the adventure of robin hood ( arh ) be so ahead of it time in 1938 that despite wildly swing experimentation in the wake of silent movie it still get it emoting just right . everything and incl the pacing and be conspicuously contemporary . it never underestimate it audience . consequently arh establish filmmaking convention forever more . alan hale and eugene pallette ( friar tuck ) and basil rathbone and along with flynn and dehavilland and all strike u a supremely comfortable within their medieval character . unfortunately and the elderly but naive or socially impaired character and much ( herbert mundin ) and bess ( una oconnor ) and look awkward . much and bess romance isn not believable . mundin act never seem to flow and while oconnor be embarrassingly overripe . claude rain and too and be just so stiff that he look like a mere vehicle for deliver line watch him a he swivel his head and pour the wine . i wonder if he ever ` thought of work carnival . ( sorry and that a nod to the hilarious dr poole from oscar ( 1991 ) ) . after 64 yr i be not make excuse for claude rain . otherwise and arh be full of terrific peripheral performance which substantiate the story . some and eg hale spontaneous reaction a little john and nearly go uncaptured due to the fadeout . the editor very nearly par back too far . this become hale career make role and and he terrific . the rich and lush colour and the rousing music and and the astonishingly contemporary crane and dolly shot of the castle dinner and as well a the shadow swashbuckling and all contribute to our fondness for the medieval legend . that establish dolly shoot and with it attention to detail ( eg the feasting dog ) and be just breathtaking . ralph dawson ( edit and win ) and carl jules weyl ( art director and win ) while tony gaudio and sol polito ( photography ) while and erich korngold ( music and win ) all deserved oscar . arh ( screenplay by norman raine and seton miller ) be the dramatic and credible story of an attempt coup stem from a sibling squabble . the king treacherous brother and prince john ( claude rain ) and felt his ego belittle when deny the regency of england during the king absence . he become ` bitterly resentful and so he summarily ` kick longchamps ( the appoint regent ) out an announcement heard by robin hood and cement his resolve to oppose the traitor . errol flynn smoulder in green tights ( the whole point of tights be to accentuate men . erm . virility ) . mel brook be right while those merry men be probably just good port ( swinger ) . but effeminate . aw and no and baby . errol and olivia have such obvious chemistry that their romance be completely believable to this day . but robin be reckless represent during the gisborne dinner he gatecrashes and he end up proselytise about the ransom be use not to reclaim the king and but a bribe money for prince john to buy himself the throne . inside the lion den and robin first provoke the lion and then make his escape rely on nothing but his instinct . i be afraid i find that too reckless to be heroic . ( reckless robin will strike again . ) in the meantime and the speed with which he and marian decide theyre on the same side be perfect and and the pacing of their affair have make this a classic of romance as well a high adventure . olivia play maid marian a demure and but smart enough to figure out the truth about her own kind . in her disdain for the arrogant and obnoxious sir guy ( rathbone ) and we discern her personal ethic and for soon afterwards she be first provoke by then fall for the arrogant yet charismatic robin and who ` love a man who can best ( him ) the antithesis of sir guy . ` it injustice i hate and not the norman and confess the very saxon robin of loxley to the skeptical and still very norman marian . king richard have want to unite the norman and the saxon into a nation . in his absence and his bad seed brother instead stir up hatred between those ` class and just to put himself at the top ( of the wealthy group and of course ) . this be frequently the self serve mean by which a megalomaniac scrabble to the top . and check out the bishop ( montagu love ) spin doctor counteraccusation of robin of the very same thing . the ringleader of the coup appear to be sir guy ( the handler ) and prince john ( basically a cheap opportunist or junkyard dog ) . the famous sheriff of nottingham and surprisingly and be play by melville cooper a a simple coward . his manner a he nut out his idea of hold the archery contest to trap robin be cooper best and most realistic scene ( although it hard to believe that reckless robin walk into such an obvious trap ) . imitation be the high form of flattery and arh be spoof in 1956 a the court jester and inspire by the scene in which robin joke with marian up in her tower about king richard make robin his court jester . when errol be recruit merry men and he exclaim and ` we need good swordsman . good archer . good fighter . represent in cj and this become ` good stock . good battle . good bye . many element be rework for cj none more obviously than the re casting of rathbone 18yrs later and again a the bad guy . both version be classic and stylistically there be nothing between them . my ecret fav . scene here be the fly arrow which snuff out a candleflame ( . ) a the guard be shoot in the back and at 24 represent40mins . beyond that and the whole 1938 movie completely satisfy our need for drama . ian hunter sensitive depiction of the return king richard and for instance and bring a tear to the eye when he assure robin hood and ` you do not need to search for richard while he in good hand and the best in england . ` whaddyou mean . where be he . demand robin . ` here . cry the king and disrobing and and gobsmacking his protector and u too ( but with emotion instead of surprise ) . sadly and the crucial scene of marian overhear the plot to assassinate richard lack credibility . she in prince john line of sight and moving ( . ) in that silver dress and so a to draw the eye . if we can see her and so can he which make all the fuss about her secretly round the corner quite ridiculous . curtiz and keighley should have storyboarded ( well ) . despite such quibble and i can not not rate the adventure of robin hood positive . these quibble just aren not important enough to downgrade such a classic .