The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938)
Robin Hood (Errol Flynn) fights for justice against the evil Sir Guy of Gisbourne (Basil Rathbone) as corrupt King John (Claude Rains) sits on the English throne with King Richard the Lionheart (Ian Hunter) believed missing in the Crusades, while striving to win the hand of the beautiful Maid Marian (Olivier de Havilland).
A classic swashbuckler and possibly still the best of it's kind. Flynn was made for this role, even if it was originally intended for James Cagney, and his lengthy sword fight with Gisbourne at the finale remains the stuff of legend. Basil Rathbone meanwhile is a brilliant sneering bad guy.
The Adventures of Robin Hood is a brilliant film and it's Technicolor print is mind blowing. High definition was made for cinema such as this.
The Premium Collection Blu-ray sells itself short on the back cover. Listing only a commentary and WB Night at the Movies (Cartoons, a news reel etc) as the sole extras. There's actually an hour long doc on Tecnicolor, another hour long making of doc, Basil Rathbone's home movies from the set, a visit to Flynn's home, a music only track, a concert of the films music, a twelve minute bloopers reel* of WB movies from 1938 - Bette Davis "You God damn son of a bitch", twelve trailers for other Errol Flynn movies and much more. A fantastic package, so a big thanks to Mr.Barlow for grabbing this for me in HMV's recent promotion before it goes out of print for good.
*The film itself is a U certificate. The disc is a 12 cert due to all the bleeped swearing on the bloopers extra.
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