ADVENTURES OF ROBIN HOOD, THE

(May 1938, U.S.)

Sometimes I think I was born in the wrong era, because I occassionally fantasize about what it must have been like to be a kid in 1938, attending a Saturday matinee at the local movie house (that's right - I said LOCAL MOVIE HOUSE - now virtually extinct, replaced by the dreaded multiplex!) for a mere ten cents and watching Errol Flynn swashbuckle across the screen in living Technicolor.

By now, the legend of Robin Hood is no stranger to anyone who's ever read a book or been to the movies. He's been played by the likes of others like Sean Connery, Kevin Costner - hell, even Daffy Duck! This summer he'll be played again by Russell Crowe in Ridley Scott's version. It's a character that's been played in the movies probably nearly as many times as Dracula (it's SO nice to know that Hollywood has such a huge array of material they can keep recycling over and over again).

To watch this 1938 film is definitely an exercise in one's imagination and open mindedness, especially by today's action movie standards of speed, violence and CGI effects. But take a moment to look closer and you can appreciate the action, the thrills and even the dialogue of another time, when American films were just a bit more innocent in content, and just as much fun as they can be today. Any blockbuster film you've seen over the years involving pirates, King Arthur or ancient titans of Greek mythology would likely owe a great deal of gratitude to director Michael Curtiz's unique style of adventure that comes through on the screen.

And something else to remember, people of today's generation - back in the 1930's, actor Erro Flynn WAS the adventurous Russell Crowe of today (he was also Australian). He WAS the Saturday matinee movie idol that children and adults enjoyed paying what little money they could afford (during the Great Depression) to go to the movies.

You know what else I've come to realize about Robin Hood? He was a British legend and only ONCE has an actual British actor played him on screen - it was Cary Elwes playing him in Mel Brooks' ROBIN HOOD: MEN IN TIGHTS, a comedy spoof of Robin Hood, of all things.

Favorite line or dialogue:

Bishop: "Is it of your own freewill that you juxtapose your brother, Richard the Lionheart of England?"
Prince John: "Richard no longer exists! From this moment forward, I John, am king of England!"
King Richard: "Aren't you a little premature, brother?"
All: "Richard!"