The Adventures of Robin Hood

Lady Marian: Why, you speak treason!
Robin of Loxley: Fluently.

That quote, between the prim and proper Lady Marian, played by prim and proper Olivia de Havilland, and dashing, rogueish Robin, played by dashing, rogueish Errol Flynn, is a perfect example of the playful chemistry these two had in their films together. They might as well be playing themselves here, because if rumors hold true, Flynn desperately tried to sleep with the beautiful de Havilland, who never fell for his charms as she always did in their films together. Of all of their collaborations, this is simply the best. A rousing, exciting, romantic version of the classic Robin Hood legend, this is the Warner Brothers stock company at its absolute apex. The studio spared no expense with this production, pouring $2 million into it (a ridiculous sum at the time), and peppered it with familiar names and talent, such as Basil Rathbone, Claude Rains, Eugene Palette, Alan Hale and Una O'Connor, as well as a classic score by Erich Wolfgang Korngold, superb direction by William Keighley and Michael Curtiz, and the drive of expert showman and producer Hal B. Wallis. Virtually everyone involved here would go on to "recreate" their respective roles in later period swashbucklers, (most of them in 1940's "The Sea Hawk"), but it was in "The Adventures of Robin Hood" where the archetype was first born, and executed to perfection.

As the movie begins, a little shrew of a man has just killed a deer and is suddenly attacked by Sir Guy of Gisbourne and his men. As they close in on the pathetic hunter, Robin and his sidekick, Will Scarlett (played by a fey Patric Knowles) step in to the rescue. From this first scene, Errol Flynn exudes charisma, displaying equal parts charm and toughness. He jokes with the pompous Guy until a point, and then makes it known he will kill any man who crosses him. Guy retreats to Nottingham Castle while Robin has a good laugh. The mood being set, the film puts its rather silly plot in motion. Prince John's (a deliciously evil Claude Rains) brother, the good King Richard, is off fighting in the Crusades, but has been captured. Seeing this as his oppurtunity to seize power, John institutes a new tax plan, ostensibly to pay Richard's ransom, but really to line the pockets of himself, the Sheriff of Nottingham (sadly not played by Andy Devine, but an equally dim Melville Cooper), and the nefarious Guy of Gisbourne. Robin, sensing the truth as he drops in uninvited on a banquet hosted by Prince John, vows to foil the dastardly plot. In doing so he assembles a rag tag crew of men: his new second in command, Little John (played by old friend and Robin Hood regular Alan Hale, the second of three times he would play this role), a drunken Friar (the immortal Eugene Palette), among the other Merry Men, and "captures" Lady Marian and her maid Bess, revealing to her his good intentions and winning her over to their cause. The movie is entertaining on all fronts: the exciting action sequences, specifically the final duel between Flynn and Rathbone, the tender romantic scenes between Flynn and de Havilland (if only because you can really tell how madly in love Flynn was with her), and even the hammy, expositional villain scenes, which are a lot of fun because Rains and Cooper have such a good time with their parts.

In spite of the sublimely perfect results, the movie had its share of problems during production. Any time so many alpha male personalities come together (Jack Warner, Hal B. Wallis, Michael Curtiz, Errol Flynn) on a film, especially with so much money at stake, inevitably anxiety and tempers run high. Another problem was that initially Warners could not figure out how to make this movie; originally it was conceived as an operetta, staring Nelson Eddy and Jeanette MacDonald(!!!), and then moved well into production with James Cagney as Robin Hood and William Keighley as director. While Keighley is still given credit, Cagney, obviously, was never right for the role, and while studio execs figured that out fairly early on, that did nothing to help the film's ballooning budget. Finally locked in with Michael Curtiz and Errol Flynn, is it any wonder the film turned out as wondeful as it did?