THE BANDIT OF SHERWOOD FOREST
US, 1946, 85 minutes, Colour.
Cornel Wilde, Anita Louise, Jill Esmond, Edgar Buchanan, Henry Daniell, George Macready, Russell Hicks, John Abbott, Lloyd Corrigan, Eva Moore, Ray Teal.
Directed by Henry Levin and George Sherman.
The Bandit of Sherwood Forest is a mid-40s matinee action adventure. The performances, dialogue, action scenes are all designed for the widest possible audience.
Cornel Wilde was emerging as a star in the mid-40s, having just been Chopin in A Song to Remember. He portrays Robert Hood, Robin Hood’s son, in the sparkling teeth, laughing cavalier manner. Jill Esmond (formerly married to Laurence Olivier) is the Queen Mother and Anita Louise, a star of the 1930s, is her lady-in-waiting, who falls (rather instantly) in love with Robert Hood. Veteran Russell Hicks is the older Robin Hood, investing him with some dignity, memories of the past, and a place at the Council of Barons, defying the Regent, played in a sinister way by Henry Daniell, and his offsider, Fitz- Herbert, played also in a sinister manner by George Macready. (Both of them look different from their usual performances with mediaeval hairstyles and beards.) There are also the merry men as well as Mother Meg (played by Eva Moore, the mother of Jill Esmond). Edgar Buchanan is a lively Friar Tuck.
The film has two directors – though it looks as though only one was actually needed.
One of the many Robin Hood stories and television series – but, Errol Flynn seems to have been the classic Robin Hood in the 1938 Adventures of Robin Hood.
1. An entertaining mediaeval story? The legends of Robin Hood? His son?
2. The sets, Hollywood style? England, the 13th century? Sherwood Forest? The castles? The action scenes? Derring-do? The musical score?
3. The information about England, Robin Hood and the confrontation with King John? The Magna Carta? Twenty years later, the Regent, William of Pembroke, and his dominance, wanting to be king? The boy king, his mother? The abduction of the boy, his planned murder? The Queen Mother’s escape with her lady-in-waiting? Fitz- Herbert and the army? The setting for a new confrontation?
4. The meeting of the barons, their subservience to the Regent? Stopping Magna Carta? Robin Hood defying him, being exiled?
5. Robert Hood, his appearance, dashing, laughing? His skill in archery? Defying the soldiers, defying the notices about Magna Carta? His encounter with the two women, not knowing who they were, attracted by Catherine, her leg and the river? His manner, her slapping him? Taking them to Mother Meg’s? Their setup? His going into the forest, encountering the merry men, the fight with Friar Tuck and winning? The revelation of who he was? Meeting his father again?
6. The plots against the king, his being separated from his mother, in the west tower, the plan for his being murdered? The Sheriff of Nottingham and his fear of the Regent?
7. The Regent, his plans, the backup of Fitzherbert?
8. Allan- A- Dale going to the castle, the minstrel, getting the information? The forest, Robin Hood and the plan? The prioress and her travels? Catherine disguised as the prioress? Their going to the castle, being let in?
9. The military, discovering the real prioress, going back to warn the Regent?
10. The plan for the rescue of the king, firing the arrow and the rope, rescuing the king? Allan, Robert and Catherine being captured? Imprisoned?
11. The three days, the combat with the Regent? Catherine and her getting the food to Robert? His pretending to be weak? The fight? Robin Hood and the changing of the guards? The plan to shoot an arrow at Robert?
12. The foiling of the plans? The death of the Regent? The arrow at Fitz-Herbert? The rescue of the king – the restoration? The happy marriage? And a matinee enjoyable time for all?
