This is it; this is THE classic movie I grew up adoring as a kid. It fueled my dreams of knights and ladies, made me fight battles against evil enemies in our backyard and inspired me to conclude my quest with honor, courage and romance.

"Robin Hood" features all the criteria of a masterpiece: great actors, a great staff, a great plot and a great overall product. Plus, this movie contains elements which, as normal as they may seem today, were revolutionary back in the late 1930s: a full-scale blockbuster that finally triggered the success of Technicolor and color movies as such, production costs of an astonishing 2 million dollars, sophisticated sword-fighting and arrow-shooting that even the masters of today's action sequences respect, a great score used to underline the peculiar character of every scene, huge crowds of people fighting simultaneously and a romantic couple of Errol Flynn and Olivia De Havilland, who in their emotional harmony may be unrivaled to this day.

Even though this was a super-modern state-of-the-art blockbuster, "Robin Hood" has maintained a curious innocence which still strikes me today. Women are not raped; they are merely pushed around, but the message is loud and clear ("the mistreatment of our women"), and Prince John's soldiers can be knocked out by a wooden table instead of being martially hacked into pieces by the film's hero. In its entirety, "Robin Hood", though presenting so much hardship and violence, is as smooth and gentle as they come, just like a ferry-tale banned on celluloid.

Of course, some may say that no other than Douglas Fairbanks is the original Robin Hood, and they may be right, but this "Robin Hood" is far from being a mere remake: It is another, even greater original. Today, of course, "Robin Hood" may seem simple and outdated, but this movie possesses more atmosphere and character than any other film I have ever seen.

Sure, "Robin Hood" has its weaknesses, ranging from poorly-concealed Sherwood trampolines to crooked prop swords, and in some of the shots, the continuity is simply terrible, but much like with a beloved person, I cherish each and every one of those imperfections and would not have them changed for anything in the world.

I have decided to give this movie a 10 out of 10 score, which does not mean that it is perfect, but in my opinion, its status as a timeless masterpiece, to be enjoyed by people for generations to come, and its revolutionary approach and features, which I mentioned above, allow no other judgment.