El temible Robin Hood

Just another adventure with sword fights,acrobatics and a new actor to replace Flynn but not as good as him.Nice music and Hale replays Little John,as hed id int he pervious two films.Watch it once with ow expectations.

This film is centered on the son of Robin Hood who's also named Robin. It's definitely in the spirit of the many other Robin Hood films of the era - though most are rather obscure today. I'd watch this one again on a lazy afternoon - entertaining.

7/10.

Gordon Douglas's 1950 dip into the Son of Robin Hood formula turns out to be one of the most spirited and lively of all the swashbuckling Columbia pieces of matinée fodder of their 40s/50s heyday. Gordon Douglas is one of Hollywood's dark horses among genre (mostly action) directors: neither as reflective or consistently stylish in his mise-en-scene as Raoul Walsh nor as spectacular using scarce means as William Witney, his track record in this area is by no means slight. He has made several good westerns (The Doolins of Oklahoma, The Nevadan, The Great Missouri Raid, Only the Valiant, The Charge at Feather River, Yellowstone Kelly, Rio Conchos), two very tough James Cagney vehicles (Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye, Come Fill the Cup), a science-fiction classic (Them!) and an honorable romantic melodrama as a change of pace (the Doris Day/Frank Sinatra remake of Four Daughters, Young at Heart).

Rogues of Sherwood Forest may not have the voltage of the Errol Flynn/ Olivia De Havilland/Claude Rains/Basil Rathbone combo or even the authentic feel and quirky charm of Disney's Richard Todd/Joan Rice/Peter Finch version; but John Derek's energetic acrobatics, Diana Lynn's fetching and proactive Lady Maryanne, and George Macready's really vicious King John make this humble but red-blooded and fast-moving programmer compulsively watchable during its entire 80 minutes.

I think this could be the third time that I have seen Alan Hale playing "Little John" in a "Robin Hood" adventure and he always manages to do it with gusto and enthusiasm. That is really all there is to say about this otherwise pretty shameless rip off the Flynn/Rathbone version (1938). This time, the nasty King John (George Macready), with the help of his henchman "Sir Giles" (Paul Cavanagh) decides to tax his already poverty-stricken Saxon people and it falls to the second Earl of Huntingdon (John Derek - aka son of the legendary "Robin Hood") to thwart this dastardly plan and to find a way to bring this monarch to book. The adventures are all pretty formulaic, but there is a colourful zeal to the whole thing. Derek has a charming boyishness as he parades around in his spray-on Lincoln green, whilst Cavanagh and Macready make for quite effective baddie double-act and much of it looks as if it was filmed on the same sets as it's more illustrious earlier iteration. There is plenty of swordplay, just a soupçon of romance with Diana Lynn's rather static "Lady Marianne" and it's well worth eighty minutes of your time.

Of course John Derek is not Errol Flynn and George Macready is not Basil Rathbone, but this Gordon Douglas' directing is more than worth watching. It is fun, fast paced, with a splendid production design, despite the obvious studios lots settings. Columbia pictures was rather good in those cheap medieval tales, not as much as Metro Goldwyn Mayer directed by the likes of Richard Thorpe; I will even prefer Columbia to Universal - BLACKSHIELD OF FALSWORTH was rather lame compared to this one. So, yes, this Gordon Douglas film is an exciting little programmer, perfect for a sunday afternoon time waster. I discovered it in 1975, precisely a sunday afternoon. And don't confound it with another Gordon Douglas' flick of this kind: THE BLACK ARROW.