The story-telling is good with flashbacks.The film is both funny and heartbreaking. You smile in a scene and get a soulcrushing revelation in the next.

Blistering performances.

All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

The best Robin Hood movie I've ever seen! Fairbanks is perfect for the role, and I'm glad he played it. With his physical skills and sense of timing, he was able to pack the movie with action. He wrote it too, which is cool, I loved how we got to see how he became Robin Hood and what was going on in medieval times. I had never seen another Robin Hood movie do so much of that so well. (Whether or not it is historically accurate according to some of the others here. It's a bit of literature, so I don't think it matters that much.) The sets, costumes, and everything were really spectacular. I loved this movie, and as I said, it's my favorite Robin Hood film.

The Earl of Huntingdon (Douglas Fairbanks), who's ace at jousting but scared of girls, goes off to fight in the Crusades as Richard the Lionheart's (Wallace Beery) second-in-command. Then his new bird (Enid Bennett, who's a perfect Marian) sends word that replacement monarch Prince John has turned into the most terrible tyrant, inspiring our hero to leg it back to Nottingham – though not before being shot and imprisoned in a tower. Once home, he reinvents himself as the bouncy, proclamatory, green-wearing outlaw of the title, robbing from the rich, giving to the poor, and generally running around imploring people to chase him. This lavish, wonderfully entertaining swashbuckler offers a different and arguably more realistic portrait of the hero than the more well-known talkie versions – not even introducing the "Robin" alter-ego until the 74-minute mark – but myth-makes through moments of spellbinding imagery. The film is set in "the time of faith" and its arresting visual sense draws memorably on Christian iconography, particularly when Robin and Marian are reunited in the grounds of a nunnery under shafts of light streaming through the trees and, later, when she cowers by an altar in Richard's castle. Such artistry is complemented by a serious sense of fun, with Fairbanks in irresistible form and his usual fondness for a good stunt much in evidence – the scene where he leads John's men on a merry dance around the castle is a delight, and the climax spotlights both his athleticism and his idiosyncratic swordsmanship. "Five-year-old in the back yard", that's all I'm going to say. The music by Victor Schertzinger might not quite match Erich von Korngold's famous score for The Adventures of Robin Hood (the 1938 film, with Errol Flynn in the lead), but it's pretty damn great. Old movie nerds will want to know that the costumes were made by cult '30s and '40s director Mitchell Leisen, while fellow helmer Robert Florey has a rare bit-part as a peasant. Alan Hale reprised his role as Little John in the 1938 film where, unlike here, he got to fight the hero while standing on a log.

Douglas Fairbanks's Robin Hood starts with more than an hour of backstory, ponderously paced with heroes and villains alike hulking around in chain mail declaiming in mime that is way over the top. Sets and costumes are ludicrous (people would freeze to death in the main castle's great hall, which looks like it takes up a couple of sound stages and is virtually empty). Lady Marian trails looooong veils and trains, which it's a wonder she doesn't trip over. Wallace Beery is horribly miscast as King Richard; the actor playing Prince John, Sam de Grasse, is actually pretty good, though he too indulges in occasional broad mime. Douglas Fairbanks transforms from a galumphing knight who's afraid of women to a jumping bean when he removes the chain mail and becomes Robin Hood. The Robin Hood parts of the movie are few and far between; we get barely a nodding acquaintance with the usual cronies--Little John, Friar Tuck et al. Favorite absurdity: Robin Hood bouncing around, climbing down a castle wall holding a bag of gold between his teeth. Must be great teeth. There've been a lot of better Robin Hoods since this flatfooted film (Errol Flynn and Richard Greene to name my two reference points). Of minor historical interest only.

Hollywood has immortalized the fabulous Robin Hood legend on celluloid many times. Ironically, the best version of this adventure epic is "Sands of Iwo Jima" director Allan Dwan's silent "Robin Hood" with the ever agile Douglas Fairbanks, Sr. Reportedly, Fairbanks produced this movie for the staggering sum of one point five million dollars and he penned the screenplay, too. Now, you're going to say "no way" can a creaky old silent saga top the incomparable Errol Flynn Technicolor classic "The Adventures of Robin Hood." Nevertheless, the Flynn "Robin Hood" lacks the spectacle of the Fairbanks' version. Dwan stages several big battle scenes. Moreover, none of the later "Robin Hood" pictures devote over an hour to the Earl of Huntingdon's back story. In fact, the first time that we see him he is referred to as the Earl and he is shy where Maid Marian is concerned. Clocking in at over two hours, "Robin Hood" covers a lot of ground and Fairbanks flaunts his athletic skills as he climbs the ropes that hoist the moat bridge and he leaps about with carefree abandon. Wallace Beery makes a definite impression as King Richard and the villains are truly villainous. Indeed, there is far more spectacle here, especially when Robin makes his first appearance and eludes his enemy at King John's castle. The only drawback to this 1923 masterpiece is that it doesn't have Technicolor like "The Adventures of Robin Hood" and film as a cinematic art had not developed as much by 1923 as it later did by 1938. The interesting thing here is that Alan Hale not only played Little John in this outing, but he also co-starred as Little John in the Flynn yarn. In fact, Hale's last performance was as Little John in director Gordon Douglas' "Rogues of Sherwood Forest" with John Derek.The action unfolds in Medieval England at a jousting tournament with Robert, the Earl of Huntingdon (Douglas Fairbanks of "Thief of Bagdad"), competing against the unscrupulous Sir Guy of Gisbourne (Paul Dickey) who ties himself into his saddle to avoid being unhorsed. Gisbourne's skulduggery is for naught because the Earl topples him and is rewarded by Lady Marian Fitzwalter (Enid Bennett of "The Vamp") for his victory. During the jousting match, King Richard challenges his brother, Prince John (Sam De Grasse of "The Black Pirate") who is depicted as a wicked fiend from the moment that we lay eyes on him. King Richard (Wallace Beery of "The Champ") gathers an army to go on his Crusade to the Holy Land and Huntingdon accompanies him and proves his valor several times over. Meanwhile, Richard has left John in charge of England and John exploits this opportunity for everything that he can get and he steals and turns into a tyrant. When word of this reaches Huntingdon from Maid Marian, he entreats his lordship to let him return to England on a personal mission. Richard refuses to part with the Earl and he puts him in prison in France until he can return from Palestine. Little John helps Huntingdon escape and they return to England to fight King John.All the familiar characters, such as Allan-A-Dale, Will Scarlet, and Friar Tuck are conspicuously present when Robin and his Merry Men redistribute the wealth to the poor and the needy.Douglas Fairbanks is appropriately flamboyant as the protagonist. The enormous set interiors for the castles and the sprawling scenes in the forest give this movie an epic feeling.