Robin Hood photo album.

 

DATES (top to bottom): 1922, 1946 (his son), 1946 (old Robin), 1950, 1951, 1958 (his daughter).

Robin Hood Statues: 04 Sherwood Forest Visitor Centre.

 

This Robin Hood statue has been moved around Sherwood Forest Visitor Centre several times as the old site was removed and a new one built. Nobody I have spoken to has been able to give me the name of the artist involved. I shall update these details as and when.

Below: Also situated at Sherwood Forest Visitor Centre this statue depicted the meeting of Robin Hood and Little John over the river. As with the above statue it changed its location with the closure of the original site and the building of a new one. Once again I have been unable to trace an artist’s name. Pictured here in December 2024, the statue and its surroundings seem in a poor state. One hopes this will be rectified. For more Robin Hood Statues see list on sidebar..

Below: Not a statue. But I couldn't resist posting this picture of the full set of Kelloggs models from 1960.

Nottingham Castle in Robin Hood Movies, 01.

 These pictures show how Nottingham Castle was depicted in Robin Hood movies across the decades. Not all of them were specifically about Nottingham, but the castle was always where the “bad guys” lived.

Above: “Robin Hood”, 1922. Below: “Adventures of Robin Hood”, 1938.

Above: “Bandit of Sherwood Forest”, 1946. Below: “Prince of Thieves”, 1948.

Above: “Rogues of Sherwood Forest”, 1950. Below: “Tales of Sherwood Forest”, 1951.

Above: "The Story of Robin Hood and His Merrie Men", 1952. Below: "The Men of Sherwood Forest", 1954.

Robin Hood at the Movies: 09 "The Men of Sherwood Forest", (1954).

 

King Richard is being held to ransom in Germany whilst Prince John is trying to usurp the throne. The film begins with a man in Sherwood Forest killed and robbed by outlaws. They take from him a silver model of a Saracen knight. Richard increases the reward for capturing Robin Hood, but Sir Saltire and Duke Moraine know that the silver Saracen is worth far more. Moraine wonders how he might contact Robin, just to get it.

Saltire and Moraine, in disguise, get Little John to take them to Robin Hood’s cave, where they reveal their true identity and inform him that the silver Saracen holds the secret to where King Richard is about to come ashore on his return to England. Robin agrees to help them. He soon locates the two outlaws who took the model, and who they did it for. Sir Guy of Belton is the mastermind, so Robin disguises himself as a minstrel to visit Belton Castle serenading one Lady Alys before the evening is out. Whilst they are suspicious of Robin he is kept captive. However, the message the silver Saracen holds is soon revealed. Lady Alys helps Robin escape (of course), sword fights and chases through the forest ensue, and many an arrow finds its target in the race to protect King Richard.

It’s a really good movie. Made by Hammer, it has a slightly darker feel than other Robin Hood movies of the era, in my opinion the best since Errol Flynn. A good script, with new ideas not repetitious of things gone before, and fine casting.

Robin Hood at the Movies: 08 “The Story of Robin Hood and His Merrie Men”, (1952).

 

The story begins with Robin and Lady Marian frolicking in the forest. Marian is the daughter of the Earl of Huntingdon. The Earl is leaving for the Crusades with King Richard, and leaves Marian in the Queen mother’s care. King Richard leaves the throne in the temporary care of his brother Prince John, who in turn appoints a new Sheriff of Nottingham, with instructions to form a new ruthless “army” to collect his taxes. An archery competition for a golden arrow is set up to select the best men for this job.

Robin wins the Golden Arrow, albeit on a technicality, and gifts it to Lady Marian. He also refuses to join Prince John’s army of tax collectors, so Prince John hires archer Red Gill to assassinate him. Gill’s arrow kills Robin’s friend, Robin kills Gill in return, and so the legendary story of meeting and enlisting Little John, Friar Tuck, Stutely and Scathelock, begins.

Meanwhile, King Richard is imprisoned in Austria. The Queen mother tries to raise the ransom money, but Prince John will not help, blaming the outlaws in Sherwood Forest for loss of funds. Disguised as a boy, Marian persuades Alan A Dale to stop singing for a few minutes and take her to meet Robin Hood. She is soon persuaded Robin is loyal to King Richard, and plans to take the outlaws’ contribution to the king’s ransom to Nottingham Market, where the Sheriff is forced to add his own money to the pile.

The film’s final chapters see the Sheriff imprisoning Lady Marian, disguising his soldiers as outlaws to retrieve his money, engaging in a swordfight with Robin, and meeting a grisly end. A stranger comes to town (you’ve guessed who), with the authority to make Robin the Earl of Loxley and marry him to Marian.

Made by Disney, with family entertainment in mind, it’s one of the better Robin Hood movies, although the Alan A Dale ballads illustrating parts of the story do become tiresome. The assassin Red Gill (Archie Duncan) will be more familiar to fans as Little John in later years. Lady Marian (Joan Rice) introduces the idea of her being something of a “tom boy”; shades of Patricia Driscoll in the 1950s TV series, or Uma Thurman in 1991’s “Robin Hood”.

Robin Hood at the Movies: 07 “Tales of Robin Hood”, (1951).

 

The Earl of Chester, in his Loxley Castle, refuses to pay his taxes to the Norman overlord Sir Gui. (Correct spelling). To ensure the safety of his son, Robin, he puts him in the care of his servant Will Stutely, and sends them off to Sherwood Forest, exiting via a secret passage by the fireplace. (There’s always a secret passage). And the rest, as they say, is history.

The well know parts of the legend are here, such as Robin Hood meeting Little John over the river, the Golden Arrow competition, and all the usual members of his merry gang. It is an enjoyable low-budget romp, in black and white, apparently originally intended for TV rather than a cinema audience. (A good colorized version is now in circulation).

Robin Hood at the Movies: 06 “Rogues of Sherwood Forest” 1950.

 

King John is out to prevent the Magna Carta. He knows The Earl of Huntingdon, son of Robin Hood, will oppose him. Huntingdon is soon to joust against Sir Baldrick at a festival, so the King has his armour tampered with, that Baldrick can kill him. The plan does not end well for Baldrick, and Huntingdon thinks Lady Marian, seated next to the King, must have known in advance of this attempt on his life.

King John is still angry about his past encounters with the original Robin Hood, and decides to punish his son, Huntingdon. Huntingdon, with Little John, returns to Nottingham and sees excessive taxes being collected. No better to reason for a swordfight. Robin and Little John are arrested and sentenced to hang. Lady Marian, recovered from her little spat with Robin a short while previous, helps them to escape, after which the King officially declares them to be outlaws with a price on their heads.

Lord Flanders, with all his troops, is after the reward. Robin realises he needs to regroup his father’s merry men. He finds Tuck eating, Alan A Dale serenading, and Scarlet in the stocks. If the viewing audience has any doubts about them being “merry men”, the “Hey Nonny No” song they sing as they go, plus the obligatory bouts of laughter, should put their concerns at rest.

Marian is persuaded to send Robin, via carrier pigeon, the details of each day’s tax collections. Robin himself tries to garner the support of a group of barons headed for a banquet with the King. They reject Robin, not knowing that the King plans to murder them all. One survives, and is able to provide troops to support Robin against Flanders’ army, after which King John is depicted signing the Magna Carta.

It’s a poor movie. If any of the cast were to win an award it would probably go to Marian’s carrier pigeon. The whole “son of” premise raises more questions than it answers. For example, if the original Earl of Huntingdon (mentioned but not seen in this movie), had this particular Son of Robin Hood with the original Marian (not mentioned at all herein), then isn’t it a bit of a stretch for this Robin to also meet a Lady Marian? Really?

Note: Alan Hale Snr also took the role of Little John once before in “The Adventures or Robin Hood” (1938). “Rogues of” would be his final movie.

 

Robin Hood at the Movies: 05 Prince of Thieves, 1948.

 

Sir Allan Claire and his sister Lady Marian are riding through Sherwood Forest. An assassin tries to kill Sir Alan. Robin Hood saves them, but still robs them of their money, until he learns they are friends of King Richard. Sir Allan Claire has come to Nottingham to marry Lady Christable, though she is already betrothed against her will to Baron Tristram, nephew of Prince John.

The assassin has survived and informs Tristram of their whereabouts. The obligatory sword fight follows, in which Robin throws the assassin out of an upstairs window. They then leave to support Allan in his attempt to save his Lady Christable, but the assassin has (of course) survived again and hears their plan, soon disclosing it to Tristram. Robin is then captured, until Lady Christable’s maid, Maude, sets him free.

Lady Marian and Maude go swimming. (Not the first time Marian’s done this in the movies). Marian herself is then captured, and Robin must surrender himself in exchange for her release. This he does and ends up on the scaffold. But the executioners are not what they seem, and the swordfights commence (any staircase will do), before no less than a triple wedding herald’s the finale.

The underlying storyline here is akin to the ancient legend of Robin Hood helping Alan A Dale save his sweetheart from an arranged marriage to an old nobleman.