Action movies have changed so much over eighty years that this swashbuckler plays like a real cornball in the 21st century, even to a guy like me, who gets off on cinematic historical context and treats antiques gently. Its saving grace is that it IS entertaining. Even if smiling Errol Flynn and his band of truly Merry Men in green pantyhose aren’t so inspiring anymore, the film at least moves at a swift pace. Director Michael Curtiz allows no fat on this film’s tight Technicolor contours. Every scene gets straight to the point and its best action scenes make skilled use of large casts with foregrounds and backgrounds full of swinging swords and flying arrows. Even if this film’s Robin Hood is slightly less complex than Mighty Mouse, Flynn does wear the character’s several grand entrances well. Basil Rathbone and Claude Rains glower nicely as the two equally simple villains out to usurp the English throne from King Richard I and Olivia de Havilland is the pretty face in the middle of it all. Though this movie may no longer shine like it once did, any objective eye can at least see why it was such a hit in its day. It’s got all the ingredients. Its otherworldly three-strip color, rare in 1938, had to be a real dazzler, as well. Even today, the restored versions are beautiful, nearly day-glo. It’s a perfect look for a film that stands a hundred miles from reality and is not headed our way.