gisbourne, superbly sinister and full of his own dignity; Claude Rains as Prince John; a crafty, sneering beast of a man; Alan Hale (a veteran of the Fairbanks film) as doughty Little John; and podgy Eugene Pallette as Friar Tuck. "English" Richard THERE is also Ian Hunter, malking a thoroughly roast-heef monarch of Richard the Lionheart,

‘or whose sake Robin Hood. holds Sherwood Forest against Prince John and his henchmen, and rouses the peasantry to resistance. Richard is always regarded as such a thoroughly English king that, whenever he is mentioned, I can never resist the temptation to shatter a few cherished illusions by pointing out. that, in sober fact, it is questionable if he lived a full year in England throughout his whole life, or even if he could speak English. But that is one of the points on which you will do well not to dwell if you want to savour this picture to the full. To all the above stars must be added a host of small-part players who, glimpsed briefly though many of them are, represent the polished, whole-hearted. capability which is typical of the production. ‘For merit of acting, the palm goes to Rathbone and Rains rather than to Flynn. The suave deliberation with which these two gentlemen perform is in contrast to the work of the title star, which is more notable for enthusiasm than anything else. But this is not to suggest that it is out of key with the tone of the picture. Daring Deeds N fact, for an imaginary character, Robin Hood provides amazingly solid entertainment. Most of the popular episodes in the 800-year-old legend have been woven into the screen-play, including Robin’s rescue of Much-the Miller’s son from a charge of poaching, his defiance of Prince John and escape from a castle bristling with Norman men-at-arms, his quarterstaff contest with Little John and enlistment of Friar Tuck, his wooing of Maid Marian, his ambush of the sheriff with King Richard’s ransom money, his marvellous feats at the archery tourna-

ment, his near-hanging, and the final duel with Sir Guy of Gisbourne which makes the spacious corridors of Nottingham Castle ring with the prolonged clash of ‘steel, Although all this heroic swashbuckling is in the cause of the oppressed, as a peace-lover. I suppose I should deplore the film’s glorification of violent deeds and the emphasis which it puts on the doctrine that might is right. As a film fan, however, I can only say that [ enjoyed it all very thoroughly.