I served my mission in Roseville California, and my favorite city was Chico. In the middle of the town was a large park that had large trees and grassy areas. I was told that it was in this park that they filmed many of the scenes from The Adventures of Robin Hood, so for the last thirteen years I have been interested in seeing this film. Many times I have tried to watch it but to no avail. Finally, I forced myself to watch it, and boy was I sad that I waited so long to see it.
It is the typical Robin Hood story of robbing from the rich to feed the poor, and over through evil Prince John to welcome back King Richard from the Crusades. Robin Hood, played by Errol Flynn, is causing an uprising against Prince John (Claude Rains), Sir Guy of Gisbourne (played by the marvelous Basil Rathbone) and the Sherrif of Nottingham, because they have overthrown their authority and made Prince John the new ruler of England.
Robin will not stand for this; he has heard that they must raise 500,000 pounds to free King Richard from a French jail, and goes about recruiting his merry band to help raise (steel) the money.
Olivia de Havilland plays Robin’s romantic interest in Maid Marian.
I really enjoyed this movie from a romantic perspective of Knights fighting for honor, great sword fights in large castles, huge feasts, and wonderful costumes. This is not your Kevin Costner version of the Robin Hood story, this is more of a Danny Kay version of the Court Jester.
When they decide to remake this version they need to cast James Franco as Robin Hood, because he and Errol Flynn are twins. I give this a solid four stars. It is a fun family film (if your kids are into these films).
Watch for the moment when Flynn holds his sword up threateningly to a guard after a sword fight with Rathbone. The sword is bent.
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