Movie Review

Adventure

Adventures Of Robin Hood

Set in 1190, it opens as King Richard has left England to fight in the Crusades, leaving the country in the care of his brother, Prince John (Claude Rains). When word arrives that Richard has been captured by the Austrians, Prince John, with the aid of his evil right-hand man Sir Guy of Gisbourne (Basil Rathbone), decides to completely seize control of the country and begins oppressively taxing the people-theoretically to raise the necessary ransom but really to line his own pockets.
The only person of noble blood to protest these actions is Robin Hood (Errol Flynn), who winds up forgoing his title and lands and takes to the woods of Sherwood Forest with a merry band of followers. Robin and his men begin a series of attacks in order to steal the tax money from Prince John and return it to those whom it was taken from in the first place. Not surprisingly, Prince John and Sir Guy don’t take to this too well-Sir Guy becomes especially enraged when his betrothed, Maid Marian (Olivia de Havilland) becomes sweet on his enemy- and design an elaborate number of traps in order to capture Robin-at one point, they even hold a fake archery contest to lure him out of hiding; the joke is that they know that Robin will recognize the contest as a trap but they also know that his ego will compel him to show up anyway.

North By Northwest

The modern classic is certainly a tale of mistaken identity, a brazen spy thriller, an urbane comedy and a screwball romance. Cary Grant is a suave, twice divorced, happy-go-lucky, Brooks Brothers gray flannel suit wearing successful Madison Avenue advertising executive who's abducted at the Plaza Hotel by two mysterious men and forced to go by car to the Long Island mansion of foreign spy James Mason. He denies he's George Kaplan, an undercover Federal agent, when interrogated by Mason. He's then plied with bourbon and made to ride in a car down a winding ocean cliff road. He escapes his planned execution when he manages to take control of the wheel by overcoming one of his executioners and drives the car erratically down a mountain highway until his car is stopped by a police car. But when he tells of his kidnapping and being held at the mansion and being forced to drink the booze, the cops don't buy his story. When they check it out they find no Mason at the Glen Cove estate and discover the mansion is owned by a United Nation ambassador (Philip Ober). Though no one believes his story, including his mother, Grant nevertheless gets released after being charged with drunk driving and returns to the UN building to question the ambassador. But the official is knifed to death and Grant is left holding the weapon when the police arrive. He becomes a fugitive from justice, pursued cross-country by spies, the police, and the FBI. To his rescue, as he escapes by train, comes the beautiful platinum ice cool blonde femme fatale Eva Marie, and all kinds of complications arise as to why she's aiding him even though she knows he's wanted for murder.