Robin Hood at the Movies: 04 “The Bandit of Sherwood Forest”, (1946).

 

Robin Hood is now an older man, and has become the Earl of Huntingdon. Therefore it is his son Robert of Nottingham who will take up his father’s cause when Regent William of Pembroke, temporary guardian of the throne, threatens to revoke the Magna Carta. But first, Robin Hood must gather together his original merry men, who rally to his call in their hundreds, racing to his side on horseback, looking more like the 7th Cavalry than Sherwood Forest outlaws. Little John, Friar Tuck, Alan A Dale, and Will Scarlet are all present. (Maid Marian is not mentioned throughout the movie.) As a consequence, Robin, Earl of Huntingdon, is banished from his lands.

Pembroke takes the boy destined to be King, away from his mother the Queen, who in turn goes looking for Robin Hood to help her, with Lady Catherine Maitland at her side. They encounter Robert by a river, after catching him spying on Katherine in a state of undress, although she seems not to object too much to an almost instant kiss and cuddle from this complete stranger.

Their attempt to rescue the boy results in their capture. Robert, it seem, is not half the man his father Robin was. However, rather than hang him, Pembroke offers a duel to the death, the scenes for which deliberately echo those of Flynn and Rathbone, complete with shadows on the staircase, but not half as good.

This movie has not stood the test of time, although it was really successful at the box-office. Cornel Wilde’s hairpiece is so huge I was expecting it to be listed in the credits. On the other hand, Anita Louise is very good as Lady Catherine Maitland, possibly the first heroine in a Robin Hood movie to actively engage with the proceedings, fighting alongside the outlaws.