The Legend of Robin Hood

There is something very likable about this series - as well as the usual cheesiness and tackiness which can be associated with a 70s TV series with no big budget.

Martin Potter is immensely good, probably one of the best Robin Hoods on film. He looks a bit like Erroll Flynn, but the series is free of frivolously joyous light-heartiness that often pesters other versions. These were difficult times for England, there was feud between the Saxons and the Normans and Robin Hood was in between these two. Instead of prancing around in tights, we get a very serious, yet passionate version that dedicates more time to the actual political situation of the late 12th century than merrymaking and wooing in the woods.

There are other well cast actors, such as the Sheriff and Lady Marian. Then there are horrible, terrible miscasts, such as Richard the Lionhearted. He's played by Michael Jackson (yeah, don't get your hopes high), who looks and acts like a drag queen and speaks with a high pitched voice of a Swedish tourist who is shocked at the sight of a restaurant bill. He even manages to remain virginally effeminate during a broadsword fight scene, beating Robin. Unfortunately, I watched The Lion In Winter just the other night, so the stellar performance by the young Anthony Hopkins has set the standard of all the coming King Richards for me.

The best part of the series are the outdoor scenes, shot as still customary in 1975, on 16 mm as opposed to the video images from a TV studio for the interior scenes. There's a great deal of authenticity once there's no more cheap cardboard pillars and walls around the actors. The interiors are a disgrace if you are looking for "the real thing", they are as fake as can be. The costumes are very good and much more authentic then in any other version, but regrettably the accessories such as jewelry and crowns are incredibly poor, right out of a school play.

Another superior thing is the musical score: the main theme has lingered in my memory since I first saw the series in my childhood, and remained even as all the other images of this series had faded.

The story isn't so much the familiar one, but rather follows the development of Robin as the Earl of Huntington. There's a lot of grim political intrigue and fighting for principles and less half-naked men in the woods. It's definitely well written and holds the viewers attention steadily.

Technically speaking, the series are extremely outdated, but then again, that may very well be its major charm. I still wish that there were more money to build better sets and buy better jewelry. Maybe one didn't notice these things in 1975, but the DVD transfer is so sharp you tend to get a little annoyed seeing the Crown of England wobble.

I saw this on WTTG Channel 5 in Washington early Saturday mornings in the early '80s. Then it resurfaced on A&E about ten years later. Yes, that was the same actor who played Ford Prefect on TV playing Prince John. Then it disappeared again. The other poster was absolutely right. WHEN WILL WE SEE THIS ON DVD??????!!!!!!! (I'm not allowed to shout in the summary,or I would have).

There was also a King Arthur series made in the UK in the 1970s to which the same thing happened. That one had also appeared on "Once Upon a Classic" on PBS; which was a show like "Masterpeice Theater," but for kids, hosted by Bill Bixby. Another show on "Once Upon a Classic" to appear on Channel 5 in the early '80s was "The Prince and the Pauper," but I don't remember that ever being on A&E. A similar miniseries that appeared on A&E in the early '80s was a live-action, taped (not filmed) version of "Ivanhoe" which I don't remember seeing before or since.

It is a crime that this series is not available on DVD or VHS. It is simply the best treatment of the Robin Hood legend that has yet been put on film. The acting was superior, costuming very good, and it both sought and succeeded in telling a very credible tale of Robin of Locksley. This is the only Robin Hood film adaptation that I can recommend besides "Robin and Marion", and I think this a better dramatic work.

This seventies BBC version with Martin Potter and Diane Keen remains one of my favourite adaptations of the Robin Hood legend, but its not without its failings.

Despite the evident attention to historical detail in the matter of costumes and props, there are some jarring anachronisms in the script, such as a Saxon thegn called Kenneth (Gaelic), a Norman henchman called Alaric (Visigothic) and a merry man called Brett (Tuolumne County).

The production is very much of its time. There is a very Seventies cynical edge and lots of speechifying; the script is not frightened of serving up dollops of history and at times borders on the lumberingly expositional. But while the production suffers as a result of the disastrous decision made by the BBC to video all interiors on cardboard sets at Television Centre, the location photography is rather charming - seldom has the greenwood looked greener.

British B movie beefcake Potter is a handsome if far from merry Robin, Keen of course is luminous as Marion, while David "Ford Prefect" Dixon and Paul "Ker Avon" Darrow, as respectively Prince John and the Sheriff, exercise more restraint than one might have thought them capable. Some of the supporting players are pure repertory ham (an old crone is straight out of Blackadder), but William Marlowe and Miles Anderson add Shakespearean heft in their roles as Guy of Gisborne and Will Scarlet.

Tony Caunter had yet to acquire the girth one associates with Friar Tuck, but Conrad Asquith is a booming Little John; Much is played by Johnny Speight's boy Richard and Stephen Whittaker completes the meiny as the hitherto unrecorded outlaw Ralph Gammon. David Ryall enjoys himself as a corrupt abbot.

The action sequences are lame by today's slick, and often graphic, standards, but the climactic broadsword duel between Potter and Marlowe has an earthy vigour. Seldom have you seen two actors looking quite so completely knackered.

This is one of the best versions of "Robin Hood" I have ever seen and I would love to have it on DVD. It is a complete story as a mini-series, instead of on-going escapades that must always leave the full cast in place at the end of each episode. This is not the cheeriest version of the story but it is indeed one of the most accurate to traditional legends.

The merry men are remarkably well-cast. The villains are believable -- not strictly evil, but power hungry. David Dixon really shines as Prince John, as a weak-willed young man easily led into the plans of stronger men. I really look forward to seeing this one come out again.