Glorious Technicolor

[Fraser]

My gf bought me the HD DVD drive for my Xbox at Christmas and since then I've been buying a few HD DVDs and enjoying them: Batman Begins is very good.

However, I've been blown away by the restored HD version of the 1938 classic, The Adventures of Robin Hood, which I got the other day. It's always been one of my favourites; Errol Flynn is Robin Hood for me, dashing, roughish, athletic and Olivia deHavilland the most beautiful and charming Marian. Add to that Basil Rathbone and Claude Rains as Sir Guy and Prince John, two of Hollywood's best character actors. A great script that just takes you along for 102 minutes of pure fantasy. What a difference from the recent tripe put out by the BBC with a weasel eyed youth playing Robin Hood and scripts that totally ignored the possibilities of the character.

Ok, all well and good, but the new version was restored using a process invented by someone at Warners called Ultra Resolution that digitally re-aligns the three strip Technicolor film to the orginal state it was in when released in 1938(the process is nominated for a technical Oscar this year). The result is amazing, the detail is such that you can count the chain mail rings and see the embroidery on the costumes. As for the colour you can see why they used to call it Glorious Technicolor, it's like a painting brought to life. Stunning. If you don't have HD DVD there is a special edition DVD that uses the same master and looks stunning on that too.

[andy at handiwork]

I hope the sound quality is good as well, because the music for the film, by Eric Korngold, deservedly won the Oscar for Best Soundtrack in 1938. In the same way that Flynn will always be RH, Korngold's glorious music will always be the soundtrack to RH. The music that plays with the attack on the Sherrif's caravan in the forest is one of the most exciting pieces in movie history for me. It was the offer of a contract from Warners to do the music for that and other films that allowed Korngold and his family to emigrate to the US from their native Austria, so probably saving them from death at the hands of the Nazis.

[Fraser]

The soundtrack is mono but has been re-mastered and all hiss etc has been removed. To my ear it's never sounded better. I agree with you, Korngold's score is one of the best and a model for this kind of adventure film.