| Douglas Fairbanks in Robin Hood | |
|---|---|
 Theatrical release poster | |
| Directed by | Allan Dwan |
| Written by | Douglas Fairbanks |
| Produced by | Douglas Fairbanks |
| Starring | Douglas Fairbanks Wallace Beery Sam De Grasse Enid Bennett Alan Hale |
| Cinematography | Arthur Edeson & Charles Richardson |
| Edited by | William Nolan |
| Music by | Victor Schertzinger |
Production company | Douglas Fairbanks Pictures |
| Distributed by | United Artists |
Release date |
|
Running time | 127 minutes 11 reels (10,680 feet (3,260 m)) |
| Country | United States |
| Languages | Silent film English intertitles |
| Budget | $930,000[1] |
| Box office | $2,500,000 (US/Canada)[2] |
Robin Hood is a 1922silentadventure film starringDouglas Fairbanks andWallace Beery. It was the firstmotion picture ever to have aHollywoodpremiere, held atGrauman's Egyptian Theatre on October 18, 1922. The movie's full title, under which it was copyrighted, isDouglas Fairbanks in Robin Hood. It was one of the most expensive films of the 1920s, with a budget estimated at one million dollars (equivalent to $18.79 million in 2024).[3] The film was a smash hit and generally received favorable reviews.
The opening has the dashingEarl of Huntingdon besting his bitter enemy, SirGuy of Gisbourne, in ajoust. Huntingdon then joinsKing Richard the Lion-Hearted, who is going off to fight in theCrusades and has left his brother,Prince John, asregent. The prince soon emerges as a cruel, treacherous tyrant. Goaded on by Sir Guy, he usurps Richard's throne. When Huntingdon receives a message fromLady Marian Fitzwalter, his love interest, telling him of all that has transpired, he requests permission to return to England. King Richard assumes that the Earl has turned coward and denies him permission. The Earl seeks to leave in spite of this, but is ambushed by Sir Guy and imprisoned as adeserter. Upon escaping from his confines, he returns toEngland, endangering his life and honor, to oppose Prince John and restore King Richard's throne. He finds his friends and himself outlawed and Marian apparently dead.
Huntingdon returns to Nottingham and adopts the name ofRobin Hood, acrobatic champion of the oppressed. Leading a band that steals from the rich to give to the poor, includingFriar Tuck,Little John,Will Scarlet, andAllan-a-Dale, he labors to set things right through swashbuckling feats and makes life miserable for Prince John and his cohort, the high sheriff of Nottingham. After rescuing Marian from Prince John's prison and defeating Sir Guy in a final conflict, Robin is captured. The timely reappearance of King Richard returns him to Marian and foils the efforts of Prince John.
Wallace Beery played King Richard the Lion-Hearted again the following year in a sequel calledRichard the Lion-Hearted.
Alan Hale, Sr., made such an impression asLittle John in this film that he reprised the role 16 years later inThe Adventures of Robin Hood (1938) oppositeErrol Flynn, then played the character again inRogues of Sherwood Forest in 1950, 28 years after his initial performance in the original Fairbanks film.
A huge castle set and an entire 12th-century village of Nottingham were constructed at the Pickford-Fairbanks Studio in Hollywood. Some sets were designed by architectLloyd Wright. Director Allan Dwan later recalled that Fairbanks was so overwhelmed by the scale of the sets that he considered cancelling production at one point. The castle was largely built of wood, wire, and plaster.[4] The exceptions were the concrete floor and the (wood-covered) steel drawbridge.[4]
The story was adapted for the screen by Fairbanks (as "Elton Thomas"), Kenneth Davenport, Edward Knoblock, Allan Dwan, andLotta Woods, and was produced by Fairbanks for his own production company, Douglas Fairbanks Pictures Corporation, and distributed byUnited Artists, a company owned by Fairbanks, his wifeMary Pickford,Charlie Chaplin, andD. W. Griffith. This swashbuckling adventure was based on the legendary tale of the medieval hero, Robin Hood, and was the first production to present many of the elements of the legend that became familiar to movie audiences in later versions, although an earlier treatment had been filmed a decade before in the woods around Fort Lee, New Jersey, featuring even more flamboyant costumes than the Fairbanks version.
At its premiere,Robin Hood was accompanied by an orchestral score especially commissioned by Fairbanks and composed byVictor Schertzinger. That score has also been adapted and conducted live by U.S. composer Gillian Anderson. Though the film has received many live and recorded scores since its first release, perhaps the two most significant are further orchestral scores written in 2007 by American composer and conductorJohn Scott, and in 2016 by eminent Britishsilent film musicianNeil Brand.
Robin Hood generally received favorable reviews. It received an aggregate score of 100% and an average rating of 8.4/10 fromRotten Tomatoes based on 10 reviews.[5] Combustible Celluloid's Jeffrey M. Anderson rated the movie 4 stars out of 4, concluding "Director Allan Dwan had worked with Fairbanks on several two-reelers, and would go on to direct his last silent film,The Iron Mask (1929). Dwan would continue working, making "B" pictures up until the 1960s, and finishing up with something like 500 films on his resume before he died. ButRobin Hood is his masterpiece.".[6]
Fairbanks biographerJeffrey Vance evaluated the film in 2008 as follows: "Douglas Fairbanks in Robin Hood is the most important legacy of the rich life and career of Douglas Fairbanks. The towering sets are long gone, and the characters have been reimagined and reinterpreted, but the foundation the film was built upon—and the culture it created—exists to this day....The creation ofDouglas Fairbanks in Robin Hood consumed nearly a year of his life, and the experience established the matrix for all of his subsequent silent film productions. Indeed, it was the first of his productions to be fully realized in every respect."[7]
Media related toRobin Hood (1922 film) at Wikimedia Commons
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