Gay Hamilton as Marian Fitzwarren

The Scottish actress Gay Hamilton as Lady Marian Fitzwarren, in a publicity shot for the Hammer Studios 1967 film A Challenge for Robin Hood.

A List Of Robin Hood Movies Pre-Disney

When Walt Disney’s film, The Story of Robin Hood and his Merrie Men hit the silver screen during its world premiere in London’s West End in March 1952 it joined a long list of movies based on the outlaws adventures, dating right back to those early pioneers of the motion picture industry. Here is a list of Robin Hood movies before the Disney magic:

1908/1909: Robin Hood and His Merry Men. Dir. Percy Stow. Clarendon Films. (Alternate Title: Robin and His Merry Men) Robin rescues a man from the gallows. (Silent)

1912: Robin Hood Outlawed. Dir. Charles Raymond. With A. Brian Plant. British and Colonial Films. Starring William Thomas? (Silent)

1912: Robin Hood. Dir. Étienne Arnaud and Herbert Blaché. With Robert Frazer, Barbara Tennant, Alex B. Francis and Arthur Hollingsworth. (Silent)

1913: In the Days of Robin Hood. Dir. F. Martin Thornton. With Harry Agar Lyons. Kinematograph. (Silent)

1913: Robin Hood. Dir. Theodore Marston. With William Russell, as Robin Hood , Gerda Holmes as Maid Marian, Harry Benham, James Cruze and William Garwood. Thanhouser (Alternate Title: Robin Hood and Maid Marian) Filmed with a static camera amid the cardboard Sherwood bracken. (Silent)

1919: My Lady Robin Hood. Dir. Jay Hunt. A Western. (Silent)

1922:Little Red Robin Hood. Dir. Joe Rock. (Silent)

1922: Robin Hood. Dir. Allan Dwan. With Douglas Fairbanks as Robin Hood, Enid Bennett as Maid Marian, Wallace Beery and Alan Hale. William Lowery as the Sheriff. United Artists/ Fairbanks. (Silent)

Fairbanks spent $750,000 on this movie, in which he produced, vaulted palisades and swung through the trees. It featured a specially built ‘medieval’ castle with a 450ft. banqueting hall. Alan Hale was to play Little John three times over 30 years.

1923: Robin Hood Jr. Dir. Clarence Bricker. With Frankie Lee as the young Robin Hood and Peggy Cartwright as Maid Marian. Philip Dunham as the Sheriff. The movie was dedicated to Douglas Fairbanks. East Coast Productions. (Silent)

1924: Robin Hood no yume. Dir. Bansho Kanamori. With Fujio Harumoto. Toa Kinema. (Silent) (Japan)

1932: The Merry Men of Sherwood. Dir. Widgey, R. Newman. With John Thompson, Eric Adeney and Aileen Marston. Delta Pictures.

1933: Robin Hood (Animation) Dir: Frank Moser.

1934: Robin Hood Junior. (Animation). Dir. Ub Iwerks.

1934: Robin Hood Rides Again. (Animation)

1935: Robin Hood (Animation) Dir: Joy Batchelor

1936: The Robin Hood of El Dorado Dir. William A Wellham. An unusual B Western. Starring Warner Baxter.

1936: An Arrow Escape (Animation) Dir. Mannie Davis/ George Gordon

1938: The Adventures of Robin Hood. Dir. Michael Curtiz and William Keighley. With Errol Flynn, Basil Rathbone, Claude Rains, Olivia De Havilland, Melville Cooper and Alan Hale.

Then the most expensive movie ever made by Warner Bros at two million dollars and interrupted by Flynn’s yachting trips. But, it remains for many, the definitive Robin Hood movie. The only part of the castle built for the movie was the portcullis, the rest was created by the matte process (by painting on glass).

1941: The Chinese Robin Hood. Dir. Wenchao Wu.

1941: Robin Hood of the Pecos. Dir. Joseph Cane. A Western with Roy Rogers and George ‘Gabby’ Hayes.

1942: Red River Robin Hood . Dir. Lesley Selander. A Western with Tim Holt and Cliff Edwards.

1943: Robin Hood of the Range. Dir. William A Burke. A Western with Charles Starrett.

1946:The Bandit of Sherwood Forest. Dir. George Sherman and Henry Levin. With Russell Hicks as Robin Hood, Cornel Wilde as his son, Anita Louise and Jill Esmond.

1946: Robin Hood of Texas. Dir. Lesley Selander. A Western with Gene Autrey and Lynn Roberts.

1947: Robin Hood of Monterey. Dir. Christy Cabanne. A Western with Gilbert Roland.

1948:The Prince of Thieves. Dir. Howard Bretherton. With Jon Hall and Patricia Morison.

1948: Robin Hood-Winked. Dir. Seymour Kneitel. Animation with Popeye as Robin Hood.

1948: Nu luo bin han. Dir. Pengnian Ren. Made in Honk Kong. A female Robin Hood .

1950: Rogues of Sherwood Forest. Dir. Gordon Douglas. With John Derek, Alan Hale and Diana Lynn.

1950: Trail of Robin Hood. Dir. William Witney. A Western with Roy Rogers.

1951: Badal. Dir: Amyra Chakrabaty. An Indian version of the legend. With Premnath and Madhubala.

1951: Tales of Robin Hood. Dir. James Tinling. With Robert Clark as Robin Hood and Mary Hatcher as Maid Marian.

1952: Miss Robin Hood. Dir. John Guillermin. A British comedy starring Margaret Rutherford and James Robertson Justice.

1952: The Story of Robin Hood. Dir. Ken Annakin. With Richard Todd and Joan Rice. RKO-Disney. (Alternate Title: The Story of Robin Hood and his Merrie Men)

© Clement of the Glen 2006-2007

A 'Different' Robin Hood Film

From 'The Disney Films' By Leonard Maltin:

'Having formed RKO-Walt Disney British Productions Ltd and succeeded in filming a most creditable live-action feature, Walt Disney decided to continue making films in England, with Perce Pearce as his producer. They decided to continue in the action-adventure genre and chose Robin Hood.

This time out, in addition to using an all-British crew, Disney hired a British director as well, a young man who had made an impressive start at Rank studios with such films as 'Trio' and 'Quartet', Ken Annakin. At the time he joined the production, some prepatory work had already been done by Disney and Pearce with their cameraman Guy Green and art director, Carmen Dillon. As on 'Treasure Island' three seperate shooting units were established, one doing action work on exterior location and two doing interiors at Denham Studios. Disney spent part of the summer in England working closely with Annakin. The director recalls
"I remember talking about the original Errol Flynn 'Robin Hood' and I looked at it, just to get an idea what had been done before, because I never like to do anything twice. Walt didn't seem very worried about seeing the original and in fact I doubt he ever did. His approach is always that the film is a Disney picture and therefore, because of his attitudes and his approach, the picture is bound to be different from anything else made on that subject before."

That is exactly what happened of course, the Disney film adheres to the Robin Hood legend, yet it is a work unto itself. One is hard pressed to make comparisons between the Disney Robin Hood and earlier versions, not because one is better than another, but simply each one is different.
This is an extremely 'good looking' film as well. The locations are beautiful with lush green countrysides, the sets are truly formidable and realistic. The seemingly effortless pacing and knowing use of camera angles and cutting is doubly impressive when one considers certain background facts. For instance, Annakin has vivd memories of the difficulties in shooting Technicolor at that time.

"It was the very elaborate three-strip system with a very immobile camera. When you wanted to reload the camera in it's very heavy blimp, you had to have it lifted on chains and it took the first-class technicolor crew a minimum of eleven minutes to reload the camera. After every single shot the camera had to be opened and the gate had to be examined; the prism was the great thing because this was the light splitter which gave the registrations on the three strips. For this reason, if you were making a big picture like 'Robin Hood' you had to be very certain you were not wasting set-ups or wasting shots because it was a big industrial process every time to set up your camera"

The use of story boards was new to Annakin, "but it appealed to my logical brain very, very much" and prompted ingenious scenes such as the first meeting between Prince John and the Sheriff after King Richard has lefy, played on the balcony of the castle against a brilliant but ominous orange sky at sundown.
Time has been kind to the film, as so many inferior films in this genre have followed it: today it seems better than ever.

Disney's 'Robin Hood' strikes a happy medium, leaning heavily on strong characterisations but placing them against a colorful and sumptuous tableau that gives the film a fine period flavor.'