Miss Robin Hood

It has its moments, but 'Miss Robin Hood' is mostly underwhelming.

Margaret Rutherford (Miss Honey) and Richard Hearne (Henry) are both good, while it's cool to see James Robertson Justice and Reg Varney, pre-'On The Buses' of course, involved in their respective roles; albeit very minorly in Varney's case.

The cinematography is impressive given the year this was released, but I just don't feel like the plot meshes all that well - it feels forcibly thrown together, without much logic. I guess they focused more on the comedy, which I can respect.

Despite the short run time, I was happy to see the film end. Not for me.

A wonderful and truly under rated gem for adults of all ages. The humble writer,Wrigley (Hearne), at a large newspaper creates the adventures of Miss Robin Hood on a weekly basis.It's a comic strip for kids and depicts a modern day young woman as the Hood character who robs from the rich and is always aided by teenage school girls.

When the new owner of the Newspaper decides to drop Miss Robin Hood, the writer storms out of his job.All seems bleak until Miss Honey (Rutherford) appears, an eccentric elderly lady who runs a home for orphaned kids (?) on Hampstead Heath.She insists that only he can help her against the evil Macallister.After reading how Miss Robin Hood can crack open safes,she's convinced that Wrigley can help her retrieve a secret family recipe used in "Honeycup", a scotch based drink with an extra special ingrediant that causes a sensational feeling of wellbeing, from the Macallister (James Robertson Justice).Wrigley unwittingly agrees. The ingrediant is stolen from the Macallister's safe and Wrigley finds himself caught up in an exciting game of cat and mouse with the Macallister, Scotland Yard and the Newspaper Editor.

Great performances from the kids,Hearne, Rutherford, Dora Bryan and an unusually playful Robertson Justice. Sid James also makes an early appearence as Miss Honey's driver. Surely a classic destined for DVD release?

You must be a most unpleasant person not to like this little, subversive gem. Hearne plays Wrigley, the writer of an adventure story for girls, called Miss Robin Hood. Miss Robin Hood is a young woman who, aided by schoolgirls, sets out to right wrongs and fight the money grubbing bad guys of the world.

Wrigley is living a sort of mundane existence where he receives little credit from his newspaper bosses and he thinks little of his own creation. He is totally unaware that a group of children and one elderly fan, Miss Honey (Margaret Rutherford), use his stories as a model to live life by. One day, Miss Honey introduces herself and Wrigley is transformed into living for the same ideals as Miss Honey and his own creation, Miss Robin Hood.

The plot isn't really important. Miss Honey and Wrigley team up to snatch an old recipe from a whiskey manufacturer. A recipe that was swiped from Miss Honey's family years before. Throughout the film, Miss Honey and Mr. Wrigley battle big business, and the management at the newspaper. They fight for what they believe in and making money is not one of them. Subtle little things, like Miss Honey's charm with the pigeons, constantly remind the viewer of the pure ideals of a child and how they are superior to the views of the world of an adult.

Miss Rutherford is a true joy. What a wonderful eccentric she was, and like Miss Honey (and Miss Robin Hood) the world can use more just like them.

Miss Robin Hood is directed by John Guillermin and co-written by Val Valentine, Patrick Campbell, and Geoffrey Orme; from the story written by Reed De Rouen. It stars Margaret Rutherford and Richard Hearne. Music is orchestrated by Temple Abady (John Hollingsworth directing) and photography is by Arthur Grant. Plot finds Hearne as amiable newspaper columnist Henry Wrigley, who gets roped in to robbery by eccentric old dear Miss Honey (Rutherford). All for a good cause you understand.......

Out of Group 3 productions, Miss Robin Hood sadly doesn't play out as worthy of the cast assembled for it. I would go so far as to say it's easily the weakest of the films that were found and received a DVD release under the Hollywood Classics Ltd banner of Long Lost Comedy Classics. Story is sweet enough, cast are fine, particularly Rutherford (more energy than actresses' half her age back then), Sid James, James Robertson Justice and Dora Bryan, but the film seems caught between trying to be screwball, farce or a cunningly crafted fantasy. The odd moment of hilarity does surface (car chase, a drunk Hearne), but these quickly get lost in the mix as director Guillermin (The Blue Max/Death on the Nile) fires a blunderbuss and hopes all the pellets land in the same place to form a cohesive circle. They don't.

Still, it's not a total wash out, the cast ensure it's at least watchable, and it's always fun to play spot the future star of British TV and cinema in these 50s Brit Coms. Look out for the likes of Reg Varney and Kenneth Connor here. While the music score is very pleasant and chipper, and Grant's photography is lean and at times purposely off kilter. Core essence of plot, too, is worthy of a hearty bravo shouted from the back of the theatre, but execution behind the camera and translation from the written page leaves it too messy for its own good. 5/10

Miss Robin Hood serves as a cheerful, heart warming, zany British movie. It's not what you'd class as laugh out loud humour, it's more amiable, cheerful viewing. Worth watching solely for Margaret Rutherford, an on screen gem, she is wonderfully eccentric, I would imagine kids watching this at the time would have adored a dotty Great Au t like her. The film represents escapism for youngsters, it must be pointed out that times were hard for people in 1952 Britain, the fantasy world is charming. Richard Hearne does a good job, very straight laced and serious, a good balance for Rutherford's boldness, Sid James is solid, he's not given much to do, but he's always great to watch.

Zany, innocent fun, a snapshot of a time gone by.