Recently seeing this oldie on VHS reminded me of seeing the first time at the old Nile theater in Bakersfield, CA when I was a kid. I recall how disappointed I was that they had taken such liberties with Robert Louis Stevenson's book and had missed the whole point of the story, i.e., a young man's journey into manhood in war-torn England during the War of the Roses. This film version with its stock of veteran character actors from the old studio days came across like a poor man's Robin Hood, but then, Louis Hayward was kind of a poor man's Errol Flynn; so, in the economic logic of the late 40s, why not make a classic boy's novel into a grade B Hollywood costume romance? To tell the truth, I loved seeing those old faces that had thrilled me and entertained me as a kid: George MacReady, Rhys Williams, Roy Teal and Edgar Buchanan, Lowell Gilmore, Russell Hicks and Paul Cavanaugh were always showing up in films back then. When I ran the tape, there they were again. No, the plot line hadn't gotten any better and the history was tattered, but the visit of these old guys from the past made it a sheer delight. Well, I know now how my Ring Trilogy pals felt when they saw what Peter Jackson did-- but, then I liked those renditions too.
Review of The Black Arrow
