The Story of Robin Hood and His Merrie Men (1952)

Directed by Ken Annakin. Starring Richard Todd, Joan Rice, Peter Finch, Hubert Gregg, Elton Hayes, James Hayter, James Robertson Justice, Martita Hunt, Reginald Tate, Anthony Eustrel, Patrick Barr, Louise Hampton. [PG]

Disney’s live-action reiteration of the Robin Hood story, a co-production with RKO and just their second non-animated feature-length film (after Treasure Island), is by-the-numbers but more than adequate. Todd is hardly the last word in the dashing rogue of Sherwood forest, and his chief foe (Finch‘s fiendish Sheriff of Nottingham) is dismal compared to the likes of Robert Shaw and Alan Rickman, but it’s still a spirited adventure with a heavy dose of humor, shot in three-strip Technicolor on authentic English locations (including the real Sherwood Forest). Rice is a touch childish as Maid Marian, but her playful, bright-eyed flirtations with Robin are refreshing compared to some of the more serious and hesitant interpretations to come. The concept of lookouts firing signal arrows across the forest to Robin’s camp is a clever one…but also laughably reckless; just once, it would have been hilarious if one of them ended up buried in the torso of a “merrie man” (with an Eric Idle-ian “Message for you, sir”). Hayes’ minstrel tunes tend to go on, but it’s one of the few times that Allan-a-Dale gets a meaty role in these cinematic renderings of the legend. Curiously anticlimactic final act, left wanting for a little more action and/or a good sword duel. Scripted by Lawrence Edward Watkin, with musical fanfare from Clifton Parker.

68/100