New-York tribune., 1922-10-31
Robin Hood, With
Douglas Fairbanks,
Is Colossal Picture
Crowd Storms Lyric ON the
Opening Night of Film,
in Which Star Appears
to Excellent Advantage
By IIarriettc Undsrhill

Just why somebody neglected to ask
thc people who stormed the Lyric The
a.rr last night to dress up like medie-
vsi bandits is more than we can under
s.sad. II would have been SO no9eli
is we fought onr way through the
crowl and into the theaser We never
shoueltt Of this, aat later in che eve
ming as we watched Robin Hood and
his bard capture cities ard take ga,-
aces, II occurred 70 as thai no more
intrepid band ever lived than those
first nlghters who cannot get in the
tbester and SO take up = point Of
vantage on the outside TO see the
celebrities go in and out.
Of course the niaiony Of 4ho Iso.
vent let them stand wherever they
IKE, so every available foot OF stand;n.r
room mas at least twenty apnIiaeote
Getting in and out OF tn. theater is
interesting but hazardous, but 4 Ia
what ono must expect a. Douglas
Fairbanks opening. The somc flsing
happened at "Thc Three MueEatse,s ,
c.ay it seemed that the csowt, les,
a'Sat was bigger. They were rcal]..
waiting to see the star OF tla picture.
bat they gave cheerful aud noisv
EEeesiag to Ro3o'ph Valentino. Richard
Bsrtheimers and John Mccormack 80
Saey entered the theater. Douglas him,
saif did not arrive until the overtur,
and then, almost Immediately, tho nic,
tlre was Under way.
Douglas Fairbanks in nab;y, Hoos,.
has been advertised az the aro.tas.
film show on Garth, and while we o-c
rot prepared to sag that it is not tie
greatest" we can truthful,y Shst
We have found other pictures quits ss
thrilling, and sill other and sim =
ores which pleased us more. But thst
IS not to say that Robin Hood" is not
magnlficent, FOR it is and tue work on
~ seems so colossal that one wonders
hew star, q director or screen
writer could ever have had the courage
10 tackle it, % :
II they should tell us that it cost
s5.00o,o00 and took two years 10 make.
we could easily believe it, for when
you lok at the finished production in
all its glory you marvel that it ever
was completed at all.
Phe picture is done in two acts. the
first being devoted to the life OF Earl
OF huntington and the events which
led Up to his renouncing his world
and becoming the bold and dashinp
Robin Hood. The nrst Part is
picturesque, but it moves rather SLOWLY
with al 1.-THE love scenes between che
Earl and Lady Marian aoinc for
Hahght- Who ever wrote the scenes
undoubtedly knew more about the
psychology OF Robin Eoca than we do,
but it would have p.aascd us far more
Il we had been q snore tcinpeGtuous
lover.
In the second half the carl is seen as
the gay bandit, and here Fairbanks is
m his glory. 70 watch him scramble
10 the topmost limb OF u tree and thea
swing down on the hunter w!,onl he is
hunting makes YOU think t;lat he must
be more th0n human, for human be-
lngs cannot walk up and down the
sides Of buildings and leap from tower
20 tower without being just naturally
attracted to the earth with more speed
than grace. There is one thing about
FAIRBANKS plctnrc--7y0u always may
oe sure that there is nc double, for if
Douglas cannot do it it can't be done.
On the fourth page Of the program
are printed .intekestin0 facts OF
Douglas Fairbanks ia Robin Hood
Instead OF astoundiEl AS when Nc Teai
that more than 20.t}9 persons wore
employed aAd that "the royal banquet
room is larger than Lie concufse IN
me pennsylvania terminal and th2t
"250 tons of material Went into TIL
castle walls" and that "each of the
eight towers would hold $4,000 gal
Ions OF water or anyth.ng) if it
were q tank instead of d Sowcr, We
merely say as that all? Why, it looks
much bigger than that!" FOR, in real
ity, robin Hood" is the biggest
American made picture we cver have
seen. About the foreign productions
we are not sure.
The star makes Robin Hood unbe-
lievably alive and thrilling. AS the
Earl we found him bit tame Wallace
Beery IS perfect as Richard tao Lion
Hearted. There is a compelling per
sonalitT with all the art OF the screen
behind IT, Enid Bennett is sweet and
pretty rs Maid Ma.irnS and Others win
gave excellent performances age Paul
Dickey, Alan Hale, willard Louis, Roy
Coa:son end Hi.lie I}ennett, The story
is by Elton Thomas and he hoG drnHn
from f.laf,N 40 'rces Sct his tae eAlaa
Dovan dire .aa sho pieturs.