Possibly the greatest (and most celebrated) of swashbucklers, it's also the best Robin Hood film (once again improving on Douglas Fairbanks' already impressive Silent version) and Errol Flynn's finest hour: delightful script (not only providing several great lines for the actors to sink their teeth into - Claude Rains' Prince John in particular - but it's put in the service of a plot which remains absorbing despite its over-familiarity), beautiful three-color cinematography (by no less than three top-notch cameramen!) and costumes, an outstanding and Oscar-winning Erich Wolfgang Korngold score (he virtually composed all of Flynn's swashbucklers and some of the best Warner Bros. films from this period), expansive sets (Hollywood credibly standing in for 12th century England - Carl Jules Weyl's art direction receiving another Oscar, with a third going to Ralph Dawson's exciting editing).<br /><br />It might well be the epitome of Hollywood entertainment during its golden era with the colorful legendary characters - all flawlessly enacted by one of the best casts ever brought together for one film - supplying comedy (and not just that involving Una O'Connor and Herbert Mundin, which I didn't find as icky as I remembered it!), drama and romance (Flynn and Olivia De Havilland's Maid Marian not only are cinema's last word on this famous fictional couple, but their pairing here also proved to be the highpoint of their lengthy on-screen collaboration which stretched to 8 films); not forgetting, of course, countless unforgettable and stirring action scenes: the ambush in Sherwood Forest, the contest for the Golden Arrow, Robin's escape from the gallows, the final storming of the castle (highlighted by one of the best-remembered duels ever to grace the silver screen between Flynn and Basil Rathbone's Guy of Gisbourne), etc. Interestingly, three actors - Rathbone, Eugene Palette and Montagu Love - would go on to co-star together again in another equally renowned swashbuckler, THE MARK OF ZORRO (1940; which I also just rewatched): Love, then, can be seen as well in yet one more similar film - the definitive 1937 version of THE PRISONER OF ZENDA (which is forthcoming on DVD from Warners as part of a "Literary Classics Collection" and coupled with its inferior 1952 scene-for-scene remake); incidentally, all of these classics virtually constitute the three top titles in the entire swashbuckling genre! <br /><br />Curiously enough, the film was started by William Keighley (apart from having helmed the Flynn swashbuckler THE PRINCE AND THE PAUPER [1937], he had been responsible for Warners' previous venture into three-strip Technicolor GOD'S COUNTRY AND THE WOMAN [1937]). However, studio executives were dissatisfied with how the action sequences had turned out and summarily handed the film over to Michael Curtiz - who had directed Flynn in his two most popular vehicles up to this point, CAPTAIN BLOOD (1935) and THE CHARGE OF THE LIGHT BRIGADE (1936); neither he nor Flynn, apparently, were happy with this decision as they despised one another: nonetheless they made all of 12 films together, several of them bona-fide classics.<br /><br />In the end, this has certainly made me want to pick up the "Errol Flynn Signature Collection" (also featuring a documentary on the notorious star) a.s.a.p. - especially since I haven't watched these films for what seems like ages - but I won't be doing so immediately, given that a second set is actually coming in March; that said, of the 10 films included, only 1 will be a first-time viewing for me - THE DAWN PATROL (1938) - but it would still be great to have these childhood favorites readily available on the new medium (rather than in the worn, and often colorized, prints I've had to make do with up till now)! <br /><br />Needless to say, there have been scores of films about this popular character and, going by the IMDb, apart from the afore-mentioned 1922 Douglas Fairbanks ROBIN HOOD, I've also watched the following: THE STORY OF ROBIN HOOD AND HIS MERRIE MEN (1952; a live-action Walt Disney version), SWORD OF SHERWOOD FOREST (1960; a Hammer Films effort directed by Terence Fisher and co-starring Peter Cushing as the Sheriff of Nottingham!), ROBIN HOOD (1973; the Disney animated feature), ROBIN AND MARIAN (1976), ROBIN HOOD (1991; TV) and ROBIN HOOD - PRINCE OF THIEVES (1991). Still, the IMDb listings appear to be incomplete, as at least the first two among those I would like to watch are omitted: THE BANDIT OF SHERWOOD FOREST (1946), ROGUES OF SHERWOOD FOREST (1950; Alan Hale's third and last stab at the character of Little John, following those of the 1922 and 1938 classics!), THE MEN OF SHERWOOD FOREST (1954; if only because it's directed by Val Guest), ROBIN AND THE 7 HOODS (1964; a musicalized version featuring The Rat Pack and reset to 1920s Chicago), A CHALLENGE FOR ROBIN HOOD (1967; another Hammer Films variation), L'ARCIERE DI SHERWOOD (1970; a "Euro-Cult" obscurity directed by Giorgio Ferroni and starring Giuliano Gemma) and ROBIN HOOD: MEN IN TIGHTS (1993; the inevitable Mel Brooks spoof which, amazingly, I've yet to catch up with in its entirety!).