DVD Reviews

Robin Hood Collection – DVD Review

By Jeff Swindoll May 27, 2010, 17:02 GMT

From legendary producer Sam Katzman and Academy Award®-winning writer Charles Schnee (The Bad and the Beautiful, 1952) comes this rousing adventure of England’s most beloved bandit. Iconic action star Jon Hall (Ali Baba and the 40 Thieves) stars as Robin Hood, who rescues Maid Marian (Broadway star Patricia Morison) and her brother from an unseen attacker.   Because of their opposition to the ruthless rule of Prince John, their lives are ...more

Sony heard that Ridley Scott was making a big screen trip to Sherwood Forest and so they dug into their vaults and found some films of yesteryear that feature the titular man in tights.  

With a new interpretation of Robin Hood storming into theaters, it comes as no surprise that studios are reaching back into their vaults to bring out related films. 

The granddaddy of Hood films is probably the one with Errol Flynn and two of the films in this collection seem like semi-sequels.  It must be the Technicolor. 

The elderly Earl of Huntington (Russell Hicks) is the only one to stand up against the regent and is banished and his lands seized.  This doesn’t seem to bother the Earl as in his younger years he was known as Robin Hood so being hunted is old hat to him. 

He swears to protect England and calls his son Robert of Nottingham (Cornel Wilde) back to Sherwood to help in the fight.  

Now that he’s returning to claim the bride he finds that Baron Tristram (Gavin Muir) is marrying Lady Cristabel and it’s all a plot by Sir Phillip (Lowell Gilmore).  So Robin and the merry men enlist to save true love and defeat the two villains.  

When King John returns to his taxing, oppressive ways Robin returns to Sherwood with his father’s older merry men, including Little John (Alan Hale), and the fight is back on again.  

The Sheriff of Nottingham (Peter Cushing) is searching Sherwood for the wounded man, but Robin goes undercover thanks to his master archery skill with the Earl of Newark (Richard Pasco) who wants to put them to nefarious use.  

Rogues of Sherwood Forest has the feel because Alan Hale was in the Flynn version playing the same role.  It also helps that John Derek has a passing resemblance to Flynn.  Bandit of Sherwood Forest really isn’t a sequel but it does have that glorious Technicolor.

It may feel that Rogues is a sequel to Bandits since it uses some of the same footage.  Bandits does feature fun performances from Wilde and oily villainy from Henry Daniell.  Prince of Thieves is based on the story by Alexandre Dumas and is more a romance than derring do.  Robin only seems to play a secondary role in the tale of true love being separated. 

The film is also shot in Cinecolor that looks like sepia tone colored photographs.  The real film that fans are waiting for comes from Hammer and features television Robin Hood Richard Greene doing battle with the ever reliable Peter Cushing. 

It’s the best of the lot, but the other films do offer a fun look at Sherwood although they may be more geared towards children in the matinee seats.  Each film is available separately.  

The Sword of Sherwood is presented in anamorphic widescreen (2.35:1) and is enhanced for 16x9 televisions.  The rest of the films are presented in fullscreen.  The only special features related to the films are the theatrical trailers for Sword and Rogues.  Each disc does feature a trailer for other Columbia titles and a trailer for A Knight’s Tale.  

Each film does have something to offer, but the Hammer film is the one that most will have longed for.  They’re all fun trips to Sherwood and sure to bring out the merry man in fans.  

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