There is a serious argument to be made that Robin Hood is one of the greatest characters in all literature. The concept of this one character has endured since roughly 1350, and he continues to be as popular if not moreso today. Obviously, Hollywood loves to make movies about Robin Hood as often as they can get away with it.
The very first Robin Hood movie was back in 1908, a silent film. Since that time there have been no less than 49 movies or television shows based on this one character. That does not include cartoons and anime versions, or of course porn versions. It also does not include the numerous references to the character in plays, books, and homages in television series and movies.
There is no question that everyone, anywhere in the world, loves Robin Hood. There is a major question on what is the best Robin Hood portrayal though.
I believe that the ultimate portrayal of Robin Hood was done in 1938 by Errol Flynn in The Adventures of Robin Hood - with Olivia de Havilland and Basil Rathbone. For me this one film is the standard by which all other versions of Robin Hood must be judged. In fact this film is so universal in it's appeal, that most every version made since has a point of trying to incorporate at least parts of that film into their versions.
Of course there are those that won't watch a film older than themselves. And there are those that think the Errol Flynn version can be outdone. Thus we have far lesser versions of Robin Hood like:
and the incredibly awful Costner version
but also a few more enjoyable versions like
and yes even an Japanese anime version in German
There even have been parrodies of varying quality
But as I said, all of these movies and versions pale in comparison. Errol Flynn did it right and it has yet to be done better.
Does that mean the Russell Crowe film will be the disaster that was Kevin Costner's version? We can pray not. But I for one need far more to be convinced than what the trailer so far seems to present.
But we will find out soon.
1 comment:
Yes I almost agree with you. The Errol Flynn version is certainly a 'bench mark' to which all movie versions must be judged. But there is also an excellent version made in England, using mainly British actors and actresses that is almost completely forgotten about. It was Walt Disney's second live-action movie The Story of Robin Hood (1952).
It starred Richard Todd, Peter Finch, James Robertson Justice, Joan Rice and other stars of the time. It is well written, filmed in lush Technicolor and uses the clever technique of having a minstrel link the film together, later copied by the inferior cartoon version by Disney 30 years later.
I have a blog dedicated to Disney's Story of Robin Hood and the legend that inspired it at http://disneysrobin.blogspot.com/
Regards
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