The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938)

Sound the trumpets, The Adventures of Robin Hood (Two-Disc Special Edition) is rousing entertainment.

Backed by a stirring score courtesy of Erich Wolfgang Korngold (Captain Blood), this 1938 adventure film has it all. There's a cast stuffed with Hollywood legends, gorgeous Technicolor photography, plenty of sword fights, good humour and some really evil villains.

It's the 12th century in England. King Richard the Lion-Heart is off fighting a war. His crooked brother, Prince John (Claude Rains), sees a chance to seize power for himself. Helping him is henchman Sir Guy of Gisbourne (Basil Rathbone, looking especially suave). Prince John, a Norman, makes life miserable for the Saxons with high taxes, torture and seizure of property.

Sir Robin of Loxley (Errol Flynn) stands up to Prince John and vows to ensure King Richard returns to the throne. He recruits help including Friar Tuck (Eugene Pallette), a man of the cloth who's also very talented with a sword, and Little John (Alan Hale, who also was Flynn's sidekick in Dodge City).

Now Robin Hood, Sir Robin ambushes Prince John's soldiers and redistributes his riches to Saxons in need. Maid Marian (Olivia de Havilland), a royal ward of King Richard's, is initially cool to Robin Hood's actions and obvious interest in her. She soon warms to his cause, and him. Sir Guy wants her hand too, but isn't is handy with his wooing words as he is offing people who won't go along with Prince John. There's going to be a showdown between these two. Watch for the use of shadows as these two finally square off one-on-one.

There's not a lot of plot to try and follow here. The Adventures of Robin Hood jumps from one thrilling scene to the next, including an archery competition and Robin Hood's planned execution. Audiences may never see another film where so many men jump from trees and tackle their opponents.

Flynn soars as the outlaw who takes from the rich and gives to the poor. Rains and Rathbone ooze evil while Melville Cooper is a wuss as High Sheriff of Nottingham. There's no fight he'd rather avoid.

The Adventures of Robin Hood won three Oscars for art direction, editing and score. This fine film was also nominated for best picture.

Kevin Costner, you're no Errol Flynn. See this film.

RATING: 9/10

FUN FACTS: Claude Rains was King Herod in The Greatest Story Ever Told.

Eugene Pallette made his screen debut in a 1913 short, The Fugitive.

Una O'Connor appears as Maid Marian's lady-in-waiting. Her last role was in Witness for the Prosecution.

The Adventures of Robin Hood was shot in California.

The Lady Eve (1941)

RATING: 8/10


It's hard to resist this romantic comedy from director Preston Sturges.


This 1941 effort with Henry Fonda and Barbara Stanwyk offers some very funny moments, a great love story and a generous dollop of slapstick. As film director Peter Bogdonavich notes in an introduction to the film, audiences would rarely see this much comedic effort from Fonda in another movie.


FATHER AND DAUGHTER, CONNIVING THIEVES


Colonel Harrington (Charles Coburn) and Jean (Stanwyk) are a father-daughter team of card sharks. They ride ocean liners and fleece well-to-do passengers of their riches. Their sights are set on Charles Pike (Fonda), the heir of a beer empire.


Charles doesn't much care for brewed hops. He's into snakes. Charles boards an ocean liner after spending a year on safari in the Amazon. His luggage includes a snake in a box. See any references to the Garden of Eden yet?


THE LADIES MAKE THEIR MOVE


Plenty of ladies, young and old, try to catch Pike's attention in the ship's dining room. Jean watches, and comments, on their efforts before making sure Pike can't miss her when he walks by. She immediately kicks her seduction efforts into overdrive. Within minutes she has him in her cabin.


Charles is originally a target, but Jean finds herself really falling in love with him. The heir to beer is smitten too, until he learns Jean's background and figures he is being played for a dupe. Very quickly, his attitude turns ice cold. His marriage proposal is forgotten. He leaves the ship alone.


I LOVED HER, I LOVE YOU


Jean, hurt badly, slips back into her role as dupster and finds an opportunity to get back into Pike's life. He falls for her again, this time as an English noble woman, not knowing it's his old love.


His handler, Muggsy (William Demarest), isn't fooled so easily, but his earnest warnings are ignored.


Jean, now Eve, is a big hit with Charles' father (Eugene Pallette) and other society folks. The younger Pike keeps tripping over furniture, and people, while being distracted with the fair dame.


A card game between Colonel Harrington, Jean and Charles is a gut-busting highight of this black and white film. Harrington is determined to clean out his rich competitor. Jean wants to prevent her new-found love from losing thousands of dollars. Dialogue between Harrington and Jean, and their respective slights of hands with a deck of cards, are standouts.


That's followed by Eve, now married to Charles, sharing details of her relationships with many other men on their wedding night. The train they're travelling on isn't the only thing blowing steam.


UNCLE CHARLIE, IS THAT YOU?


What a treat to have Coburn and Pallette in supporting roles. Coburn gets some delicious dialgoue. Pallette's businessman character wonders about his son while being delighted with Eve's introduction to the communityh. If Demarest looks familiar, he was Uncle Charlie in more than 200 episodes of the television show, My Three Sons, with Fred McMurray.


The Lady Eve also offers something of a rare sight for a film from Hollywood's Golden Age. The opening credits include an animated snake. It's hard not to get bitten by this film's appeal. Dig in.