Deering Hood

One of the movies that's back in the FXM rotation and that I had never done a post on before is Son of Robin Hood. So, when it showed up recently, I added it to the DVR so that I could do a post on it for the next time it would air. That next airing is coming up on FXM tomorrow, November 19, at 10:00 AM, so now's the time for the post on it.

The movie is set something like 20 years after the traditional Robin Hood story we know from movies like The Adventures of Robin Hood, and in this story line, Robin has been dead 10 years or so. The denizens of Nottingham and Sherwood Forest are still subject to depredations, since John became King of England. John died in the middle of a civil war in 1216 and was succeeded by his nine-year-old son Henry III, but in the movie the crown prince who is supposed to succeed to the thrown is depicted as an adult, the Earl of Chester (Marius Goring).

Some of the nobility don't want the Earl of Chester to take the throne, led by the Duke Des Roches (David Farrar), while the now aging Merry Men who had thrown in with Robin side with the Earl of Chester, who is pursude by Des Roches and his men. In fact, they have him cornered in a farm cottage in Sherwood Forest, since somebody in or close to the old Merry Men is spying on them and getting information back to the Duke. The Merry Men know, however, that Robin Hood has a son, Deering, living in exile in Spain, and that if only Deering could come to England he'd be the savior of the peasants and the Earl of Chester would take his rightful place on the throne.

Arrangements are made for Deering to show up in the then relatively small town of Liverpool, but of course Des Roches' men know about this, and go to pick him up. So when a small rowboat is rowing in, they naturally asssume it's Deering, and waylay the man (David Hedison, still going by Al in those days). This "Stranger", later revealed to be named Jamie, is outnumbered but eventually helped by another mysterious person who needs a bit of care after the incident. Jamie takes this person to an inn, only to find that it's a woman!

And then Little John goes to the room where Deering is supposed to be, and finds that woman that Jamie brought here. It's only then that we learn that that woman (June Laverick) is in fact Deering! Oh my goodness, the good peasants of Sherwood aren't going to be able to rally under a woman! The horror! This even if she is a good shot with an arrow. Joan of Arc was not yet a thing. However, after Little John and Deering are accosted by some of Des Roches' men, they knowing Little John even if they don't know Deering, Jamie shows up to return the favor. Now Jamie finally learns that the young woman is Deering, and we learn that Jamie is the younger brother of the Earl of Chester.

Since the Duke Des Roches doens't know Jamie, he's able to pass himself off as a French nobleman, bringing his "wife", that part being taken by Deering, to the castle where Des Roches is stationed. From there Jamie will try to free the Earl of Chester, while the Merry Men will try to infiltrate the castle some other way. But being right in the middle of the wolf's den is always dangerous....

Son of Robin Hood is, to be honest, a sub-par movie, largely because it doesn't have a first-rate cast or anything else first-rate in the production, like a script that works well. It also doesn't have enough action, and the climax doesn't feel all that climactic. While boys may enjoy the Errol Flynn Robin Hood, this one is too talkie and it always felt like there was an "Ewwww, a girl!" factor that you can imagine young boys having.

On the bright side, the movie was filmed in Cinemascope, and the print that FXM ran retained the proper aspect ratio, which I have to admit surprised me; I expected it to go to either 4:3 or 16:9 after the opening credits. The color is also still in great shape in this print. So if you want a time-passer to have on in the background, Son of Robin Hood will definitely do.