The Bandit of Sherwood Forest (1946)

One of two Robin Hood films produced by Columbia Pictures reviewed on this site (the other being Rogues of Sherwood Forest [1950]), The Bandit of Sherwood Forest, while by no means the best Robin Hood film out there, is still a well-made and well-executed film that breathed life into an aspect of the Robin Hood legend that is rarely examined-the life of Robin Hood's son.

The film starts out several decades after most tales regarding Robin Hood end. Prince John is dead, the Magna Carta has been signed, and peace and liberty have spread throughout England. But this peace soon proves to be short-lived; as the corrupt and power-hungry Regent of England manipulates events to attempt to usurp the throne of the (unnamed) King of England, who is merely a young boy under the care of the Queen Mother. Robin Hood, now Earl of Huntington and an old man, protests the Regent's abolishing of the Magna Carta and is quickly outlawed again for refusing to turn over command of his soldiers to the Regent. Wasting no time, Robin flees once again to Sherwood Forest and calls his Merry Men back together, where they are quickly joined my Robin's grown son, Robert of Huntington. With the help of the beautiful Lady Catherine Maitland, Robin Hood, Robert, and the rest of the Merry Men must work quickly to stop the Regent's treacherous plan: to murder the boy king and assume the throne.

The acting in this film, particularly Cornel Wilde as Robert of Nottingham, is excellent, as well as the plotline, musical score, and fight choreography. All are (dare I say it) almost on par with that of The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938). There is a bit of wooden acting, however, but this is mainly regulated to the supporting characters like the boy king, the palace guards, and the Queen Mother. Anita Louise's Lady Catherine is a tad stiff as well, though I suspect this has more to do with the script than it does her acting abilities.

One detail that I find puzzling is the fact that not one of Robin Hood's men, save Will Scarlet and Robin himself, recognize Robert of Nottingham when they first meet him. Seeing as how Robert is Robin Hood's son and Robin and his men were very close friends, it seems to me that Robert would have met and visited with the Merry Men multiple times in his youth, or at least enough to be recognized by them. And what is even more puzzling is the fact that, when questioned about his identity, Robert never once introduces himself, instead saying things like, "you knew me when I was young."

Overall, I find that Bandit of Sherwood's one glaring fault is its running time, or lack there of: the film is less than 90 minutes long. In order to fit a complete and (relatively) fleshed-out story into such a short film, several elements of the story, mainly character development, have been discarded. This point is glaringly obvious with regards to the romance between Robert and Lady Catherine; when they first meet, she despises him and he (probably) just wants to get into bed with her; a few scenes later, they are not exactly sure how they feel about each other; and shortly thereafter they are head-over-heels in love with each other. This lack of time also means sacrificing the large-scale climactic battles which have been more or less a tradition in Robin Hood films since The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938). Instead, the filmmakers substituted a one-on-one duel between Robert and the Regent of England. This duel makes up for its small scale by being excellently scored and choreographed. The ending of the film, where Robin and Catherine are betrothed by the boy king, is something of a let-down, but only because it tries (unsuccessfully) to re-make the ending of Adventures of Robin Hood.

The Bandit of Sherwood Forest is an excellent film and, in my opinion, one of the best Robin Hood movies in existence. It is a classic, and rightfully so, and therefore deserves a view. Even if you're not really into Robin Hood that much, it's short running time makes it easy to sit through. If you can locate it (Amazon or eBay would probably be good sources) I highly recommend picking up a copy for yourself.

Rogues of Sherwood Forest (1950)

I just finished watching Rogues of Sherwood Forest. I have to say it was a very enjoyable movie, though it was not without its flaws. The acting, plotline, visual and audio effects were all very well done. Though the film has a very short run time (80 minutes), it feels much longer than it actually is, even managing to build up a genuine love between Robin Hood and Lady Marianne (sounds like Mary-Ann only pronounced faster), though it's not nearly as fleshed out or believable as in The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938). There were a few technical glitches in the presentation (skipping, image freezing, etc.) though I suspect that they were brought on by the old VCR and low-quality tape I used to record the film. I did notice, however, that some of the miscellaneous "filler" shots (horse chases, guards searching for Robin, etc.) looked like they were pulled directly from The Bandit of Sherwood Forest, which Columbia Pictures (who produced both films) had released four years earlier.

This film could very well be considered a sequel to The Adventures of Robin Hood. Once again, the story deals with Robin Hood's son (who is also named Robin) battling evil and oppression in England, but this time he's battling King John, formerly Prince John (whom the first Robin Hood defeated and helped force into exile) , who plans to reverse the freedoms that his brother, King Richard, bestowed on the peasants; and the Count of Flanders, a mercenary who will help John rule England by force in exchange for the hand of the king's ward, the lovely (and very wealthy) Lady Marianne. That's actually one of the things that bothers me about this film; what are the odds that Robin Hood Jr. (sorry) would find-and fall for-a woman with almost the exact same name as his mother? At least Bandit of Sherwood gave Robin jr. (Robert in that film) a new love interest, rather than re-using the old one. But I digress. The one true let-down this movie has, for me, is the climactic battle, or rather the lack of one. Whereas The Adventures of Robin Hood had a massive battle between the Merry Men and Sir Guy of Gisborne's soldiers in Nottingham castle, Rogues of Sherwood Forest makes do with a short and rather one-sided brawl in Sherwood Forest between King John's solders and the Merry Men followed by a short, somewhat poorly-choreographed, one-on-one duel between Robin and the Count of Flanders.

All in all, I'd say that Rogues of Sherwood Forest is worth viewing, especially if you're a Robin Hood fan. Although not nearly as well done as The Adventures of Robin Hood (which is considered by many to be the gold standard for Robin Hood films), it is still an decent film in its own right and, if you can find it, is worth taking time to experience.

Also, a bit of movie trivia; Alan Hale, who plays Little John, had actually played the role twice before; first in the 1922 silent film Robin Hood with Douglas Fairbanks in the title role, and again in 1938 in the legendary Adventures of Robin Hood starring Errol Flynn. And his son, Alan Hale Jr., became world famous playing The Skipper in the classic TV comedy Gilligan's Island.