Film
The Adventures of Robin Hood
Errol Flynn swings through a Technicolor Sherwood Forest with a grin wide enough to park a car in, romancing Olivia de Havilland and outfencing Basil Rathbone's deliciously oily villain. This is the swashbuckler at its most gorgeously uncomplicated: gleaming armour, a thundering score, and a hero having far too much fun for his own good. Pure, unembarrassed joy.
If you liked this
The Princess Bride1987
Same swordfights, same castle-and-forest romance, but filtered through fairy-tale comedy and one-liners you'll be quoting for the rest of your life.
But If you want your derring-do played straight rather than winked at, the constant self-awareness might wear thin.
The Mask of Zorro1998
Antonio Banderas does pure Flynn-style athletic swagger against corrupt aristocrats, complete with a genuinely great duel and a romance to match.
But It's glossy nineties blockbuster polish rather than old studio craftsmanship, so some of that painterly Golden Age texture is missing.
Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl2003
Same swaggering outlaw-hero energy and lavish spectacle, with a villain-and-hero rivalry played for maximum escapist fun.
But Johnny Depp's performance swallows the film whole, tilting it toward comic anarchy rather than Robin Hood's straight-faced heroics.
The wildcard
Something you would not have found on your own.
Seven Samurai1954
Both are about a band of skilled outsiders taking up arms to protect the powerless from those who exploit them. Robin Hood plays it as swashbuckling comedy; Kurosawa plays the same premise as tragedy, asking what that kind of heroism actually costs the people who provide it.
Kurosawa's masterpiece more or less invented the 'gather a band of outsiders to defend the defenceless' structure, with battle craft and character work Robin Hood only gestures at.
But Three and a half hours, black and white, subtitled, and it ends in grief rather than a wedding - a very different night than Sherwood Forest promises.
People
Cast
Errol FlynnRobin Hood
Olivia de HavillandMaid Marian
Basil RathboneSir Guy of Gisbourne
Claude RainsPrince John
Patric KnowlesWill Scarlett
Eugene PalletteFriar Tuck
Alan HaleLittle John
Melville CooperHigh Sheriff of Nottingham
Ian HunterKing Richard the Lion-Heart
Una O'ConnorBess
Herbert MundinMuch
Montagu LoveBishop of the Black Canons
Directing
- Michael CurtizDirector
- William KeighleyDirector
Writing
- Norman Reilly RaineScreenplay
- Seton I. MillerScreenplay
Production
- Rufus Le MaireCasting
- Hal B. WallisProducer
- Henry BlankeProducer
- Jack L. WarnerProducer
Recommended by
The Princess Bride, A Knight's Tale, The Court Jester, Cyrano de Bergerac, Gunga Din, Superman, Robin Hood: Men in Tights, The Thief of Bagdad, Captain Blood, The Mask of Zorro, The Crimson Pirate, The Mark of Zorro, The Prisoner of Zenda, The Three Musketeers, Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, Robin Hood, Scaramouche, Treasure Island, The Death of Robin Hood, The Sea Hawk, The Black Pirate, Ivanhoe, Knights of the Round Table