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4.0étoiles sur 5
OUTSTANDING, SILENT VERSION, Janv. 27 2004
Before Costner, before Flynn, there was Douglas Fairbanks Sr., playing the classic Robin Hood role. Even over 80 years later this film stands the test of time.Had it been made only a few decades later, with sound and in colour, it could have been one of the greatest Robin Hood films. Unfortunately, black and white films, and silents more than anything else, do not find great favour among the modern public. But regardless of these dated elements, "Robin Hood" does not look bad at all. The story starts a bit earlier than the usual Robin Hood film. It begins on the eve of King Richard the Lionheart's (Wallace Beery) departure for the Crusades. To celebrate the occasion, Richard holds a tournament, and in the final round, the King's champion, the Earl of Huntingdon (Douglas Fairbanks, later Robin Hood) wins over Prince John's champion, Sir Guy of Gisbourne. Before his departure, the Earl falls in love with the Lady Marian Fitzwalter, but Gisbourne is jealous. Prince John makes a deal with the latter, saying that if Gisbourne goes to the Crusades and kills both the King and Huntingdon, John will arrange that the Lady Marian be forced to marry Sir Guy. Immediately after King Richard's departure for the Crusades, Prince John assumes authority and becomes cruel towards the population of England. Marian succeeds in sending a message to the Earl while he is in France, asking him to return. The message-carrier is Little John (Alan Hale, who would play this part again in the 1938 version starring Errol Flynn). The Earl demands to return to England at once, but when Richard refuses, he tries to desert. He is arrested, put a local jail, and after the other troops have moved on, he escapes and returns to England with Little John. Noticing the cruelty of Prince John, the Earl decides to become an outlaw under the name of Robin Hood. Thus, the legend begins... Douglas Fairbanks is magnificent as Robin Hood, a role that every swashbuckler has to play once in his career. Although Robin Hood himself (instead of the Earl) appears only after the first hour of the film, his leaping around, swordplay and natural charisma make of Fairbanks's performance as Robin Hood one of the best in the history of cinema. The sets and costumes are probably the most magnificent ever used in a Robin Hood film. The castle of King Richard (and consequently of Prince John) is indeed breathtaking, even by the standards of today. The height of the castle walls, with no apparent end to them, is very impressive. The Knights' armor and shields are very realistically portrayed as well, and the film still comes across with a strong feeling of historical accuracy. And for once, King Richard is not portrayed as an aging man with a grey beard when he was in fact 32 years old at the start of the Third Crusade. The photography, considering the year it was made, is amazing. The scenes in the castle mentioned above are great, and so are other individual scenes, such as the Earl, returning to England, swearing, with his sword raised in the air, to act for God, Richard, and Marian (who at that point in the film is presumed dead). The photography combined with editing creates some very successful moments, such as the joust between the Earl and Sir Guy, and the taking of Nottingham by Robin Hood. In spite of the well-known nature of the Robin Hood legend (at least that part), there are some suspenseful moments, such as the final fight, because of the excellent direction by Allan Dwan, editing, photography, and the script (also written by Fairbanks under a pseudonym). The final result is a Robin Hood story of epic proportions, but with a heartwarming romance at its core. A few down notes: First, the tinted frames. Before the arrival of colour, frames were tinted to convey a particular atmosphere (blue, for instance, was inevitably used for the night scenes). In "Robin Hood", most, if not all, of the film is tinted one colour or another. The scenes in Sherwood Forest are of course green. But the colours are too intense, and rather than convey a particular atmosphere, the tinted frames are just annoying for the eye. Fairbanks must nevertheless be thanked for his later support of colour at a time when studios were unwilling to take a risk on the matter. His "Black Pirate" (1926), filmed in two-strip Technicolor, was groundbreaking, but in 1922 colour was still at a very primitive and experimental stage. Second, the musical score. In silent films as in today's movies, music is important to set the mood of the picture. The version I watched had the original score by Victor Schertzinger, but it is not as good as it should have been. There are a few good moments in the musical score, but these are generally a ripoff from a then well-known but now obscure Reginald De Koven - Harry B. Smith operetta, "Robin Hood", which premiered in 1890. The rest is rather bland, with very few memorable passages. The quality of the recording itself leaves to be desired, since it often sounds like a MIDI file. Douglas Fairbanks's "Robin Hood" may be dated in several respects, and the first part may be slow, but it still maintains tremendous appeal. The narrative, the sets, and of course Fairbanks's masterly performance in the title role still give this film a lot of entertainment value. It is a prime example of Hollywood's output during its first "Golden Age", and it remains a must see for Robin Hood fans. Highly recommended!
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