Adventures of Robin Hood, The (Blu-ray)

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In direct comparison to these two earlier versions, the dual-layer, Blu-ray BD50 edition, using what appears to be the same VC-1 transfer as the HD DVD, slightly sharpens and clarifies the SD image, making the standard-definition rendering look all the more soft and blurry. There are still moments of softness in the high-def edition, but it looks remarkable for a movie of this vintage. Colors in high definition are as brilliant as ever, with blacks and reds remarkably deep, as are the royal purples, dazzling golds, and gleaming whites. The great feast in Sherwood Forest is one of the most-colorful, most-impressive visuals in the film. One can continue to find grain, though, as one should, considering that the grain is native to the original print. Even if the grain is never severe enough to mind after the first few minutes of viewing, it does add a touch of roughness to the image.

And what do you mean, Is it in widescreen? The movie is over seventy years old. Interestingly, however, I measured the opening titles at 1.37:1, the film's original screen ratio, but the body of the movie at about 1.47:1.

Audio:
On the SD and HD DVD discs I found the Dolby Digital and DD+ single-channel monaural sound a tad hard, thin, and edgy, with a hint of background noise in quieter sections at higher volume. It's the same for the BD's Dolby Digital 1.0 sound. Korngold's dazzling musical score could still use more mid and lower bass to fill it out, as well as more frequency and dynamic range (although the trumpets ring out boldly at Nottingham Castle and quite dramatically). What's more, the Dolby Digital sound is exceptionally clear, making dialogue easy to understand, even if voices are a touch pinched and nasal at times. Background noise seems as prominent as ever, but as with the film grain, one hardly notices it a few minutes into the movie. Remember, this was 1938, little more than a decade after the introduction of sound to pictures. Given the circumstances, the audio comes off as well as one could expect.

Extras:
The bonus items on this Blu-ray edition duplicate the materials found on WB's two-disc Special Edition and HD DVD, and they are quite formidable, several of the items in 1080p high definition but most in 480 standard resolution, and in total time lasting over twice as long as the main feature. First, there is an audio commentary by film historian Rudy Behlmer. It can be a little dry, as though he were reading a script to a college film class, but his remarks contain an abundance of substantial details, and they really are fun to listen to. For example, he mentions that if you watched the film on television any time before the mid 1960's, as I did, you would only have seen it in black-and-white. It was only in the mid-to-late 60's that Warner Bros. released the Technicolor version to TV.

After that is a Warner "Night at the Movies 1938," introduced by Leonard Maltin that includes a vintage newsreel; a musical short subject from Freddie Rich and His Orchestra; a Merrie Melodies cartoon, "Katnip Kollege" (HD); and a theatrical trailer for another Warner hit of the day, "Angels With Dirty Faces."

Moving on, we find two fairly recent documentaries. The first is sixty-minutes long on the coming of color to the movies. Called "Glorious Technicolor," it is the story of the evolution of the Technicolor process, divided into chapters for easy access and hosted by Angela Lansbury. The second documentary, "Welcome to Sherwood: The Story of the Adventures of Robin Hood," is a sixty-fifth anniversary affair on the making of the classic, with historians, writers, and film buffs Rudy Behlmer, Leonard Maltin, Robert Osborne, Paula Sigman, and Bob Thomas, Korngold expert John Mauceri, and art director Gene Allen. It's fifty-five minutes long and takes the viewer through every stage of the film's production from casting to final screenings.

Further, there is an eight-minute series of outtakes (without sound) also narrated by Rudy Behlmer, plus a segment called "Breakdowns of 1938," a studio blooper reel that provides fourteen minutes worth of flubs from various films of the period. "Robin Hood Through the Ages" is a seven-minute look at Robin Hood's earlier screen adaptations, most particularly the 1922 Douglas Fairbanks silent film. Then there's "A Journey to Sherwood Forest," thirteen minutes of on-location, behind-the-scenes home movies made during the film's shooting. Two classic Looney Tunes cartoons follow that parody Robin Hood: "Rabbit Hood" (HD) with Bugs Bunny and "Robin Hood Daffy" (HD) with Daffy Duck. Then, there are some vintage short subjects, "Cavalcade of Archery" and "The Cruise of the Zaca," followed by a gallery segment called "Splitting the Arrow" (HD) that includes historical art, costume designs, scene concepts, cast and crew pictures, and the like. An Errol Flynn trailer gallery includes trailers for twelve Flynn movies. And, finally, there are three audio-only bonuses: "The Robin Hood Radio Show" from 1938; some Erich Wolfgang Korngold piano sessions; and a music-only track highlighting the film's Oscar-winning score.

The Blu-ray edition comes with English, French, and Spanish spoken languages; English, French, and Spanish subtitles; and English captions for the hearing impaired. In addition, there are twenty-nine scene selections (but no chapter insert) and pop-up menus.

Parting Thoughts:
Critics called "The Adventures of Robin Hood" a "...splendid adventure story, rousingly operatic in treatment" (Leslie Halliwell, "Halliwell's Film Guide"), "Cinematic pageantry at its best" ("Variety"), "One of the most splendid entertainments ever devised" (David Shipman, "The Story of Cinema"), "The quintessential swashbuckler" (Steven H. Scheuer, "Movies on TV"), "The definitive swashbuckler" ("Leonard Maltin's Movie and Video Guide"), "...the Robin Hood" (John Eastman, "Retakes"), "Among the very best adventure films" (Mick Martin and Marsha Porter, "Video and DVD Guide"), "The stuff of which Saturday afternoon dreams were made" (Scott Meek, "Time Out Film Guide"), and "...the greatest costume adventure of all time" (Danny Peary, "Guide for the Film Fanatic").

They're absolutely correct. And did I mention the movie looks and sounds better than ever in high definition? It does.

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