The Prince of Thieves

I was much amazed and surprised to watch this Sam Katzman production, directed by the swallow Howard Bretherton, an obscure grade Z film maker, I don't even speak of his two awful and boring serials: WHO'S GUILTY and MONSTER AND THE APE, the most unbearable serial ever made, also produced by Sam Katzman and millions miles away from William Witney's ones. This colorful Robin Hood adventures is much more than I expected, far better than most moviegoers could be scared of, knowing the bad reputation of Sam Katzman for this kind of stuff. Good cheap action scenes, full of battles, fights of any kind. What could we ask for?

Jon Hall acquits himself fine in this standard "Robin Hood" story. This time he and his gang of foresters and rebels have to try and thwart the devious aspirations of the Baron "Gilbert" (H. B. Warner) and his sidekick "Sir Philip" (Lowell Gilmore) before the love of his life "Lady Marian" (Patricia Morison) is married off. It's colourful and quickly paced with plenty of swordplay (possibly not the most convincing, but still...) and Alan Mowbray also contributes well as the sagely and substantial "Friar Tuck". The ending is a bit daft (just how useless can loads of soldiers be against three men?) and you''ll probably not remember this for long afterwards, but it passes an hour or so amiably enough and I did quite enjoy it.

This is not the caliber of Errol Flynn's Robin Hood but it's still a good take on the legend. Jon Hall plays are hero nicely but not with the charm of Flynn. The film is worth watching if you have a lazy afternoon and you have a chance to watch - but I wouldn't go out of my way to find this film though it's decent enough.

6.5/10.

Jon Hall is Robin Hood, Patricia Morison is Lady Marian, and Alan Mowbray is Friar Tuck in this B-movie version of the story you've encountered a zillion times.

It's directed by Howard Bretherton, a competent but not particularly notable B director of the era, and there's little here of remark, except that in the battle scene in which Robin and his Merrie Men overwhelm the forces of Prince John, the swordplay is pretty good. Not that it makes sense when the vastly outnumbered good guys are not attacked by the bad guys at every opportunity. The good part is that when the crowds are fighting, they don't wave their swords up in the air, as if they are being attacked by bats.

The Cinecolor photography has that brown, dusty look that the process was prone to in its good prints. Otherwise, there's nothing going on here, move along.

I can't say it compares to the Errol Flynn classic, but I will say it's entertaining enough and packs quite a bit into just a little over an hour. There's enough action, adventure, rescues, and intrigue to hold your attention, not to mention romance (which includes a triple wedding ceremony). The secondary love story is even better than the Robin/Marian one, and the third couple were good for some comic moments.

The movie doesn't take itself too seriously, the atmosphere is light, and you get the impression everyone had fun while making this film.

It's also inspired me to check out some more movies like this.