"This purse was given freely by Robin Fitzooth and his outlaw band, and with it their prayers for King Richard's safe return". This still from The Story of Robin Hood and His Merrie Men beautifully highlights the remarkable attention to detail in Nottingham Square (above), crafted by art director Carmen Dillon and her talented team. And look closely—did you notice the man peering out from the upstairs window?
Before streaming, DVDs, and even videotapes, there was only the cinema and television. Yes — I’m that old!
If you wanted your own copy of a favourite film, you needed a projector and a reel of cine film, usually 8mm.
After many years of waiting, I finally managed to get hold of the Disney Home Movies 8mm silent colour version of The Story of Robin Hood. I hadn’t seen it on television since I first watched it at the cinema, so owning it felt like winning the lottery.
Even though it was only four minutes long, those precious minutes of seeing that wonderful film again meant everything to me.
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| Joan Rice meets the Queen Mother |
In November 1951, Joan Rice — Maid Marian — met the “real” Queen Mother at the Royal Premiere of 'Where No Vultures Fly.'
I’ve researched Joan’s extraordinary, almost fairy-tale life story: raised in a Nottingham orphanage near Sherwood after her father’s imprisonment, she moved to London, worked various jobs including waitressing, won a beauty contest, and was personally chosen by Walt Disney to play Maid Marian in The Story of Robin Hood and His Merrie Men, appearing alongside Queen Eleanor (Martita Hunt), mother of Richard I of England and Prince John.
There are now over 124 pages dedicated to Joan's life on this blog.
Although many film websites claim that Walt Disney’s Story of Robin Hood was filmed in Sherwood Forest, this is not correct. The outdoor scenes were actually shot at Burnham Beeches, a magnificent area of ancient woodland in Buckinghamshire, close to Denham Studios, where the interior scenes were filmed.
Disney’s research team visited Sherwood Forest and Nottingham during pre-production, which may explain how the persistent myth arose that the film was shot there.
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| Storyboard sketch and final scene |
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| Stephen Grimes with the Storyboard for Robin Hood |
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| Ken Annakin with Perce Pearce |
"The preparation for this production introduced me [Ken Annakin] to a completely new way of making movies. Actually, I never met Walt until a few weeks before shooting, but I was introduced to the Disney Method, which was to sketch out practically every move in the picture before designing the set or choosing the locations.
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| Walt Disney with a Storyboard |
At Disney, we have found it's much more sensible and cost-efficient to invest the time and salaries of three or four artists at a drawing board-discussing, sketching and exploring the best ways of telling a story, rather than wasting time doing it on the set or location, said Perce Pearce. Key technicians and all the departments are supplied with a set of sketches, and everyone knows the director's requirements.
It sounded logical, but a little like factory-line production to me. How much room was it going to leave for ‘my’ creative input? I wondered.
When I came onto the Robin Hood production, practically all the camera angles and movements had been designed and storyboarded by Carmen Dillon and Guy Green, the cameraman!”
(So You Wanna Be A Director? by Ken Annakin (2001) Tomahawk Press
The Major Oak in Sherwood Forest rests beneath the snow, its ancient branches holding winter’s silence. Frost traces the deep lines of its bark, and the forest seems to pause around it—my spiritual place, old, watchful, and quietly alive.
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| Stephen Grimes with continuity sketches |
“After many weeks of intensive preparation, the new Walt Disney all-action film in Technicolor, “Robin Hood”, has gone before the cameras at Denham Studios. The first shot was made on April 30.
The last two weeks before the unit went into action were a time of great activity among the double-strength set-up, which will be filming inside the studio and on location in different parts of the country.
Daily conferences were held between producer Perce Pearce, scriptwriter Laurence Watkin, art director Carmen Dillon, director Ken Annakin and lighting cameraman Guy Green, to ensure coordination on the floor.
As the first two sets-the exterior of Huntingdon Manor and the Robin Hood cave and forest encampment-took shape and colour on the Denham stages, the plasterers’ shop continued non-stop production of the many other 12th-century Nottinghamshire buildings and interiors for the story.
In the Art Department, walls covered with over a thousand continuity sketches, the works of Stephen Grimes, told the story of the film in minute detail, while enormous tables bearing scale models of the sets, made by Ivor Beddoes, illustrated with great accuracy the landscape and buildings of 12th-century England.
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| Art Director, Carmen Dillon |
Outside the studios, Alex Bryce, directing exterior scenes, has toured the countryside with a camera unit headed by Geoffrey Unsworth, seeking suitable locations for river and forest scenes in which the film abounds.
In the pattern shop, under the supervision of Bill Evans, 12th-century utensils, furniture, carts and carved chests were turned out and mellowed under the watchful eye of historical expert, Dr. Charles Beard.
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| Bill Evans and Dr. Charles Beard |
Hair stylist Vivienne Walker and make-up expert Stuart Freeborne gradually transformed the cast into likenesses of their historical counterparts, and members of the cast, too, were fully occupied in learning and practising the many skilled arts in which the film calls for them to be accomplished.
After months of interviews and tests, casting director Maude Spector finalised the huge cast which the vast scale of the production necessitated….
In addition to Richard Todd, Joan Rice, James Robertson Justice and James Hayter, in leading roles as Robin Hood, Maid Marian, Little John and Friar Tuck, respectively. Hubert Gregg will play the scheming Prince John, Anthony Eustrel the Archbishop-churchman, soldier and advisor of Queen Eleanor of Aquitaine, played by Martitia Hunt.
Then Walt Disney has signed many other fine actors to play important featured roles: Peter Finch as the notorious Sheriff of Nottingham, Patrick Barr as Richard the Lion Heart, Anthony Forwood as handsome Will Scarlet, guitar playing Elton Hayes as the roving minstrel Allan-a-Dale, Michael Hordern as Scathelock, a persecuted farmer, Bill Owen as Stuteley, a poacher, and Hal Osmond as the celebrated Midge the Miller.
Walt Disney will arrive in England to supervise the production of “Robin Hood.”
THE CINEMA STUDIO May 1951
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| Perce Pearce, Joan Rice and Richard Todd |
Merrie Christmas to all the readers of this blog and my Facebook page! Thank you for your continued support in bringing attention to this often-overlooked film. I’m sure many of you will agree that, even alongside more recent productions, this Technicolor masterpiece truly stands the test of time.
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| Patrick Barr in The Story of Robin Hood |
Patrick Barr, resplendent as Richard the Lionheart, prepares to depart for the Holy Land in Disney’s The Story of Robin Hood (1952).
Four years later, Barr revived his role as Richard in the classic television series The Adventures of Robin Hood. In a rare crossover between cinema and television, he appeared alongside Richard Greene in the episodes Secret Mission (1956) and Richard the Lion-Heart (1956), in which Robin Hood meets the mysterious pilgrim Peregrinus, who is revealed to be King Richard. Three other actors from Disney’s The Story of Robin Hood also appeared in the TV series. Do you know who they were?
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| Patrick Barr in the Adventures of Robin Hood |
Patrick—often called Pat—was born in Akola, India, on 13 February 1908. His first brush with the legendary outlaw came in 1932, when he appeared as a torturer in the black-and-white short The Merry Men of Sherwood. Throughout the 1930s, Barr was often cast as dependable, trustworthy characters, a persona he carried through a long career in film and television. After six years of military service during the Second World War, he returned to acting, appearing once again alongside Richard Todd in the classic war film The Dambusters (1955).
Bill Owen (1914-1999), in the role of Will Stutely, stands beside one of the many giant coppiced trees in Burnham Beeches, Buckinghamshire, during the filming of Disney’s The Story of Robin Hood. His later career saw him appear in more than 180 episodes of the television series Last of the Summer Wine, the part of Compo Simmonite becoming his defining signature role.
A decade before writing the Christmas classic “It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year,” Eddie Pola and George Wyle were composing songs for Disney’s second live-action film, The Story of Robin Hood and His Merrie Men (1952). “Whistle My Love” is, in my view, a slightly overlooked gem, performed in the film by the minstrel Alan-a-Dale, played by Elton Hayes. As he sings, we see Robin and Marian walking together through the glades of Sherwood, the ballad’s tender lines — “I’ll always find you no matter where you may be” — lending the scene a beautifully romantic, yearning quality.
What makes the book especially appealing for fans is the set of four pages of titled, numbered colour stamps—sixty in total—that the owner had to place in the correct spots throughout. Many readers of my blog will recognise the images, but seeing them in full colour helps explain why the film was praised as the finest Technicolor production ever made in England.
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| Anthony Forwood as Will Scarlet |
I have often lamented the fact that this film never received a sequel. With today’s trend of studios transforming beloved stories into full-fledged franchises, this Technicolor masterpiece would have been an ideal candidate. The Story of Robin Hood had so much potential to continue, not least because it is filled with memorable characters brought to life by a wonderful cast.
Will Scarlet is one of them. Introduced as “Cousin Will,” as Robin Hood (Richard Todd) calls him, he first appears among the outlaws in their Sherwood Forest camp. Yet the screenplay offers no real insight into his background. In fact, the elegantly dressed Will Scarlet—portrayed by Anthony Forwood—has only one notable scene, in which he joins the other outlaws in “christening” Little John (James Robertson-Justice) by tossing him into the river. After this brief moment, Forwood’s time on screen as Will Scarlet comes to an abrupt end. It’s hard not to feel that the narrative could have developed his character further.
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| Peter Finch as the Sheriff of Nottingham |
We never see the Sheriff pick up a longbow in the film. It was probably one of many clips that eventually found their way onto the cutting room floor. But, a similar image was later used in ‘Walt Disney's Robin Hood Stamp Book’ published in New York in 1955 by Simon and Schuster.
Robin Hood has long been celebrated as a hero of the people, so when Walt Disney sought a leading man for his live-action film about the legendary outlaw, he could hardly have chosen a better fit than Captain Richard Todd.
Born in Dublin, Ireland, Todd became one of the first British officers to land on D-Day during the Second World War. Serving with the 7th (Light Infantry) Parachute Battalion of the British 6th Airborne Division, Lieutenant Todd took part in Operation Tonga on 6 June 1944. His battalion parachuted in as reinforcements shortly after the glider troops had secured the vital Pegasus Bridge, a key objective that prevented German forces from mounting a counterattack. Just five days after D-Day, Todd was promoted to Captain.
During the operation, he met Major John Howard on Pegasus Bridge—an encounter that would come full circle years later when Todd portrayed Howard in the 1962 film The Longest Day. Remarkably, the beret Todd wears in the movie is the very same one he wore during the D-Day landings.
After the war, Todd returned to acting, earning acclaim in films such as The Dam Busters and The Story of Robin Hood.
Captain Richard Todd passed away on December 3, 2009, at the age of 90. He is laid to rest at St. Guthlac’s Church in Little Ponton, Lincolnshire, England.
Another photograph of Joan Rice, our Maid Marian, taken at the premiere of Walt Disney’s The Story of Robin Hood and His Merrie Men at the Leicester Square Theatre on 13th March 1952. Joan’s gown was reportedly designed by Walt Disney’s promotional team. Newspapers described her arriving in a limousine, her tulle skirt trimmed with Robin Hood motifs, and her velvet bodice — naturally — in Lincoln Green. There were also “provincial” premieres the following month. On 7th April, screenings were held in Portsmouth and Southsea, attended by Joan Rice and James Hayter. On 24th April, Joan appeared with Elton Hayes (Allan-a-Dale) at the Odeon in Manchester, before Elton Hayes visited the Gaumont Theatre in Liverpool on April 27th.
I have to thank John Nelson once again for another amazing and rare photograph.
This one captures Joan Rice, our Maid Marian, at the premiere of Walt Disney’s The Story of Robin Hood and His Merrie Men at the Leicester Square Theatre on March 13th, 1952.
Alongside Joan that evening was the talented singer, actress, and songwriter Petula Clark.
