Merry

I was finally able to start on The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood by Howard Pyle this afternoon. Pyle is probably better known as an illustrator, with his quality comparing to that of such contemporaries as N.C. Wyeth and Maxfield Parrish among the great American illustrators.

This will be the third classic Robin Hood text I've read, already having read Paul Creswick's work as well as that by Roger Lancelyn Green. I don't expect much variation in Pyle's rendition, but I am looking forward to his artwork.

The particular edition that I have acquired was found at an antique shop, and is actually a library discard, and thus bound in hardcover, in what is typically known as "library binding." It's copyrighted 1946, and is a reprint of the original 1883 edition published by Scribner.

Since I'm on the subject of Robin Hood... I've been trying to get Maryanne to watch the classic The Adventures of Robin Hood with me for a long time. With some caution I call it the definitive film version, for it is this version which Mel Brooks more closely imitated in his Robin Hood: Men in Tights, though Brooks did borrow slightly from Kevin Costner's Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves. Some of the elements of the latter, including a Saracen, a witch, and Robin's return from the Crusades, are included in Brooks' version, but he maintains the tradition of the characters of Prince John and the Sheriff of Nottingham. The Errol Flynn film, of course, gives the Sheriff a name (Sir Guy of Gisbourne), and features a cast that's hard to beat: Errol Flynn, Olivia de Havilland, Basil Rathbone, Claude Rains, and Alan Hale.

All of the movies, though, vary from the tales, cutting out a lot of material along the way from start to finish. Robin's origins are actually explained better in the books, and those origins do not involve the Crusades. All of the movies end with Robin's happy union with Marion, though in many of the tales she doesn't even exist. None of the movies give any treatment to Robin's demise, a tale nearly as woeful, yet as hopeful, as the demise of King Arthur himself.

Mood: Thoughtful
Music: Bad Company: "Bad Company"