So as I said in my last post, I popped the DVD of “Robin Hood” into the player. What happened next?
If you are thinking that lightning struck, or the DVD player crashed and burned, or that it simply failed to work – having atrophied from disuse, well, all these look likely scenarios, and could have happened to anyone. Nothing of that sort happened though, but they could well have, in an alternate universe, or even if I was having a bad day.
But the DVD player worked smoothly, as if it had been doing this sort of thing every day. And yet I had a nagging feeling that something was wrong.
I knew that Robin Hood was an old movie, dating back to sometime in the early nineties. Two decades old, and probably some of the readers of this blog had not even started school back then. But surely, even back in those old days, movies were made in color? Why did this look like a remastered B&W movie? And wasn’t Kevin Costner supposed to be Robin Hood? Who was this guy with the curly, blond hair and bright green frock-coats? Someone in the remastering section obviously liked color. Not content with bright green frock-coats, he had settled on an even brighter red cloak. With that color combination, and given that he seemed to be forever perched on a tree in the Sherwood Forest, he looked like a very handsome parrot, although I prefer my parrots to be smaller sized.
Gradwolf and Kalafudra came close, though even they were decades away. I was not watching “Robin Hood: Men in Tights“, circa 1993. But they were right, I was certainly not watching the DVD of Robin Hood, Prince of Thieves (circa 1991) that I had thought I had borrowed.
I was actually watching “The Adventures of Robin Hood” circa 1938, starring Errol Flynn and Olivia de Havilland. (The same one that Shambu remembers). These, apparently are not even the only Robin Hood movies produced, as IMDB will tell you. Obviously, they have been producing one Robin Hood movie a day with the express purpose of confusing me.
I took a closer look at the DVD cover and realized that it did say “The Adventures of” but in font size 3. Still, you’d say, how could you not see that guy on the cover did not look anything like Kevin Costner? That’s true, I realize now, he doesn’t, but you tend not to be particular about how Kevin Costner looks like when you are juggling an armful of books. If he wanted to wear bright green caps with feathers that looked like cat’s tails and dye his hair in two colors, who was I to object?
The movie, at any rate, was hilarious. Of course, the green frock-coat (or frock? or skirt?) would have been quite adequate to provide the hilarity, but as it turns out, there was much more. I ended up congratulating myself on a good find. Sadly, this might mean that no lessons on reading small fonts have been learnt.
Then, a few weeks later, after multiple online renewals, I finally got around to watching the other DVD I had borrowed – the “Pirates of the Caribbean” one. I was pretty sure I was going to love this one..
But did I? What do you think happened this time?
(To be continued)
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So close, so close… Actually, after posting this, I briefly thought about the Errol Flynn movie, but discarded it. Don’t know why…
Oh, well.
Do tell me that you got the right Pirates of the Caribbean? Or did you grab part 2 or 3 accidentally?
I suppose you didn’t believe even I’d go as far back as Errol Flynn
And yes, I did not get the right Pirates..not surprisingly.
there is apparently a porn version of the pirates, but I assume they dont rent those out at blockbuster or netflix!
Nor, I presume, at the library
Err, what’s wrong with Pirates of the Caribbean? Even the 2nd and 3rd parts provide enough entertainment.
Oh wait. What you got was not English? Spanish?
The 2nd and 3rd parts would provide entertainment if you’ve watched the first part
@Maxdavinci: I really hope they don’t put “that” version in the public libraries.
@Lekhni: You were surprised at green tights and red capes? Did you ever read any Robin Hood stories? I used to think you couldn’t apply for a Merry Man spot unless you had green tights and cap (excepting Friar Tuck of course), even if you beat Robin Hood in archery.
Unfortunately, none of the Robin Hood stories I read mentioned his propensity for bright green tights and red cape
You’d think he’d wear browns and dark greens and other drab colors that would actually help camouflage him in the forest, right? Not if you are Errol Flynn, I suppose!
@ the prince of thieves. back in that pre pubscent time i think every girl i knew had the hots for kevin costner or bryan adams crooning everything i do.
this other version i think i might have seen it on tv. is good?
The Errol Flynn version is hilarious! A must-watch.
O ho, now you’re making fun of Errol Flynn flicks? Not done, my dear, not done. Watching a whole bunch of his films – which pretty much defined the ’swashbuckler’ era – is brilliant fun. So OTT, but so much fun.
You should try one called Captain Blood, also with de Havillian if I remember right. Swordfights! Capes! Big hats! Passionate embraces! Hilarity!!
I must find this Captain Blood DVD, I am now a big fan of Errol Flynn
Hey, Errol Flynn looks quite dashing – seems to be tailor-made to play Robin Hood. I remember watching a Disney version of Robin Hood – years ago, from an era well before all Disney movies starting looking and sounding the same with their saccharine songs and annoyingly pious and overly goody-goody heroes and heroines. This one had different animals representing the various characters – Robin Hood was a fox, if I remember correctly, and Allan-a-Dale was a rooster. Very cleverly done, and good fun.
I won’t even bother guessing what happened with the Pirates movie. Will wait patiently for you to reveal all!
The Disney movie sounds like a kids classic, and you’re right, certainly better than the stuff they show now. Errol Flynn does make a great Robin Hood !
See, now I feel dumb for taking out my guess that you watched the Errol Flynn version. Oh well.
Not sure if you were in India during the mid 90’s when Cartoon Network would turn into TNT at 9 PM. TNT specialized in classics like Robin Hood, Mutiny on the Bounty, Ben Hur, Casablanca, The Day the Earth Stood Still, etc. It was good fun and I thought that the women in these movies were way prettier than those in contemporary Hollywood movies!
Idling:
TNT aka TCM? That’s where I watched all these too! They showed some amazing flicks – and they had me for life when they ran a Bogart moviethon one week.
In fact, Lekhni, I’m pretty sure you can get TCM in the US. Oh yes, here you go – http://www.tcm.com/index.jsp. Enjoy.
@??!: TCM used to be called TNT in India back in the late 90’s. They didn’t play a single movie made after 1970. It was good fun.