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| Robert
Keighley and Michael Curtiz |
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| Errol
Flynn, Olivia de Havilland, Basil Rathbone, Claude Rains,
Patric Knowles, Alan Hale, Melville Cooper |
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Anamorphic
widescreen |
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Dolby Digital
5.1 |
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DTS |
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Trailer(s) |
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Featurette(s) |
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Documentary |
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Audio commentary
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Deleted scenes
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Concept art
/ storyboards |
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Multi-angle
feature |
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Sir Robin of Locksley (Errol
Flynn):
It's injustice I hate, not the Normans.
When Prince John and the Norman Lords
begin oppressing the Saxon masses in King Richard's absence, a
Saxon lord fights back as the outlaw leader of a rebel guerrilla
army.
 Only
rarely in film history have there been such fortuitous combinations
of talent, industry and technology as those that conspired to bring
us a film like The Adventures of Robin Hood. Together
with Casablanca, this film is one of the most frequently
cited examples of the unique strengths of the Hollywood studio
system as it reached its zenith in the late 1930s. Skilled technicians,
master craftsmen, seasoned directors and a diverse group of well-rehearsed
contract players worked under the command of legendary producers
like Hal B. Wallis. And it's to his credit more than any other
individual's that the film became such a masterpiece that remains
fresh, funny and exciting a good sixty-five years after it was
made.
Unlike the similarly evergreen Casablanca (another production
headed by Wallis and directed by Michael Curtiz), Robin Hood wasn't
an assembly-line picture churned out by Warner Brothers at the
rate of one a week. It was a prestige picture that marked a departure
from the gritty urban thrillers for which the studio
was best known, and was by far the most expensive picture ever
produced at Warner. Working with the very best talent the vast
studio resources had to offer, and ruthlessly replacing crew members
like the director to realize his vision of the final film, Wallis
invested every ounce of his stock in the film, even going wildly
over his already extravagant budget to further improve the action
sequences with additional shooting sessions during post-production.
The film's success to this day is a testament to Wallis's vision
as a producer, and a tribute to the studio system as it existed
over half a century ago. |
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Near-identical two-disc Special
Editions are available for Regon 1 and Region 2. Both discs
are also included in the nine-disc Region 2 version of the
Errol Flynn Signature Collection.
The fullscreen
image is framed at its original aspect ratio of approx. 1.33:1.
Using the same process employed last year to restore Singin'
in the Rain for its DVD release, the three Technicolor
negatives have been digitally combined to create a new high-definition
positive, while the print was also cleaned up of all instances
of wear and tear along the way. The result is a stunningly
sharp, brightly colored presentation with a softer tone than Singin'
in the Rain, suited to the film's picturebook quality.
An all-out restoration effort that delivers a superlative
picture.
The mono sound mix, presented in Dolby Digital 1.0, has also
been cleaned up, but remains restricted by the limitations
of the source elements. There is very little hiss or pop,
but both score and effects suffer from the lack of any bass,
resulting in a disappointingly thin presentation of Korngold's
majestic score.
The wait has been long, but
Warner has definitely made good on expectations with an extras-laden
two-disc set that is among the studio's finest Special Edition
releases yet. Besides offering an outstanding, hugely informative audio
commentary track from eminent film historian (and
Warner Bros. expert) Rudy Behlmer and a music-only track
showcasing Erich Wolfgang Korngold's incredible score, the
first disc also offers the 'Warner Night at the Movies' option
of watching
the film
in the context of a movie theater program as it would have
been shown at the time of its release. Introduced by Leonard
Maltin, this option precedes the film with a newsreel, a
cartoon short, a musical short and a trailer for Angels
with Dirty Faces. A terrific addition that truly adds
to the film's experience.
Among the many extras on the second disc, the best place
to start is the newly produced 55-minute documentary 'Welcome
to Sherwood: The Story of The Adventures of Robin Hood'.
It does a superlative job of tracing the film's origins and
historical context, including well-illustrated references
to the story's literary history and previous film incarnations.
Rudy Behlmer is featured prominently along with many other
experts on film history, and though there is some redundancy
between the documentary and the commentary track, both also
offer many rewards of their own. Another long documentary
is less specifically about the film itself, but is almost
equally satisfying: 'Glorious Technicolor' runs just over
an hour, during which it provides a detailed history of color
film. Narrated by Angela Lansbury and produced
in 1998 for Turner Entertainment, it contains innumerable
clips from vintage Hollywood films, as well as providing
a welcome look outside America focusing on the English films
of Powell and Pressburger.
Rudy Behlmer returns in three more collections of rare archival
material related to the film, offering some welcome clarification
and context to explain what exactly is on the screen. 'Robin
Hood through the Ages' is actually a six-minute encapsulation
of the 1922 Douglas Fairbanks filim, with Behlmer offering
direct comparisons to the 1938 version and some historical
background
tidbits. 'A Journey to Sherwood Forest' is a fascinating
collection of rare home movies and B-roll footage shot on
various locations, sets and stages while the film was being
made, offering a unique glimpse of the film as it was being
made. The third item is titled 'Outtakes', and consists of
alternate and unused shots, most of which are in excellent
condition. No line flubs are to be found here, but some are
included in the 14-minute 'Breakdowns of 1938', a compilation
reel of on-camera mistakes from a great number of Warner
films from that year. Brief shots of Errol Flynn flubbing
his line are included here, but one of the funniest things
is the running gag of Basil Rathbone trying on ten
different models of helmet for his Guy of Gisbourne role,
and holding up the appropriate number next to his head for
the camera.
Continuing on this humorous note, two Looney Tunes cartoons
have also been included, both of which are linked to the
main feature. The funniest is Rabbit Hood, a real
vintage 'toon with Bugs Bunny trying to outsmart the Sheriff
of Nottingham after stealing a carrot, and it includes
a clever cameo at the end. The somewhat more recent Robin
Hood Daffy isn't
as sharp, but also offers some good laughs. Different, but
also amusing are the two vintage featurettes that
have been included in the Short Films section: Cavalcade
of Archery showcases the archery skills of the legendary
Howard Hill, and The Cruise of the Zaca, written
and directed by Errol Flynn, is an amateurishly staged but
endearing 'real-life adventure' as the film star uses his
yacht to collect samples for the Institute of Oceanography.
Both featurettes are fairly hokey, but both are fun additions.
The audio vault holds the contents of an
ancient 78RPM recording of Korngold's orchestral score, with
Basil Rathbone recounting the events of the story. The second
item here is and Erich Wolfgang Korngold piano session, in
which the composer plays (and hums along with) sixteen minutes
of themes he wrote for the film. Great stuff, but in spite
of being listed on the box, these audio-only supplements
are both missing from the contents of the Region 2 release.
Finally, the last item in this exhaustive list of extras
are the Splitting the Arrow Galleries, which
contain everything from costume design sketches to international
movie posters. This image bank rounds out one of the finest,
most authoritative selections of extras yet to grace a true
classic on DVD. Static
menu pages with orchestral cues from the score offer easy access
to both disc's features.
Dan
Hassler-Forest
Reviewed:
January 23, 2006
Click
here for IMDB info on The
Adventures of Robin Hood.
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