It seems I rarely get an opportunity to go out to the movies any more. I don’t suspect I’ll get a chance to see the new Ridley Scott Robin Hood film until it hits home video. Luckily, I’ve had four new DVD releases from Columbia Pictures Robin Hood Collection to keep me company lately. Ranging from 1948 to 1960, these films are classics and a whole lot of fun to watch. If only they were on Blu-ray…
You might get the impression from the DVD covers above that these four films are in rough condition or have been colourized for home video. Far from it! All four films look great as far as standard-def presentations go. All were filmed in colour and are quite vibrant here, with fairly clean, if somewhat thin mono audio presentations (not a big surprise, considering the age of the films.) Hey, one of them is even presented in anamorphically enhanced 2.35:1 widescreen! Way to go 1960!
So, Columbia’s Robin Hood collection discs all look and sound pretty decent but what about the movies themselves? Well, I don’t think any of the four would please a young, modern crowd with their hokey dialogue and clumsy fight scenes. But film enthusiasts and collectors need to sit up and pay attention to these releases. They’re, all four of them, quite a lot of fun and somewhat relevant to film history! The three earliest efforts in the collection, The Bandit of Sherwood Forest (1946), Prince of Thieves (1948) and Rogues of Sherwood Forest (1950) all echo the very famous and successful Adventures of Robin Hood starring Errol Flynn. In fact, both Bandit and Rogues play as pseudo-sequels, with the protagonist being the son of Robin Hood, instead of the man himself. This was Columbia clearly trying to cash in back in the day. And you know what, they did a decent job! These three early films are super fun to watch, with the only real sore spot being Rogue‘s John Derek being thoroughly unable to act his way out of a paper bag. He’s terrible! Thankfully, the movie only suffers so much at his hands.
Of the four new releases, the one I was most looking forward to was the 1960 Sword of Sherwood Forest produced by Hammer Films! I’m sorry to report that this is also the film I ended up enjoying least of all. I’m a Hammer fan. And, I admit, my expectations were a bit high with this one seeing as how it’s directed by Terence Fisher (Horror of Dracula), co-stars Peter Cushing and Oliver Reed and is a follow-up to the popular 50s TV show, The Adventures of Robin Hood starring Richard Greene! Sadly, Greene is showing his age here. He seems lazy in the role, relying on the unrelenting energy of villains Cushing and Reed to carry to film. While I’m happy to add this to my Hammer collection and ecstatic that the transfer is so healthy on DVD, I really wish the film itself had a more robust Robin in the lead.
Oh, and I really, REALLY wish that all four films were on Blu-ray. But that’s no surprise, is it?
Columbia Pictures’ Robin Hood Collection DVDs are available now.
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