recommendations for 30' 40' adventure films in the vein of robin hood
I love this film, and would like to see somethig similar. of course without the robin hood mythos, but similarly colorful adventures
share(Not all of these are in color)
Gunga Din
The Four Feathers
The Thief of Bagdad, done in glorious technicolor, qualifies as both an adventure film and escapist fantasy.
All of Errol Flynn's swashbuckling escapades from that time period, in particular Captain Blood and The Sea Hawk
The Mask of Zorro, which features another all-time great sword fight with Rathbone, this time against Tyrone Power
The Pirate, an adventure/musical based on a ship, with Gene Kelly and Judy Garland
The Three Musketeers, with Gene Kelly, Lana Turner, Angela Lansbury, and Ven Heflin
"...if that was off, I'd be whoopin' your ass up and down this street." ~ an irate Tarantino
Fine list. (I think you mean "The 'Mark' of Zorro".) I might also add -- "The Prisoner of Zenda" (there's a 50's version almost identical - in color w/ S. Granger in the Coleman role), "Anthony Adverse", "The Man in the Iron Mask", and "The Scarlet Pimpernel". All B&W. In "glorious" color - "Captain From Castile" (offers one of the best musical scores ever written for a movie). Sneaking into the 50's a bit, MUST add "Scaramouche" (1952) -- for what it's worth, my personal favorite.
shareThe '52 Zenda is "just jake" and in color and all that; but the screen presence of Ronald Colman and his co-stars (C. Aubrey Smith, Douglas Faribanks Jr., Raymond Massey, David Niven, Mary Astor and Madelyn Carrol) makes it more than worth watching the 1937 B&W version. James Mason is the best thing about the '52 version, though.
Catch the Douglas Fairbanks Sr. silent swashbucklers when you can. He CREATED the whole frickin' genre! With "The Mark of Zorro," "Robin Hood," "The Three Musketeers, "The Thief of Baghdad," and "Black Pirate." All terrific flicks, if silent movies are no impediment for you.
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You can also some examples of young Maureen O'Hara as the quintessential feisty love interest, like: The Black Swan (another Tyrone Power flick), Sinbad the Sailor (this a Fairbanks Jr. version), and The Spanish Main (sure, Paul Henreid is a touch dry as a swachbuckling hero; but you've got O'Hara and another of the seemingly 357 times [always fun] that Walter Slezak played an evil governor).
And once you've watched all of those and are ready to chuckle through a spoof of those sword fighting swashbucklers ....... skip into the mid-1950s and check out The Court Jester with Danny Kaye (and, hey, Rathbone is *still* the villain).
Just always remember:
"The pellet with the poison's in the flagon with the dragon;
the vessel with the pestle has the brew that is true."
Yeah, but . . . there's been a change. Someone broke the vessel with the pestle! Now, the pellet with the poison's in the flagon with the dragon. The chalice from the palace has the brew that is true. . . Ahhhh, yeah, I "think" that's it? . . . You taste it first though, okay?
shareAnd by sheer coincidence:
Later last night I noticed on my cable "Guide" that Turner Classic Movies showed The Court Jester last night at something like 2:00 AM Eastern Time.
I had already seen the mark of zorro (which I really like). thanks for the list, I haven't really seen many of these types of movies but I'll be definitively watching these :)
shareCaptain Blood (1935)
so good! And Errol Flynn's first starring role. De Havilland plays his romantic interest in that one too
Now, where was I?share