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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I didn’t think I could run that fast anymore. I actually hung up my cell phone like it was a land line so I could get out the door faster to get over to The Blu-ray Blog’s HQ to pick up my copy of Roland Emmerich’s super monster movie Godzilla.
I think it’s well established at this point that I like cheesy movies, and while there is the softest of soft spots in my heart for the classic “man in a rubber suit” I do love loud and crazy. And this movie has heaps of both, especially the loud! The DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 audio track on the Blu-ray disc is exactly as it should be; window rattling! There aren’t many movies that make me crank up the subwoofer, living in an apartment and not wanting to anger the neighbors. But today I did not care. Stomping, roaring, shooting, crashing! Love it!
Emmerich and producer Dean Devlin‘s infamous take on the Japanese classic might be a super exciting affair, yes. But it misses the mark where it counts. It rushes out of the gate strong, feeling like a perfect westernization of the Japanese Gojira concept. But quickly degenerates into a Hollywood mash-up, leaning more toward Jurassic Park than the source material, leaving the core character and and all the quirk and quality of the original behind. But nevermind. On its own insane, popcorn-movie merits, Godzilla is city-stomping fun. Light on story but heavy on explosions. You’ll have a great time watching this, as long as you can leave any connection to the old man-in-suit originals at the door.
The transfer is over all a pretty good quality affair. It’s unfortunate however that any sharpness or detail to be gained from Sony’s excellent work bringing the film to Blu-ray is swallowed by the dark, wet fog of the photography. It’s a great looking image, don’t get me wrong, but perhaps not the bright, crisp variety you hope for from a high-def source. You might feel like there isn’t much to “see” on the Blu-ray disc but rest assured, there is little doubt that this is the best Godzilla has ever looked on home video.
On another front though, they have made great use of the Blu-ray format with a cool intro menu and lots of extras – a very technical commentary track with visual effects supervisor Volker Engel and associate visual effects supervisor Karen Goulekas, “Behind the Scenes of ‘Godzilla’ With Charles Caiman“, “Heroes” music video by The Wallflowers. All are standard fare. But add in a digital copy of the film for your PSP (thanks Sony) and the awesome nostalgia piece “All Time Best of ‘Godzilla’ Fight Scenes” and now you’re speaking my language. And as a final bonus, they have a MovieIQ feature that lets you test your knowledge in a multi player way. A great way to spice up a movie you and your pals have seen a few too many times. There’s also some BD live content that links you to previews for Labyrinth
For about $20 or less, this movie can be added to your collection, guilt free. Just remember, it’s Godzilla – big bowl of popcorn and big sound!