The Adventures of Robin Hood is a 1938 film based upon the Robin Hood legend. It starred Errol Flynn as the title character, Olivia de Havilland as Maid Marian, Basil Rathbone as Sir Guy of Gisbourne and Claude Rains as Prince John.
The film was written by Norman Reilly Raine and Seton I. Miller, and directed by Michael Curtiz and William Keighley. Film critics and historians look upon this film as the finest of Errol Flynn's swashbuckler movies, and indeed it is seen as one of the all-time great adventure films.
The movie was an exercise in extravagance for the Warner Bros studio, which had made a name for itself in producing harsh gangster films, though Flynn's adventure movies also generated hefty revenue. The Adventures of Robin Hood was produced at a cost of over $1 million, and it was one of the few major motion pictures of the 1930s filmed in color. Despite its critical appeal, the movie was not a major box office success; Warner Bros. returned to black-and-white for Flynn's further films until the mid-1940s.
Errol Flynn's name and image is seen in the public eye as inexorably linked with that of Robin Hood, because of this movie. The scenes and costumes worn by the chracters have been imitated and spoofed endlessly since its premiere on May 14, 1938.
The movie was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture and has been selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry.
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See Also: List of movies - List of actors - List of directors - List of documentaries - List of Hollywood movie studios
