The Silver Screen Oasis

pvitari wrote: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!

Due to the name-change, most folks are unaware that The Black Shield of Falworth is based on an excellent novel titled "Men of Iron", a colorful & underrated classic tale about an eager young squire's coming-of-age in Medieval England, penned by none other than famed illustrator & Brandywine School founder Howard Pyle . . whose earlier works included his "The Merrie Adventures of Robin Hood", perhaps the strongest single source for most of the Sherwood Forest adventures on the early Silver Screen . .
How's that for serendipity?

pvitari wrote:Before this thread fades off into oblivion,

You can always bring it back up.

This is always a fun one to watch. I have seen the Fairbanks 1920 version and don't like it as well as this one. One thing that was kind of ironic was Alan Hale was in the 1920 version as well. It was big, opulent and very good looking movie but it seemed to me a bit long for no more than was going on. I'll stick with Flynn.

Actually I did know that about Men of Iron -- which is available to read online by the way.

http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/1557

Dost thou go to yon web site and partake!

Paula, thanks so much for this thread. We wander around sometimes, but it still comes back to an appreciation for this movie. I think we all have a tendency, at times,to view classics of the 30's and 40's thru the eyes of the 21st century,and forget these wonderful films brought something new, be it color, or swinging from that vine, or whatever, that people hadn't seen before and were enthralled by the spectacle. Maybe Flynn didn't shoot the bow right, or hold his sword correctly, but it was thrilling nonetheless, and not that many people knew the difference.

Seeing the screencaps has been terrific.
Nancy

Thanks for all the hard work, pvitari!

That last screen cap is wonderful. It show such intent, but also a sort of question mark about how it will all play out.