Customer Reviews

Adventures of Robin Hood, Volume 2

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

"The Adventures of Robin Hood," starring British actor Richard Greene was broadcast on CBS from 1955 through 1958 and later had a successful run in syndication for a number of years. The series featured good acting by a variety of British character actors, innovative set design (for its time), and interesting scripts, a number of which were written by blacklisted Hollywood writers like Ring Lardner, Jr. using aliases. It was also one of the very first series produced in England that aired in the United States and paved the way for the "British Invasion" of the Sixties for shows like "Secret Agent" (a/k/a "Danger Man"), "The Saint," and "The Avengers," among many others.

Volume 2 features four episodes from the second season: "The Little People," "The Goldmaker's Return," "Flight From France," and "The York Treasure." All four episodes are making their U.S. debut on DVD. There appears to be a few seconds of footage missing from "The Little People," and the star of the series, Richard Greene, does not appear in "The Goldmaker's Return," one of the few times that Robin Hood does not appear in his own series! Paul Eddington, a well known character actor who worked in British television into the 1990s, appears in several different roles in these episodes and later became a series regular as Will Scarlett; these episodes are among his earliest television appearances.

This second release of Robin Hood episodes from Alpha Video was released simultaneously with Volume 1 and the audio/visuals on this second disk match the quality on the first release; a few of the episodes are of "near broadcast" quality and are likely the best that we'll ever see of this series which, in the U.S., has fallen into the public domain. Like Volume 1, one of the episodes has incorrect end credits, i.e., the credits have been spliced in from a different episode, perhaps as way to include Dick James' famous Robin Hood theme song.

Although the number of DVD releases of "The Adventures of Robin Hood" television series has increased significantly over the past year, one has to give Alpha Video credit for releasing, arguably, the best looking prints of this series on the market today, and for seeking out episodes that other DVD releasing companies specializing in public domain material have not released.

Like Volume 1, my rating is closer to **** ½ for this release.

"The Adventures of Robin Hood," starring British actor Richard Greene was broadcast on CBS from 1955 through 1958 and later had a successful run in syndication for a number of years. The series featured good acting by a variety of British character actors, innovative set design (for its time), and interesting scripts, a number of which were written by blacklisted Hollywood writers like Ring Lardner, Jr. using aliases. It was also one of the very first series produced in England that aired in the United States and paved the way for the "British Invasion" of the Sixties for shows like "Secret Agent" (a/k/a "Danger Man"), "The Saint," and "The Avengers," among many others.

Volume 2 features four episodes from the second season: "The Little People," "The Goldmaker's Return," "Flight From France," and "The York Treasure." All four episodes are making their U.S. debut on DVD. There appears to be a few seconds of footage missing from "The Little People," and the star of the series, Richard Greene, does not appear in "The Goldmaker's Return," one of the few times that Robin Hood does not appear in his own series! Paul Eddington, a well known character actor who worked in British television into the 1990s, appears in several different roles in these episodes and later became a series regular as Will Scarlett; these episodes are among his earliest television appearances.

This second release of Robin Hood episodes from Alpha Video was released simultaneously with Volume 1 and the audio/visuals on this second disk match the quality on the first release; a few of the episodes are of "near broadcast" quality and are likely the best that we'll ever see of this series which, in the U.S., has fallen into the public domain. Like Volume 1, one of the episodes has incorrect end credits, i.e., the credits have been spliced in from a different episode, perhaps as way to include Dick James' famous Robin Hood theme song.

Although the number of DVD releases of "The Adventures of Robin Hood" television series has increased significantly over the past year, one has to give Alpha Video credit for releasing, arguably, the best looking prints of this series on the market today, and for seeking out episodes that other DVD releasing companies specializing in public domain material have not released.

Like Volume 1, my rating is closer to **** ½ for this release.

Another first rate set of Episodes from the 50's Series with a slightly different theme, two of the episodes: THE LITTLE PEOPLE and FLIGHT FROM FRANCE, take place outside of England.

Another different Episode is THE GOLDMAKER'S RETUEN where we see another episode without Richard Greene.

The final episode on the cd THE YORK TREASURE is my favorite and contains an interesting exchange between Little John and Robin on the subject of women that is worth the price of the cd.

The only objections I have concern timing: FLIGHT FROM FRANCE and VOL 1's AMBUSH are the 1st and 3rd parts of a three episode set concerning bringing the heir to the throne to safety in France. The episode in question (the BANDIT OF BRITTANY) should have been included. (although THE GOLDMAKER'S RETURN technically is the episode that comes before FLIGHT FROM FRANCE since the story isn't connect except for the absence of Robin in France I didn't include it as part of that story).

I would have run the THE GOLDMAKER before THE GOLDMAKER'S RETURN as well but fear not, it will come it a later volume.

BUY IT!

I got this for my 7 and 10 year old boys who are really into Robin Hood now. They watched the old disney movie of Robin Hood and loved it. However, the picture in this is often very dark making it difficult to see the actors. Also the sound is very bad. Some of the plots are a little boring. But I think my kids would still be okay with watching them if it was better quality. I wanted something not so violent or fraught with sexual innuendo, which this isn't. I just wish it was easier to watch.

I purchased from Amazon.co.uk each of the four seasons of "The Adventures of Robin Hood" - all 143 episodes - for about $20 per season.

Digital transfer was excellent and our entire family has enjoyed the series. Packaging involved sturdy plastic cases, each containing 2 DVD's, with 8 episodes per disk. I found this a great value and wanted to recommend it to others interested in the Robin Hood series.

If you are looking for family entertainment that does not need to be edited in order for the whole family to watch, this is for you. The costumes and music are very well done considering the period. There is enough humor in the stories to be entertaining without being disrespectful. Action is of course much tamer than what many modern productions are. But that is a positive trait in my opinion. My children are allowed to watch these once a week, just so they get the idea of what it was like to wait when they were on TV long ago. If you like chivalry, the tale of Robin Hood and family entertainment, I recommend these highly.

It is a good souvenir from my Youth. It is in black and white and the sound is not perfect but it always remember me the time when I was only 8 years old. If you do not know the classic series of Robin Hood, buy at least the DVD #1 to learn of Robin of Loxley is become Robin Hood.