Douglas Fairbanks Double Feature: Robin Hood / The Black Pirate Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		4.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		2.5
Overall		4.0

Douglas Fairbanks Double Feature: Robin Hood / The Black Pirate Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman August 1, 2023

There's an old adage that states "the more things change, the more they remain the same", and with regard to hugely budgeted "event movie" epics like Douglas Fairbanks used to star in, that's certainly still the case today, but in terms of a man actually like Fairbanks himself, maybe not quite so much. Fairbanks was a rare commodity in the film world even during his heyday, and you'd be relatively hard pressed to find a suitably analogous person who came along after Fairbanks, since Fairbanks wasn't just at one point the most popular male movie star in the world, he also helped found United Artists, and frequently also contributed to his many films as producer and/or writer (sometimes uncredited or under a pseudonym). Cohen has aggregated two of Fairbanks' best remembered silents on one disc, with this disc evidently offering the Blu-ray debut of Robin Hood.

For reviews of the films on this disc, please click on the following links:

Robin Hood Blu-ray review

The Black Pirate Blu-ray review

Douglas Fairbanks Double Feature: Robin Hood / The Black Pirate Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Video quality of each film is assessed in the above linked reviews.

Douglas Fairbanks Double Feature: Robin Hood / The Black Pirate Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Audio quality of each film is assessed in the above linked reviews.

Douglas Fairbanks Double Feature: Robin Hood / The Black Pirate Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Cohen is offering the two Fairbanks films on one disc, with the following supplements, all of which were previously offered on Kino Lorber's release of The Black Pirate:

• Archival Audio Commentary for The Black Pirate by film historian Rudy Behlmer (HD; 18:05)


• The Black Pirate Outtakes with Commentary by Rudy Behlmer


• Additional Outtakes from The Black Pirate (HD; 29:05)

Douglas Fairbanks Double Feature: Robin Hood / The Black Pirate Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Cohen revisited a bunch of Buster Keaton outings that Kino Lorber initially released, and perhaps this release augurs another trip through archival collections, though it's notable that this release offers what looks like the Blu-ray debut of Robin Hood. This is a charming and enjoyable double feature, and the archival Rudy Behlmer commentary on The Black Pirate is especially interesting. Technical merits are generally solid. Recommended.