The Adventures of Robin Hood

[pvitari]

Is there anyone who doesn't think The Adventures of Robin Hood is the best Robin Hood movie of all time? Much as I like Russell Crowe, I am dubious that his new Robin Hood movie will top the Errol Flynn classic.

Anyway, I'm actually posting this to bang my drum and announce that I've screencapped The Adventures of Robin Hood -- a total of 4,452 screencaps in five albums -- and it's all at http://paulasmoviepage.shutterfly.com/

[moirafinnie]

Paula, thanks for reminding me of several reasons why this is my all time favorite movie. I love your screen caps, and am delighted that you chose to highlight the merry men gathered around that magnetic scamp, Errol Flynn. Would it be possible to request a possible future screen cap of the moment when Richard the Lionhearted (Ian Hunter) reveals his identity to the men? What software do you use to make your caps?

Btw, my cousin is working on a book comparing film adaptations influenced by N.C. Wyeth's illustrated books. You can see some of that artist's long shadow in both the delightful Douglas Fairbanks, Sr. version of the story of Robin, as well as the sublimely beautiful Flynn take on the story. Last year I saw the Fairbanks version on a large screen. What I would give to see the 1938 one in a theater!


I am curious about how Russell Crowe will approach Robin Hood, (and figure that he has to be better than the miscast Kevin Costner big screen version).

[knitwit45]

Thanks for sharing, Paula! This is my favorite movie, I can watch it anytime, from any point...

Moira, just for you:

[moirafinnie]

Thank you, Knitty. I love that scene very much!

[pvitari]

Hi, Moira, I'm so glad you like the screencaps. The Adventures of Robin Hood is one of my all-time favorite movies too!

I use a program called DVD Snap which I bought because I read it is one of the best for screencapping using Mac computers.

There is a series of screencaps from the moment King Richard reveals himself to Robin, and later on to Prince John. Claude Rains' reaction is priceless. :) See?



They're screening an archival print of The Adventures of Robin Hood at the TCM film festival too.

As for the Russell Crowe version, given that it's directed by Ridley Scott, I imagine it will be verrrrrrrry serious and verrrrry intense. :) There's a big battle on the beach that I'm looking forward to. A lot of fans are anticipating something like Gladiator Redux. :)

[rudyfan]

Terrific screen caps of one of my favorite films of all time. Moira, I saw TAORH on the big screen in 1976-77 at the Vitaphone Theater in Saratoga, CA. Olivia de Haviland was in town (dedication of an outdoor theater to her Mother Lillian at Villa Montalvo). The print screened was a brand new, 35mm, struck from the nitrate negative. I had never seen a true technicolor film in the theater before, this was the first. It was, in a word, amazing. Never to be forgotten. I never have.

I have to say, the blu-ray comes as close to that WOW moment when I first saw it on screen. If you have a big tv and blu-ray, this is pretty close. I don't have a big TV, nonetheless, it's still incredible.

I'd love to be down for the TCM fest, but, not in the cards for me.

[knitwit45]

Thank you, Knitty. I love that scene very much!

every time I see it, I still get goosebumps!

[klondike]

Is there anyone who doesn't think The Adventures of Robin Hood is the best Robin Hood movie of all time?

Yup, that'd be me . . although I will concede that I find it far superior to Costner's Prince of Thieves.
In deference to the spirit of this thread, I'll won't go into any detail of critique (unless pressed . . and even then, perhaps not here), but let me declare, as a devotee of classic Hollywood, and an eager, lifelong consumer of the Robin Hood mythos in all its forms of media, and a practicing longbowman, no, that assumption is not really universal.

[knitwit45]

<---------------------that, Mr. K, is a RASPBERRY!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Just, as "they" say, my humble opinion of your opinion

[jdb1]

You FlynnFans can count me in with Klonny. I always wind up turning RH off, although I do try to watch it. It just tries a bit too hard for my tastes, and I find it, actually, a bit -- I don't know -- twee? self-congratulatory?

Besides, any movie that has de Havilland in it becomes, IMO, a hunk of flaccid dullness. I cannot get anything from that woman onscreen, and for all the whispers, I don't feel any special chemistry between her and Flynn, or between her and any male co-star for that matter. I avoid anything with her in it as too darn frustrating to watch, and I do, literally, close my eyes during Gone With The Wind when she is onscreen for more than a few minutes..

For me Rains is the best part of RH.

My favorite Robin Hood opus would be a tie between the Daffy Duck version and the Mel Brooks version. (Did someone say "Abe Lincoln?")

[mrsl]

.
Lots of things to respond to for me in this thread. First off: Paula, I tried the link you printed but it didn't work, it got me to your site, but didn't show anything other than the gray screen with choices, and when I clicked, it just stayed that way, but it's probably something with my computer, not your link, since Moira got to see it. So. . . what are screen caps?

Since I've only seen Errol Flynns' Robin Hood - - maybe twice in my lifetime, (not a big Flynn fan), I did like Kevin Costner's version, but then, I like Kevin, so my opinion rests on my fondness for the actor a lot. I must say however, since I love Sean Connery, when he appeared as King Richard, I was thrilled, so you are probably talking about the same kind of kick when Flynns King appeared.

Russell Crowe seems to be making a career of re-makes, starting with his version of Spartacus (Gladiator). Cinderella Man (Somebody Up There Likes Me), 3:10 to Yuma, and now with Robin Hood, well, at least maybe his Australian accent might help. This is probably going to sound silly, but I liked the Disney, Robin Hood with Richard Greene. If I recall correctly, it WAS a movie before it became a TV series.
.

[klondike]

Speaking of Sean Connery, let's not forget that Sir Sean took his own turn as the legendary bowman, costarring with Audrey Hepburn & Robert Shaw, no less, in one of my favorite Sherwood Forest treatments:
Robin & Marian.

[pvitari]

Mrsl, screencaps are shots taken from the movie. The movie plays on my computer while I use a program to take shots of individual frames. You can set the program to automatically make the screencaps every few seconds or so (you can set the length of the interval between screencaps) or you can do it manually, i.e., pause the movie and make the screencap yourself. I do it manually to make sure I get exactly the frame I want. You'd be surprised sometimes how different each frame can be! I keep wondering what's going on INBETWEEN frames -- but thanks to the workings of the human eye and 24 frames per second, the movement in a film all looks like one smooth motion. ;)

I'm sorry you can't see the screencaps -- I have no idea why.

Klondike -- feel free to vent! :) It's just a movie, not a life or death situation. Though I suppose there are some people out there who do think movies are life and death situations. :)

My husband and I watched all three seasons of the new BBC Robin Hood -- the one with Jonas Armstrong as Robin, and although we liked it, Armstrong was pretty much a wet noodle for me. I did like Richard Armitage's seething Gisborne, though. We had a good laugh with all the anachronisms too.

[klondike]

My husband and I watched all three seasons of the new BBC Robin Hood -- the one with Jonas Armstrong as Robin, and although we liked it, Armstrong was pretty much a wet noodle for me.

Ditto in spades, PV; he's also the worst "screen archer" of any of the dozen or so Robin Hoods I've beheld - his "bowmanship" is performed so poorly that none of the shots I witnessed would have come anywhere close to their intended targets! Shame he bears such a fine Scots-Borders name, 'cause he's even shoddier at firing a longbow than Costner! At least Flynn had the immortal Howard Hill to coach him!

[pvitari]

Before this thread fades off into oblivion, I wanted to post one of my favorite screencaps. It's a shot of Robin Hood rushing down that magnificent circular staircase on the castle set of the movie. I just love the way Errol Flynn is highlighted in relief against the grayish-brown blur of the "stone" blocks. (What were they really made of? They didn't have fiberglass back then, did they?) I also love the blurry gleam of the sword. It's one of those pictures that stands out with screencaps -- you might not even notice it when watching the movie.

To be honest, my only criticism of the movie are the costumes for Robin and his Merry Man. I suspect the costumes -- especially the tights -- were goofy even back in 1938. ;) Speaking of Men in Tights, I'm currently enjoying the British Blu-ray of The Black Shield of Falworth, with Tony Curtis as Miles of Da Bronx, er, Crisby Dale. Lots of tights in that one! :)