Errol Flynn Collection Blu-ray Review

The set presents predominantly 1080p/AVC MPEG-4 transfers that handsomely honor the classic cinematography of James Wong Howe, Sol Polito, Tony Gaudio, Sidney Hickox, and Elwood Bredell. Source elements have been carefully remastered, yielding superb clarity and contrast with a convincingly film-like texture despite noticeable grain reduction. Black-and-white titles exhibit rich blacks, crisp whites, and a wide, stable grayscale, while Technicolor features deliver vivid saturation and pleasing depth. One exception: The Adventures of Robin Hood retains its older 1080p VC-1 encode from a prior disc; while an updated pass could refine it further, this legacy master still looks strong for its age.

Title-by-title performance is consistently high with nuanced variances. Objective, Burma! stands out among the black-and-white presentations, offering exceptional sharpness and dimensionality that heighten impact. Santa Fe Trail and Edge of Darkness look excellent overall, though isolated scenes reveal mild softness and heavier grain, and a few brief jump cuts—likely from missing frames—are present in Edge of Darkness and Objective, Burma! without materially affecting engagement. The Sea Hawk is the most variable, apparently sourced from multiple elements; select stretches appear softer or slightly faded, but the lengthy sepia sequence remains intact and is beautifully rendered. Among the Technicolor entries, The Adventures of Robin Hood remains a showcase for color richness and contrast control, while Adventures of Don Juan, though a notch behind, still impresses with lush hues and stable detail.

The Errol Flynn Collection’s audio presentation is largely consistent and commendably faithful to the period. With one exception, titles feature lossless DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 mono tracks that deliver clean, well-balanced playback with strong dialogue intelligibility and a stable noise floor. The outlier is The Adventures of Robin Hood, which is limited to a lossy Dolby Digital 1.0 mono track. Despite the mono configuration, imaging is coherent and centered, dynamic range is wider than expected for vintage elements, and frequency response supports both articulate highs and satisfyingly weighty lows without strain.

Musical scores—crucial to these films—benefit from notable fidelity and tonal depth, showcasing soaring strings, robust brass, and impactful percussion from composers such as Max Steiner, Franz Waxman, and Erich Wolfgang Korngold. Effects like clashing steel, gunfire, grenades, galloping hooves, and hand-to-hand impacts are distinct and appropriately scaled, while ambient cues—buzzing insects, bird calls, crickets, rustling foliage—create convincing soundscapes, with Objective, Burma! particularly immersive within mono constraints. Across the lossless tracks, there is no evident distortion and minimal to no age-related hiss, pops, or crackle, indicating careful restoration and mastering that preserve period authenticity while maximizing clarity and presence.

A well-curated but entirely legacy slate: six-disc hinged keepcase with paneled, poster-collage art; each disc reuses prior supplements, with volume varying by title and no new extras. Presentation mixes studio “Warner Night at the Movies” programs, featurettes, classic cartoons, vintage shorts, trailers, galleries, an audio commentary, and audio-only music/radio materials—comprehensive for Robin Hood, lighter elsewhere, but uniformly relevant and historically grounded.

Extras included in this disc:

• THE ADVENTURES OF ROBIN HOOD: Commentary by Rudy Behlmer; Warner Night at the Movies 1938; documentaries Welcome to Sherwood and Glorious Technicolor; outtakes; Robin Hood Through the Ages; A Journey to Sherwood Forest; classic cartoons Rabbit Hood and Robin Hood Daffy; galleries; vintage shorts Cavalcade of Archery and The Cruise of the Zaca; Breakdowns of 1938; music-only track; radio show; Korngold piano sessions; Errol Flynn trailer gallery.
• THE SEA HAWK: Warner Night at the Movies 1940; featurette The Sea Hawk: Flynn in Action; trailer.
• SANTA FE TRAIL: Trailer.
• EDGE OF DARKNESS: Vintage short Gun to Gun; cartoon To Duck or Not to Duck; trailer.
• OBJECTIVE, BURMA!: Vintage shorts The Tanks Are Coming and The Rear Gunner; trailer.
• ADVENTURES OF DON JUAN: Commentary by Vincent Sherman and Rudy Behlmer; Warner Night at the Movies 1948; trailer.

Michael Curtiz’s The Adventures of Robin Hood tracks Robin Hood (Errol Flynn), the jovial outlaw who robs corrupt nobles and shields Nottingham’s poor, wooing Maid Marian (Olivia de Havilland) and dueling Sir Guy of Gisbourne (Basil Rathbone) in luminous Technicolor. The Sea Hawk, also by Curtiz, pits privateer Geoffrey Thorpe (Errol Flynn) against Spain as Queen Elizabeth I (Flora Robson) maneuvers statecraft and Dona Maria (Brenda Marshall) thaws. Santa Fe Trail reframes pre–Civil War turmoil as Jeb Stuart (Errol Flynn) clashes with zealot John Brown (Raymond Massey) alongside George Armstrong Custer (Ronald Reagan).

Across the set, swashbuckling craft and orchestral lift stand tall: Korngold’s majestic Sea Hawk score complements lavish sets and precision fencing, while Robin Hood’s color design and staging still dazzle. Santa Fe Trail delivers star wattage and scope, even as it embraces brazen historical liberties and overstuffed plotting. Lewis Milestone’s Edge of Darkness pivots to ensemble resistance drama, following Gunnar Brogge (Errol Flynn) and Karen Stensgard (Ann Sheridan) as Norwegian villagers unite against Nazi occupation, its moody cinematography and stark violence culminating in an unforgettable, cathartic finale.

Raoul Walsh’s Objective, Burma! favors immersion over propaganda, tracking Captain Nelson (Errol Flynn) and his paratroopers on a 200-mile exfiltration through Burmese jungle after a successful raid. Its 142-minute runtime emphasizes attrition; location work at the Los Angeles Arboretum, minimal process shots, the absence of romance, and three Oscar nominations (Original Story, Film Editing, Music) reinforce the film’s realism. Vincent Sherman’s Adventures of Don Juan restores cape-and-rapier verve—Don Juan (Errol Flynn) shields Queen Margaret (Viveca Lindfors) from courtly intrigue and spars alongside his trusty sidekick (Alan Hale)—yet a meandering script and restrained heat with the queen temper the flourish. Max Steiner’s score and glowing Technicolor keep it buoyant as a late-period showcase.

A concise, well-curated anthology, the Errol Flynn Collection spotlights a star who appeared in 66 films over a 26-year career cut short by his 1959 death. The six-film set, drawn from prior Warner Bros. and Warner Archive Blu-ray releases, offers a nimble survey of Flynn’s range, moving from Sherwood Forest, Elizabethan intrigue, and 17th‑century Spain to the Santa Fe Trail, Nazi‑occupied Norway, and the Burmese jungle. Each title represents top-tier studio craft, with polished production values that still showcase Flynn and ensembles to strong effect.

Technically, the discs deliver very good to excellent A/V presentations relative to surviving elements, with image and audio fidelity consistently strong across the set and bonus features aligned to those standards. As a compact, space‑saving way to build or round out a classic film shelf, it is a compelling value—especially given that the movies remain available individually and that per‑disc pricing can dip under $10 at some retailers. Ideal for newcomers and efficient for those missing several entries; collectors who already own most of these releases may find limited incremental benefit, but the unified package and overall polish make this an easy set to endorse.