Les Flèches de Robin des Bois

There are several good Robin Hood movies, almost everybody who knows cinema would agree that 1938 'The Adventures of Robin Hood' with Errol Flynn is one of the best thus far, or perhaps even 1983 'Robin Hood and the Sorcerer' and 1922 silent film are also worth mentioning. Here we are with mid 1970s Russian version, and in my opinion it is worth watching. Lots of things go against this film - well, how easy was to create an authentic atmosphere of the medieval England in the 1970s Soviet Union. Not very easy at all. Historical authenticity aside, the treatment of a character is quite unusual. This Robin is almost Byronesque or rather a Lermontov type. The plot is a version of a familiar story, so not too many surprises there. All in all, the film to me always looked a bit weak with few brighter spots (e.g. evil knight casting and performance), but the songs of Vysotsky, are good songs. At times they fit well, and at times they are dissonant with what's on the screen, but no matter, they definitely add a dimension to the movie itself. There is something in the scenes very akin to Taganka theatrical mood of the time.

The first cinema release did not contain the songs, there were simply cut off, subsequently everything was restored, so if you come across the butchered version, it's not worth looking at.

Where is the release with the subtitles, you might want to ask? Once again - who knows. Yet another case of country's voluntary cultural isolation. And from what I've observed, even in the most famous Russian or Soviet movies the quality of translation is unequivocally horrible, primitive, too approximate, certainly made by people not very well versed in both languages.