Mustache Marathon Movie 2: The Adventures of Robin Hood


When I went into the Mustache Marathon, I asked some people for a little bit of help determining what the lineup should be.  I got the help in order to find a few older films to watch in order to put a little bit of diversity into my marathon.  That is where the most recent watch falls.

The Adventures of Robin Hood is a 1938 film starring Errol Flynn, Basil Rathbone, and a few other merry men.  It tells the story of Robin Hood who creates a band of outlaws to fight against Prince John, an evil prince who is trying to take the throne from his brother, King Richard, who is away at war.

This is what Robin Hood should be like.  I don’t need a half-British but mostly American Kevin Costner take on it.  As much as I appreciate Prince of Thieves bringing me the song Everything I Do (I Do It for You), it didn’t have the fun swashbuckling style that this 1938 Robin Hood film did.  This is going to sound odd, but Mel Brooks got Robin Hood right with Men in Tights.  Sure, he added some comedic flourishes that took an already fun spirited idea to new levels, but he stayed true to the adventurous, fantastical elements that make Robin Hood into an entertaining and endearing character.  Plus, Cary Elwes and Errol Flynn both embody Robin Hood as a cocky, witty personality who can fight with the best of fighters using any weapon at his disposal.  Errol Flynn is the archetype of Robin Hood and brings the best out in the character.

The Adventures of Robin Hood is not without its flaws.  There are a few continuity errors between shots that I noticed and was a little bit thrown off by.  I’m not going to talk about those.  I’m going to nitpick something that is easily more important.  How do the merry men have all that time for facial manscaping?  Anybody have an answer for that?  The merry men have to be on their guard at all times.  If they aren’t, Prince John or any of his followers may come to attack them.  Between that, and thinking up ideas in order to get food or to ambush people and get the king’s gold back, there doesn’t seem to be much time left for keeping their facial hair in check.  Yet, Robin Hood still has a mighty crisp looking mustache and goatee going on.  I have nothing against the facial hair itself.  It looks rather fitting for Errol Flynn’s Robin Hood.  My problem is in the time it would take to keep the facial hair looking the way it does.

This classical take on the Robin Hood story might just be my favourite way to tackle the subject matter.  I don’t need a gritty look at Robin Hood, or a more realistic look.  Robin Hood is a fantastical English swashbuckling tale.  This is how it should be.  The Adventures of Robin Hood plays right into the strengths of the premise.  It casts all parts reasonably to perfectly.  The facial hair is immaculate.  I would like to thank one of my Twitter followers for the suggestion of this film. Thank you, Anna, for suggesting this one for the marathon.

Now I’m going to do something here that I haven’t done previously.  Linkage.  I’ve got a few things I’m going to link up here.  It will be fairly simple.  Four things.

If you are interested in the Mustache Marathon, you can find the overview here: http://jurassicgriffin.blogspot.com/2011/10/mustache-marathon.html
The first film in the Mustache Marathon was Super Troopers.  My thoughts are here:  http://jurassicgriffin.blogspot.com/2011/11/mustache-marathon-movie-1-super.html
To follow Anna, the Twitter follower who suggested this film, go here: http://twitter.com/MovieNut14
And, if you want to follow me on Twitter: http://twitter.com/JurassicGriffin

That’s all for this instalment of the Mustache Marathon.  I’m not sure which of the seven remaining films I will watch next.  Either follow me, or keep a lookout on my blog to find out.  Until then, I’m off to sing about wearing tights and being part of Robin Hood’s crew.

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