Mike has recently sent in this unusual movie still from his collection (shown above). It is taken from Walt Disney's live-action film, the Story of Robin Hood and his Merrie Men (1952) and he has asked if I was able to confirm the particular scene.
In the background we can see what appears to be the castle walls and the back - end of a cannon. Both men are wearing the Sheriff of Nottingham's livery and the figure being dragged off his horse seems to be Richard Todd (Robin Hood).
After closer scrutiny and a look through Laurence's excellent picture strip to identify the moment (see Number 37), I have come to the same conclusion as Mike.
The picture was taken during the filming at Denham Studios of Robin Hood's escape from Nottingham Castle after being betrayed by the Sheriff. Robin is pulled from his horse by one of the castle wardens and this leads to the dramatic scene near the end of the movie where the Sheriff (Peter Finch) is eventually crushed to death by the closing drawbridge.
Mike was puzzled as to why the image was so light considering the dramatic scene was set during night time? If any readers can help, please comment below.
5 comments:
Thanks to Mike for sending in this unusual action still from the movie.
This is a classic example of what I posted earlier about the items that seem to come to light each year. This is a wonderful action still that Mike has - I have never seen it before and would have to agree with your thoughts on the actual scene. The thing is we all know this film so well but even so we see new things like this. Great item and very exciting.
Dear Clement,
I agree with you with the scene.
It seems that this is a behind-the-scene still : we see Richard Todd being dragged down from what appears a dummy horse vice a real one. Maybe for security purposes and it might be that there was no stunt man available when this particular photo was taken; however, it is strange that such a still made its way through what appears to be an official one.
Fascinating though and many thanks to Mike for having supplied with this document!
Yours truly,
Christian Roy
Thanks for your interesting comments guys!
Disney's publicity department must have photographed almost every scene. Which is great news for us fans of the movie!!
Christian mentions a stunt man in this scene - and he could very well be right but I do remember Richard Todd saying that he would only take on the role of Robin Hood if he were doing all his own stunts and that was a condition he made. How that worked when they actually came to do the film is another matter. If the Walt Disney publicity department photographed every shot then we still have lots to look forward to. I do remember sending in one picture which you included a year or two ago showing a mock up of the bank where Robin escapes to and that showed archers at close range and out of camera, firing arrows close to him.
Post a Comment