At the time this film held the distinction of employing the largest number of stuntmen on any one production.
Despite his flamboyant performance as Robin Hood, Errol Flynn privately professed that he found the role a boring one.
During one fight sequence, Errol Flynn was jabbed by an actor who was using an unprotected sword - he asked him why he didn't have a guard on the point. The other player apologized and explained that the director, Michael Curtiz, had instructed him to remove the safety feature in order to make the action "more exciting". Errol Flynn reportedly climbed up a gantry where Michael Curtiz was standing next to the camera, took him by the throat and asked him if he found that "exciting enough".
For the film's initial release in May 1938, an unusually elaborate, 8 minute full color trailer was produced, which unfortunately does not survive in the Warner vault. Only the reissue trailer (1948) is available now.
German audiences will wait in vain for the notorious lines "You speak treason!" - "Fluently." In the German version, it is dubbed as "Ihr sprecht unbedacht!" - "Weiß ich." ("You speak before you think!" - "I know.") Probably they chose this quip (clever in its own right, but in a different vein than the original) because a more faithful translation would have lost the play on words completely.
Heavily padded stunt players and actors were paid $150 per arrow for being shot by professional archer Howard Hill, who also played the captain of the archers, whom Robin Hood defeats in the tournament by splitting his own arrow. Splitting the arrow was Hill's feat, too, done in one take with no trick photography.
In an effort to assuage the Production Code Administration, aka the Breen Office - which was the official censorship authority at the time and was coming down especially hard on Warner Bros.' popular gangster films - the studio gave the go-ahead for this project, figuring that a harmless historical tale wouldn't cause them to run afoul of the censors.
Maid Marian is from not an original Robin Hood ballad, but from the French romantic ballad "Jeau Robin et Marian" (Play of Robin and Marian). Robin was not Robin Hood but a shepherd, and Marian was a shepherdess whom he loved.
Maid Marion is never referred to by that name in this film. She is referred to as "Lady Marion Fitzwalter" twice, once in the banquet scene and the second time by Sir Guy just before she hands the Golden Arrow to Robin Hood.
On May 11, 1938, a special live radio broadcast of an extended selection of the important parts of the music score by Erich Wolfgang Korngold was presented by NBC coast to coast, with Basil Rathbone (who played Sir Guy of Gisbourne in the film) narrating the story and the composer himself conducting the Warner Brothers Studio Orchestra. This was the first time that a film score was performed in this way on radio, an unusual accolade for Korngold's remarkable score. Plans to release the broadcast on gramophone records were unfortunately abandoned, for reasons that are unclear. Private copies were made, of which only three are known to survive. An edited version of the broadcast has been issued on LP and CD.
One of the original story concepts had Robin Hood die at the end of the film.
One of the original writers on the project was Rowland Leigh.
Originally budgeted at $1.6 million, the budget eventually ballooned to $2 million, the most expensive Warners film to date, but it turned out to be the studio's biggest money-maker in 1939, making back far in excess of its cost.
Originally planned with James Cagney playing the title role, but he quit Warner Brothers and production was postponed for three years.
Originally set to open with an elaborate jousting sequence, just as Douglas Fairbanks' Robin Hood did, but it was decided that this would be too expensive and the plans were scotched.
The ending that exists now in the film is not the one that was originally written. In the original ending, King Richard and his forces help battle Prince John's and Guy of Gisburne's forces outside the castle - this ending was scrapped because it was too expensive to film. In the back-up ending, Prince John and Guy of Gisbourne's forces chased Robin Hood's and King Richard's forces into Sherwood forest and the climax took place there. This second ending was really never satisfactory, and was scrapped too. Finally, a third ending was written, in which the climactic battle takes place inside the Castle of Nottingham. Now King Richard's forces could be pared down to a handful of faithful retainers, and the new ending proved to be less expensive to shoot. To prepare the audience for the new ending, the abbot's scenes were given to the Bishop of the Black Canons.
The film plays very fancifully with real history. Even the opening titles are full of inaccuracies.
The golden palomino that Olivia de Havilland rides in this film is Trigger, shortly before he became the mount of Roy Rogers.
The golden palomino that Olivia de Havilland rides in this film is Trigger, shortly before he became the mount of Roy Rogers.
The preview audience reaction was so positive that the film was released without any alterations to the plot.