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The Adventures of Robin Hood Movie Review

The Adventures of Robin Hood is a 1938 swashbuckler film directed by Michael Curtiz and starring Errol Flynn and Olivia de Havilland. It’s a spectacular adventure flick.

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“May I obey all your commands with equal pleasure, sire!“

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It follows the legendary Saxon knight Robin Hood who, in King Richard’s absence in the Holy Land during the Crusades, fights back as the outlaw leader of a rebel guerrilla band against Prince John and the Norman lords oppressing the Saxon commoners. This movie is admittedly more in line with Disney’s 1973 version of this tale than other more realistic, more history-heavy adaptations, but although a bit too silly at times, this approach mostly worked for me as this is a legend and not a true historical figure, so the fun swashbuckler approach was fitting.

Probably my least favorite part of this film is the first act, which was a bit slower in pace. The movie did not gain momentum from the first scene, which led to the archery tournament arriving quite late in the game. But still, even the beginning is pretty good, introducing us to its characters so well. The aforementioned tournament is a lot of fun as well.

I loved the romance. It was perfectly realized, so sweet and immensely charming. The highlight is the balcony scene, which reminded me so well of Romeo and Juliet, but it’s even better, more memorable and so damn charming. As for the ending, I absolutely adored it. The climactic duel between Robin Hood and Sir Guy is tremendously executed and hugely entertaining, and everything leading to the climax is excellent, especially Maid Marian’s suspenseful “treachery”.

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The characters are phenomenally developed and the performances are fabulous. Everyone was so perfectly cast here that this might be one of the best cast films of the thirties. Errol Flynn is the quintessential Robin Hood. We may never get a better Robin than him. Because he was a very acrobatic actor, he was perfect for this role physically speaking, but he also imbued a lot of charm and suave charisma into every single of his scenes.

Olivia de Havilland is also excellent as Maid Marian. She’s very charming herself, elegant and poised. The scenes between the two are immensely romantic as the two shared great chemistry together. The villains are terrific as well. Claude Rains played Prince John with a lot of campy theatricality, which fits the role so well, but Basil Rathbone was amazing as Sir Guy of Gisbourne. He is delightfully evil, but also very competent and a great duelist. Others such as Friar Tuck and Little John are admittedly less memorable, but still serviceable.

The Adventures of Robin Hood is technically arresting. The production design in particular. The sets are so meticulously crafted and grandiose that they felt very much real, both the castle and the forest exteriors. Some of the forest scenes are so endearing and adventurous while the castle is perfectly utilized in terms of action scenes.

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Yes, the action is fabulous here. Robin swings, jumps, runs and climbs throughout this movie and it was all gloriously entertaining like a good old swashbuckler adventure should be. Certainly some of the humor felt too silly and at least some darkness was needed to counteract it, but still the lightweight approach mostly worked wonders for this movie, making it timeless and still enjoyable to this day. The direction from Michael Curtiz is great as is the dialogue while the score is suitably spectacular. I am so glad that it won editing, score and production design Oscars as it really deserved them all.

Thanks to absolutely spectacular production design with many meticulously crafted sets, a phenomenal score and great direction, The Adventures of Robin Hood is an undeniable technical achievement that is also hugely entertaining and immensely charming. Yes, it can be too silly and comedic, but it’s mostly exceedingly enjoyable, quite romantic and it benefits from perfectly executed action sequences. The casting was also fabulous – Olivia de Havilland was a great Maid Marian, Claude Rains and Basil Rathbone were delightfully villainous as Prince John and Sir Guy and of course Errol Flynn is the quintessentially suave Robin Hood.

My Rating – 4.5

This classic is one of the best adventure movies of all time. You can get it on Amazon.