18 March 2025

Robin Hood (1912) Reviewed

Still depicting Robin Hood meeting King Richard the Lion-Hearted in Robin Hood (1912).

The first depiction of Robin Hood on screen occurred in 1912 in the short film Robin Hood. Filmed in Fort Lee, New Jersey with a runtime of 30 minutes, it amounts to little more than a pantomime with its simplistic plot, cartoonish characters, and rudimentary fight choreography (which one might suspect was limited to instructions on the order of, "Just wave your sword about and try not to hurt anyone"). Cinematography was still in its relative infancy, but there is nothing remotely innovative or adventurous on display here. The camera is stationary in every scene, indoors or outdoors, as if the viewer is attending a play, except a play would flow more naturally and be easier to follow. The acting is exaggerated, the pacing is awkward, the scene changes are jarring, and the action sequences are laughable. In one static scene, Robin Hood's merry men hastily arrange an ambush for their pursuers by holding up tree branches and lying down behind them in an open field. I doubt it would fool a blindfolded man, let alone a mounted man-at-arms, but the ambush succeeds, there's a general kerfuffle of pulling soldiers off their horses, and soon their antagonists are all tied to trees. All of the conflict in this version of Robin Hood's adventures is caused by Guy de Gisbourne's unrequited lust for Maid Marian and her father's disapproval of Marian and Robin's dalliances. So much does he disapprove of Robin that he informs Guy that if he can apprehend Robin, he is more than welcome to his daughter. Fights and flights ensue. The characters are all caricatures, and the revelation that the unknown personage is King Richard the Lion-Hearted is clumsy and anticlimactic. Fortunately, the legend of Robin Hood is too powerful to be consigned to oblivion by this half-hearted effort. The only value this film holds is historical. It was the first, and may well be the worst (or one of the worst). At least it is short.

Writing: Poor
Directing: Poor
Acting: Poor
Cinematography: Poor
Stunts: Poor
Swordplay: Terrible
Panache: Poor

Overall Rating: Poor
Swashbuckling Rank: Terrible/Poor

Written by: Eustace Hale Ball
Directed by: Étienne Arnaud
Performed by: Robert Frazer, Barbara Tennant, Alec B. Francis, Lamar Johnstone, Arthur Hollingsworth, et al.

14 March 2025

The Bandit of Sherwood Forest (1946) Reviewed

Movie poster for The Bandit of Sherwood Forest (1946).

The Bandit of Sherwood Forest (1946) is a passable and largely forgettable tale in the history of Robin Hood's various modern-concocted progeny, which, in this case, is Robert of Nottingham (played by Cornel Wilde). Early in the film, the master plan is revealed. The King's Regent, William of Pembroke (Henry Daniell), is plotting the assassination of the young King Henry III (Maurice Tauzin) and his own ascension to the throne, which will culminate in the destruction of the Magna Carta and anything else that stands in the way of his assumption of absolute power. The threat of autocratic rule was painfully fresh in the memories of those who survived the Second World War, and this is by far the most powerful and memorable scene in the film. Unfortunately, the film devolves rapidly into a series of standard genre clichés conveyed with generic adequacy (except for Henry Daniell's outlandish scenery-chewing that may have directly inspired Henry Polic's Sheriff of Nottingham in When Things Were Rotten and Edgar Buchanan's wiley prospector take on Friar Tuck). The only surprise is the quality of Cornel's fencing (which wouldn't surprise those who know that Cornel once turned down a place in the U.S. Olympic fencing team), but it is, alas, compromised by its brevity. Other action scenes are rendered less effective by being shrouded in darkness. What could have been a rousing swashbuckling parable against tyranny is instead a hasty romp through the usual Robin Hood wardrobe and sets.

[Slightly edited on 15 March 2025.]

Writing: Mediocre
Directing: Mediocre
Acting: Mediocre
Cinematography: Mediocre/Fair
Stunts: Fair
Swordplay: Good
Panache: Mediocre

Overall Rating: Mediocre
Swashbuckling Rank: Fair

Written by: Wilfrid H. Pettitt and Melvin Levy
Based on: Son of Robin Hood by Paul A. Castleton
Directed by: Henry Levin and George Sherman
Performed by: Cornel Wilde, Anita Louise, Jill Esmond, Henry Daniell, Russell Hicks, Edgar Buchanan, George Macready, Maurice Tauzin, et al.