Cavalcade of Archery

This is the shortest featurette on the 2-Disc Special Edition DVD of Adventures of Robin Hood from 1938, not counting the cartoons and the productions not up here on the site. It is what it says it is... a lot of unbelievable yet real archery tricks, performed by the greatest expert at the time in the field, Howard Hill(who also offered his services to the film itself), and man, this guy could *shoot*. We get a few clips from the movie and a brief recounting of how the sport was viewed back then, and the former knight's abilities at it, that mainly make me wonder how much of that is at all factual(it's a legend, it's been added to over decades), and as it goes on, you suddenly come to the horrifying realization that this narrator is indeed *never going to shut up*. Even when he isn't delivering awful puns, it's a serious strain to listen to his constant yammering. I don't know, I guess that was the style back then for this sort of thing, and they didn't figure we'd want to hear the star of this interviewed(nope, not in this, no such luck). Still, if you are interested in the subject, this is definitely worth eight and a half minutes. I recommend this to anyone who wants to see awesome bow and arrow handling. You may want to mute it, though. 7/10

HOWARD HILL, the man who really split that arrow in THE ADVENTURES OF ROBIN HOOD, is the star here in a short subject dedicated to his prowess as an archer.

The short begins with three woman practicing their skill with the bow and arrow, a glimpse of olden times with scenes from ROBIN HOOD and ELIZABETH AND ESSEX, and then the introduction of real-life archer HOWARD HILL who is glad to demonstrate what he can do with some trick shots.

One of his stunts involves a double arrow which hits its mark accurately, while others, aside from shooting normal targets, involve a young man willing to place an apple on his head, then a smaller fruit in order to have Howard shoot the target with precision accuracy. He also does a mirror shot, facing away from the target and depending on the mirror image to make his mark.

No wonder he was billed here as The World's Greatest Archer. It didn't hurt that Warner Bros. was about to re-release THE ADVENTURES OF ROBIN HOOD for another theatrical showing.

Cavalcade of Archery (1946)

*** (out of 4)

Interesting short film from Warner shows archer Howard Hill at the top of his game. After seeing some clips from THE ADVENTURES OF ROBIN HOOD we then get a spill about Hill being better than that fable character. From here we see Hill doing all sorts of trick shots including through a small hole in a board as well as shooting an apple off a man's head. The most impressive trick shot comes when he manages to tie an apple onto a string and swing it back and forth only to nail it on the first shot. Not only do we get this great footage but it's all in glorious Technicolor, which really jumps off the screen. This here also explains why his assistants are wearing such wild colors. There's one other interesting thing about this short is that it actually contains some footage from THE ADVENTURES OF ROBIN HOOD that wasn't used in the actual movie. That there just makes this even more entertaining and especially for fans of the Flynn film who want to see the added footage.

KIDS NO NOT TRY THIS AT HOME (especially the William Tell-inspired stunts)!! This short consists of Howard Hill (who did a lot of the trick archery shots in THE ADVENTURES OF ROBIN HOOD) demonstrating his craft in full color. I think they chose to do this short in color because the beginning incorporated scenes from this Errol Flynn movie, as normally color film stock was prohibitively expensive--and not widely used in most shorts (aside from MGM's travelogue series). While this color isn't especially realistic, it is very nice for the time--though the details on the print are a tad washed out in many of the scenes.

Hill's skills are rather amazing and the film is entertaining--and quite exciting towards the end. If you see the Errol Flynn film (and you must), look for Hill in a small role as the Captain of the Archers. If you want to see this short, however, the only way I know it can be see is to get the DVD of THE ADVENTURES OF ROBIN HOOD--as it's one of the extras on the second DVD included in the set.

A Warner Bros. Short Subject.

Master Bowman Howard Hill displays his remarkable skills in a Technicolor CAVALCADE OF ARCHERY.

Seven years after using his talents to great advantage in the classic swashbuckler THE ADVENTURES OF ROBIN HOOD (1938), Howard Hill once again steps in front of the cameras in this enjoyable, lighthearted little film. Although the silly narration sometimes intrudes, it never obscures what Mr. Hill is able to do with his arrows to a variety of targets, including bottles, a gourd, an apple & even a prune.

Often overlooked or neglected today, the one and two-reel short subjects were useful to the Studios as important training grounds for new or burgeoning talents, both in front & behind the camera. The dynamics for creating a successful short subject was completely different from that of a feature length film, something akin to writing a topnotch short story rather than a novel. Economical to produce in terms of both budget & schedule and capable of portraying a wide range of material, short subjects were the perfect complement to the Studios' feature films.