But in what was probably his career role, he literally decides the fate of English history here in a superb act of bravery. He was a funny little man who played nervous types, a kind of English Don Knotts. Herbert Mundin was the first one in this cast to die, he was killed in an automobile accident just two years after this film was finished. The best comic moments in the film come from Melville Cooper, the not quite so bold Sheriff of Nottingham and from Herbert Mundin and Una O'Connor as Much the Miller's Son from Robin Hood's band and DeHavilland's maid. You can't tell at all which scenes were directed by Curtiz and which by Keighley so seamless is the film's fabric. And they put together an almost perfect cast.

Directors Michael Curtiz and William Keighley photographed this in some gorgeous technicolor. Errol all dash and charm and shy and retiring Olivia who just lights up the screen with beauty and romance. They did eight films together from 1935 to 1941 and this one is probably the best. Were there ever a more attractive and idealistic a pair of young lovers on the screen than Errol Flynn and Olivia DeHavilland? If there were, I'd be hard pressed to name them. Robbing from the rich and giving to the poor until the day comes when good King Richard the Lionhearted comes back from the Crusades and sets things right. A young nobleman, deprived of his lands and title by Prince John and his cohorts, takes to Sherwood Forest and gathers a band which practices their own form of financial leveling. Just about every version of the Robin Hood legend from Douglas Fairbanks's silent classic to the one in 1997 with Kevin Costner, deals with the same story facts.

It certainly has a deserved enduring popularity that's lasted for generations. Although my personal favorite among Errol Flynn's films is The Sea Hawk, most will argue that his career role was this one in The Adventures of Robin Hood.

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