The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938)
We are well into film history today with this famous pre war effort starting Errol Flynn as Robin Hood. Not only do we have classic cinema here we have a classic tale as well so plot wise there are never going to be any surprises on offer. All the major Robin Hood characters are on show here as well as events you probably expect such as an archery contest to draw Robin out.
As you might expect this is not the most complex or deep study of the Robin Hood legend and sticks more to being a swashbuckling action film, there are also plenty of “witty” banter between the merry men and from the hero as you might expect from a modern action film. The dialogue does date the film being stilted and some of the acting is bordering on bad, along the lines of the old batman TV series at best.
While you have accept there are going to be technological limitations on action sequences that are have been removed in later film making, specifically large and heavy cameras that you can not move around easily, the action sequences really are not that great. I was expecting more from the sword play which while fast does not especially look like a sword fight where people are really trying to kill each other. Given that there is not much depth to the plot or issues raised in the film the action element being weak is a real let down.
This is probably one for younger children, I give it 3/5.
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