The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938)
If Disney was making non-animated features in the 1930s, this is what one would look like. And feel like. It's bright (the Technicolor is amazing), it's snappy, and it's cheerful. It has bits of humor throughout, and a likable hero who is a little super extra good at everything, and it has a slightly fairy tale quality to it all. That is to say, it's pure entertainment, and good stuff at its best.
And so it's a long long way from the 2009 Robin Hood which I only saw parts of, but which takes its violence very seriously, and its hero. This 1938 movie was made a year before the "Wizard of Oz" (another Technicolor fairy tale) and it dazzles as well as enchants. And even more than that more famous movie, "Robin Hood" is for kids. Adults can enjoy it, but it struck me as just silly at times.
The director, Michael Curtiz, is one of those malleable experts who four years later would make "Casablanca," and you might not see any resemblance for good reasons. Except that both are so well made. Four years after that was "Mildred Pierce," another masterpiece, and Curtiz again shows his chops. "Robin Hood" takes full advantage of its stars (Olivia de Havilland being a little miscast in my view but Claude Rains pulling off his own transformation very well), and it pulls out every larger than life tidbit in the Robin Hood legend, which is great stuff.
The story, above all, is one we can relate to, fighting evil with wit and panache and a little good bow and arrow work. It even has some of the tropes of a later classic, "Seven Samurai," as a band of talented rebels is gathered together one by one to fight the oppressive regimes. "Robin Hood" ended up just a little too lighthearted for my adult taste, but I know the kid in most of us will enjoy it straight through.
If Disney was making non-animated features in the 1930s, this is what one would look like. And feel like. It's bright (the Technicolor is amazing), it's snappy, and it's cheerful. It has bits of humor throughout, and a likable hero who is a little super extra good at everything, and it has a slightly fairy tale quality to it all. That is to say, it's pure entertainment, and good stuff at its best.
And so it's a long long way from the 2009 Robin Hood which I only saw parts of, but which takes its violence very seriously, and its hero. This 1938 movie was made a year before the "Wizard of Oz" (another Technicolor fairy tale) and it dazzles as well as enchants. And even more than that more famous movie, "Robin Hood" is for kids. Adults can enjoy it, but it struck me as just silly at times.
The director, Michael Curtiz, is one of those malleable experts who four years later would make "Casablanca," and you might not see any resemblance for good reasons. Except that both are so well made. Four years after that was "Mildred Pierce," another masterpiece, and Curtiz again shows his chops. "Robin Hood" takes full advantage of its stars (Olivia de Havilland being a little miscast in my view but Claude Rains pulling off his own transformation very well), and it pulls out every larger than life tidbit in the Robin Hood legend, which is great stuff.
The story, above all, is one we can relate to, fighting evil with wit and panache and a little good bow and arrow work. It even has some of the tropes of a later classic, "Seven Samurai," as a band of talented rebels is gathered together one by one to fight the oppressive regimes. "Robin Hood" ended up just a little too lighthearted for my adult taste, but I know the kid in most of us will enjoy it straight through.