Simply put, this film is the best version of Robin Hood and one of the best adventure films ever made. It's the golden age of Hollywood at it's best. Errol Flynn is Robin Hood for me, dashing, roughish, athletic and Olivia deHavilland the most beautiful and charming Marian. Add to that Basil Rathbone and Claude Rains as Sir Guy and Prince John, two of Hollywood's best character actors. 102 minutes of pure fantasy from a creative team totally on top of it's game, not forgetting the marvellous Korngold score!
OK, all well and good, but the HD DVD version I bought this week was restored using a process invented by someone at Warners called Ultra Resolution that digitally re-aligns the three strip Technicolor film to the original state it was in when shot in 1938. The result is amazing, the detail is such that you can count the chain mail rings and see the embroidery on the costumes. As for the colour you can see why they used to call it Glorious Technicolor, it's like a painting brought to life. Stunning. Even my gf, who normally won't watch anything made before about 1980, came in when the film was just starting and ended up watching the whole movie with me and enjoyed it!
