h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Entry: 'Robin Hood' - An Indeterminate Number of Film Adaptations - A87919708
Author: Bluebottle - U43530



I bought a couple of 'Robin Hood' films second hand on DVD a year or two ago (1938 and 'Prince of Thieves') and thought 'That'd make a good h2g2 entry, comparing those two films. If I also mention Disney's animated film and look out for the classic 'The Story of Robin Hood and his Merrie Men' (1952) and/or 'Robin and Marian' (1976) too, they'll round the entry out nicely.'

Despite months of hunting I've not been able to located a copy of those two films, but have found other adaptations and the entry's ended up a tad longer than I'd expected…

<BB<

I've not read it yet, but I see it is less than 5,000 words, so you might just get away with it

Do you still have a VHS player? I don't but I'm guessing you don't need any Disney VHS...

BB doesn't need Disney VHS, he he has the complete collection in his head and can project the movies to the living room wall through his eyes.

Anyway, I've always been a fan of Men in Tights. I always had the impression it was mainly inspired by the 1991 movie. Having Patrick Stewart play King Richard is also a very obvious choice.

I haven't seen any of the newer films but some of the old ones, although they kind of blurr in my head. I will comment on this once I have read more, so far I only read some bits.

Yes indeed! Doesn't matter, anyway - I thought I had 'Robin and Marian' because it features Audrey Hepburn, but I don't (I do have Roman Holiday and Breakfast at Tiffany's ).

The opening paragraph of the Entry sets the scene very well

The Bandit of Sherwood Forest is an interesting-sounding film - not actually a film adaptation of the legend, though? Same with the Rogues of Sherwood Forest?

Which was the first Hammer adaptation?

In A Challenge for Robin Hood a sentence is not quite clear - is Will captured after he helps Robin escape, or did he escape first? Why is the Marian imposter not listed in the Characters section? What did Hammer want to divert people's attention from?

The Prince of Thieves section is very good "Robin lands in Sussex and heads to Nottingham via Hadrian's Wall for no apparent reason." "Will theme song '(Everything I Do) I Do It For You' be number one for all eternity?" Nice way of mentioning Audrey Hepburn I didn't see the film in 1991 although I do remember the theme song on Top of the Pops - sounds like I wouldn't have enjoyed it then, with it being a PG film that pushed the boundary of the classification...

Robin Hood 2010 sounds quite the piece of work! I've lost the plot about who's who, though, sorry - Robin's father is a lord who wrote the Magna Carta, but Robin was a commoner who was actually a lord impersonating a lord?

You can include a link to A2913734 on elementary

The Rebellion sounds even more weird! The guards were wearing socks and shoes?!

Superb paragraph about the perfect Robin Hood film

I'm personally fonder of the television series 'Robin of Sherwood'. Michael Praed will forever be the definitive Robin for me.

A request: could you add a footnote for singer/songwriter Roger Miller and point out that he composed some of the music for the Disney Robin Hood? (This is the only Disney animated film I actually like.)

Possibly fun fact, or not: Back in the 70s, I took my baby sister to see this animated Robin Hood. There's a song in there, credited to Johnny Mercer, called 'The Phony King of England'. The parody is very obvious if you aren't a preteen....

It was a Saturday afternoon matinee. When the song came on, every dad in the place started laughing. They obviously learned the original in the army.

Thanks for all your comments – I've added a little more to various entries - including 'Men in Tights'.

It depends on how you look at 'The Bandit of Sherwood Forest' and 'Rogues of Sherwood Forest' whether or not you consider them to be adaptations of the legend or not. I think of these films as continuations of the legend. They wouldn't exist without the original tales, just as spoofs of it wouldn't exist without the legend either. You could think of the films about Robin Hood's son as fictional tales about fictional Robin Hood characters, while those about Robin Hood himself are completely different, being fictional tales about fictional Robin Hood characters.

'A Challenge for Robin Hood'
The Marian impostor isn't listed in the characters section as the character doesn't do anything except turn up and say that she's Marian while the camera zooms in on 'Mary'. At the point she was introduced I was expecting there to be a big reveal or pay-off regarding the fake Marian or something later on in the film to explain this, but there isn't. It's almost as if the filmmakers thought 'let's have two Marians in one scene for no apparent reason and then never mention it again.'

<BB<

As the ten film version of this entry met little interest, I can only conclude that there weren't enough 'Robin Hood' films reviewed. So now it discusses a dozen 'Robin Hood' films, including 'Robin and Marian' (1976) and 'Robin Hood' (2018).

<BB<

Yes, this is the definition of 'little interest', and the thread prior to August wasn't...

I'm pleased to see you managed to find Robin and Marian, but I also see the Entry has now exceeded 5,000 words (5,700 words, even) so it fills me with trepidation after Post 2...

I really appreciate the write-up of Robin and Marian, though, as I watched it for the bittersweet moments with Audrey Hepburn and Sean Connery but didn't have much of an idea about what else was going on! Historically all over the place indeed!

Only 5,700 words, eh? I try to avoid going over 10,000 too often. And many of those words will be film credits which most people probably scroll past anyway – this format is intended to be skim-reading friendly so people only have to read the bits they want to anyway; if they're interested in the who-played-who then the info is there, but if they're not then they just wheel-on by.

Consider it a buffet – there's lots of different options available in front of you but you don't have to eat everything.

<BB<

The Disney Robin Hood was my daughter's favourite film at one stage, and she insisted on us watching it together once a day, so I know that film quite well.

I used to amuse myself spotting the continuity errors - there were three glaring ones.

The scenes of Robin Hood and Maid Marion dancing were made by overtracing scenes from Snow White.

Terry-Thomas --> Terry Thomas

Thanks for your comments, I've added that to entry.

Terry-Thomas --> Terry Thomas
The actor's stage name was indeed 'Terry-Thomas' [sic]. He is reported as explaining adding the hyphen with the words, "They [names Terry Thomas] didn't mean much apart, together they made a trade name."
http://www.londonremembers.com/memorials/terry-thomas
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-1052851/I-say-What-bounder--All-dandy-comic-legend-Terry-Thomas-really-liked-jolly-eager-girls.html

<BB<

I notice I wrote Marion rather than Marian and you have her as Marion in the description of the Disney Robin Hood. I don't know whether it should be Marian or Marion.

I checked - the opening credits definitely say 'Marian' so that's what I've gone with.

<BB<

I'm impressed! I thought after your comment about glaring continuity errors in Disney's 'Robin Hood' you were bursting to tell us what they were, but you've held out with remarkable restraint.

<BB<

Oh all right.

1. In the initial scene in which Robin Hood and Little John organise a raid on the King's troops, an archer fires an arrow at Robin and it goes through his hat. In the next shot, the arrow is missing and in the shot after that the arrow has reappeared.

2. There's a scene of some guards pacing along the wall of the castle. One of the guards is suddenly in a completely different place, having apparently covered about 50 metres in an instant.

3. Near the end of the film, a wagon is driving away with many freed prisoners and villagers in it. One female rabbit can be seen holding her baby. In the next shot, she shouts out "my baby, my baby", the baby is now hundreds of metres behind, running after the wagon. The object the rabbit is now holding has changed to a sort of teddy bear.

Those are the main ones I remember. I'm not suggesting you include any of these in the entry, but you might like to look out for them yourself.

This is a fun game. Can anyone play?

In the Disney animated version of 'Robin Hood', there are numerous touches that make it clear that the film is based on Appalachian folktales about the outlaw. Aside from the fact that most of the characters who aren't elites speak in Southern Appalachian dialect - the nurse must be an immigrant, she's Scots - the sheriff owes a lot more to Mayberry, RFD, than the Domesday Book. Not-ting-ham is obviously not that far from Birm-ing-ham. You've gotta love Pat Buttram and Andy Devine going at it as the Sheriff, complete with tin star, and Friar Tuck.

Friar Tuck is a country preacher, complete with his own church, which has a pump organ with stops marked 'stop' and 'go'.

Roger Miller's rooster, of course, nicely straddles the gap between the old mountain ballads the songcatchers collected, and modern (for 1973) Nashville. Ooh-de-lally, indeed.

That's actually very interesting. I haven't seen that movie very often and only in German when I was a child.

It's about 25 years since I've watched the film. I'm wondering now what that instrument that the rooster plays is. Looks like some sort of a bouzouki. But what does it sound like? A mandolin? A banjo? An Appalachian dulcimer?

This sounds like Roger Miller playing guitar (and kazoo):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HJog7PfkNRY