The Betrayal of the Sheriff


One of the most exciting scenes in Walt Disney's live-action movie The Story of Robin Hood and his Merrie Men (1952) is Robin's escape from Nottingham Castle after rescuing Maid Marian (Joan Rice). 

Sheriff De Lacy (Peter Finch) has gone back on his word as a knight and prevents Robin Hood (Richard Todd) from re-joining Marian and the outlaws in Sherwood Forest. As Robin reaches the drawbridge the treacherous Sheriff seizes a spear from a castle warden and launches it at the outlaw, wounding his shoulder.




There are many stills from this dramatic moment in the film. But one of the most unusual was the picture (below) that appeared in a 1950's magazine. I wonder where the photographer was during this scene?



If you know of any other unusual images from this movie, please get in touch.

2 comments:

Neil said...

Great pictures these are - and very dramatic too. These scenes were shot inside the studio at Denham - and how authentic they look. I am always fascinated by the studio sets in this film which are among the best I have ever seen Thanks no doubt to Carmen Dillon who was at her peak with this one. She was very much trusted by Walt Disney who in filmmaking decisions was rarely wrong and he certainly was wise to leave the set design to her with her great artistic ability.

Neil said...

To achieve that shot looking down must have required the enormous Technicolor camera to have been hoisted into the air quite a way I would have thought. Can't have been easy in those days to get the shots but I have to say the results on the screen were wonderful.