Film

The Adventures of Robin Hood

Other titles called The Adventures of Robin Hood: the 1955 series (ITV1).

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.

TMDb rating3.7

Should you watch it?

Watch it if you love swashbuckling studio adventure where the swordplay is choreographed like a dance and the villain steals every scene he is in, with a technicolor sheen that still feels bright and generous.

Skip it if you want gritty realism or modern pacing; this is theatrical, sincere and happily old-fashioned, and its heroics and romance may feel quaint rather than thrilling.

What it asks of you: Around an hour and forty minutes, it moves briskly and cheerfully, asking you to settle into its playful storybook manner rather than to brood over its characters or their choices.

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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 Princess Bride poster

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.

The Mask of Zorro poster

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.

Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl poster

Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from The Adventures of Robin Hood

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.

Seven Samurai poster

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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 Mark of Zorro, The Prisoner of Zenda, The Three Musketeers, Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, Fire Over England, Kim, Robin Hood, Scaramouche, King Solomon's Mines, Treasure Island, Ladyhawke, Cutthroat Island, The Death of Robin Hood, The Sea Hawk, The Black Pirate, Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger, Lassie Come Home, The Charge of the Light Brigade, Ivanhoe, My Side of the Mountain, Dinotopia, The Prisoner of Zenda, The Man in the Iron Mask, Knights of the Round Table, The Sea Beast, The Incredible Journey, Prince Valiant, The Black Shield of Falworth, Song of the South, Popeye, Jungle Book, The Prince and the Pauper, Flipper, Napoleon and Samantha, Sinbad the Sailor, The Story of Robin Hood and His Merrie Men, Tales of the Gold Monkey, Road to Zanzibar, High Road to China, Treasure Island, She, The Flame and the Arrow, Bongo, The Scarlet Pimpernel, The Black Rose, The Prisoner of Zenda, Against All Flags, Storm Over Bengal, The Buccaneer, The Sword of Monte Cristo, Flash Gordon's Trip to Mars, The Viking, Marco Polo, Yoyo, Lydia Bailey, Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves, Aan, Moonfleet, The Phantom Empire, Solomon and Sheba, The Master of Ballantrae, Flame of Araby, Captain Sindbad, Treasure Island, Soldiers Three, Lost Horizon, Tarzan and His Mate, Dogtanian and the Three Muskehounds, Long John Silver, The Son of Monte Cristo, The Golden Blade, The Masked Marvel, At Sword's Point, The Prince of Thieves, Sword of Sherwood Forest, Rogues of Sherwood Forest, Androcles and the Lion, Frenchman's Creek, Adventures of Captain Marvel, Spy Smasher, Fortunes of Captain Blood, The Princess and the Pirate, Tarzan the Ape Man, Sword of Freedom, The Black Knight, The Three Musketeers, King Richard and the Crusaders, Blood of the Executioner, Tarzan and the Leopard Woman, Goliath and the Barbarians, The World in His Arms, Captain Lightfoot, Raiders of the Desert, Zorro, The Gay Blade, Kidnapped, The Last Remake of Beau Geste, Morgan, the Pirate, Captain from Castile, The Men of Sherwood Forest, A Challenge for Robin Hood, The Gay Caballero, Tarzan of the Apes, Flame of Calcutta, The Cisco Kid and the Lady, South of Monterey, The Magic Sword, The Fighting O'Flynn, The Elusive Pimpernel, The Great Adventures of Captain Kidd, The Buccaneer, Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves, The Son of Captain Blood, Midshipman Easy, Captain Kidd and the Slave Girl, Anthony Adverse, The Bandit of Sherwood Forest