Robin Hood (1922) - Allan Dwan

Bigger, longer, better? Fairbanks found that in the two short years since The Mark of Zorro that he had cornered a market on historical action spectacle. To commemorate this he actually put his name in the title of this film, copy written as Douglas Fairbanks in Robin Hood. Now commonly referred to as Robin Hood (at least on video) the film has existed in a variety of prints and variations. Some have tinting some don't, some are projected at correct speeds, others slowed down to 24 fps. The VHS and subsequent DVD release by Kino are believed to be the correct length, tint, and projection speed or so I believe. The film is a mighty 120 minutes, and a great deal of that time is spent admiring the ginormous sets constructed for the film. Fairbanks and then wife Mary Pickford purchased a former studio and proceeded to reconstruct a 12th Century England. Sad to think that sets of this size would be computer generated today, but there was a time when damn it people actually constructed this. Fairbanks not to be outdone by his surroundings steps up his acrobatics and practically flies through the film leaping and landing all over the place, but always with a spare minute to kick some game to the lovely Maid Marian (Enid Bennett). In the days before "special effects" there was actually a credited Trick Photographer (Paul Eagler). Much larger in scale than all of Fairbanks' previous efforts, this would even seem small when compared to his Thief of Baghdad. Although not the first adaptation of the Robin Hood legend, this along with the Curtiz version in 1938 have remained the best remembered.