Douglas Fairbanks began his film career making unpretentious comedies and Westerns, but after the success of The Mark of Zorro in 1920 he fixed upon a new formula that inscribed his athleticism and hijinks within elaborate historical tableaux. Fairbanks was big, and the parts he played had to match. As the name implies, Douglas Fairbanks in Robin Hood — the actual title used on screen, in all advertising materials, and for the copyright registration — placed the actor on a co-equal pedestal with the legendary outlaw. (Perhaps Doug actually loomed a bit larger than Robin: the film was made by the Douglas Fairbanks Pictures Corporation for release through United Artists, the distribution entity Fairbanks co-founded, and written by “Elton Thomas,” a Fairbanks pseudonym.) The film begins with a melancholy tour of English ruins before restoring the monuments of the Age of Faith through the magic of the movies. Douglas Fairbanks in Robin Hood boasted some of the largest sets of the silent era and featured thousands of extras. (The budget for the costumes alone, designed by Mitchell Leisen, could have funded two or three contemporary pictures.) This version of the story devotes significant time to the Crusades and Robin’s relationship with King Richard (Wallace Beery) before the bandits even begin to gallop through Sherwood Forest. But rest assured that, once assembled, Robin’s band is the merriest of Merry Men, leaping and frolicking like drunken elves who live in a treehouse. Only Fairbanks could sketch a Robin Hood whose life is “dedicated to revenge — bitter — but joyous” and really mean it! 

Restored by The Museum of Modern Art with support from the Celeste Bartos Fund for Film Preservation. 35mm from the Museum of Modern Art

Preceded by: Silent Serial Trailers (1921-1927) – 8 min – 16mm