In order to avoid the material copyrighted by Douglas Fairbanks Sr. for his 1922
Robin Hood, the scripters of this Flynn version relied on several legendary episodes that had never before been filmed, notably the battle between Robin and Little John (Alan Hale Sr., who played this part three times in his long career) and the "piggy-back" episode between Robin and Friar Tuck (
Eugene Pallette). The film ties together the various ancient anecdotes with a storyline bounded by the capture in Austria of Richard the Lionheart (
Ian Hunter) on one end and Richard's triumphant return to England on the other. Robin Hood is already an outlaw at the outset of the film, while Maid Marian (
Olivia de Havilland) is initially part of the enemy camp, as one of Prince John's (
Claude Rains) entourage. Marian warms up to Robin's fight against injustice (and to Robin himself), eventually becoming a trusted ally.
James Cagney was originally announced for the role of Robin Hood, just before Cagney left Warner Bros. in a salary dispute.
William Keighley was the original director, but he worked too slowly to suit the tight production schedule and was replaced by
Michael Curtiz (both men receive screen credit). A lengthy opening jousting sequence was shot but removed from the final print; portions of this sequence show up as stock footage in the 1957 Warners film
The Story of Mankind. The chestnut-colored Palomino horse ridden by de Havilland in the Sherwood Forest scenes later gained screen stardom as
Roy Rogers' Trigger. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide