Adventures of Robin Hood Volume 1

"The Adventures of Robin Hood" was one of the very first series produced in England to grace the shores of North America. It was broadcast on CBS for three seasons, from 1955 through 1958, and then went into syndication and ran in the early 1960s. A number of episodes were written by several writers of the "Hollywood Blacklist" of the 1950s, including Ring Lardner, Jr., providing the show with a level of writing not ordinarily associated with a weekly television series.

Like a number of shows from the 1950s, a large number of episodes from "The Adventures of Robin Hood" have fallen into the public domain. Various video/DVD companies have released mostly ragged looking episodes from the series. Having seen the vast majority of these releases, I can state, without hesitation, that the first two volumes from Alpha Video are the very best releases of the series currently available in North America (circa Winter 2005) and are of "near broadcast" quality. Volume 1 includes the premiere episode, "The Coming of Robin Hood," and, unlike another company that has released this episode with about a minute and half of missing footage, Alpha's version is complete and uncut. I've also found that Alpha's "Robin Hood" releases contain episodes that, for the most part, are not found on other "Robin Hood" DVD collections. The only negative about the first two volumes is the fact that incorrect end credits appear on one episode on each of the volumes. This is a problem that has plagued most "Robin Hood" releases and is a minor annoyance given the superior visual quality.

This series will appeal to fans of classic television, costume adventure dramas, and imported British TV series. Highly recommended.