Complete credited cast: | |||
Richard Greene | ... | Robin Hood | |
Peter Cushing | ... | Sheriff of Nottingham | |
Niall MacGinnis | ... | Friar Tuck (as Niall McGinnis) | |
![]() |
Richard Pasco | ... | Edward, Earl of Newark |
Jack Gwillim | ... | Archbishop of Canterbury Hubert Walter | |
![]() |
Sarah Branch | ... | Maid Marian Fitzwalter |
Nigel Green | ... | Little John | |
Vanda Godsell | ... | The Prioress | |
Edwin Richfield | ... | The Sheriff's Lieutenant | |
![]() |
Charles Lamb | ... | Old Bowyer |
Dennis Lotis | ... | Alan A'Dale |
The sheriff of Nottingham plots to confiscate the estate of the Lord of Bortrey, who has died on Crusade. The Archbishop of Canterbury speaks against this plot, and the sheriff plans to eliminate him. Robin Hood pretends to undertake the assassination of the Archbishop for the plotters; Maid Marion, meeting him thinks him the leader of a gang of murderers, and leads him into a trap. Written by Bruce Cameron <dumarest@midcoast.com>
This is not as bad as all that. Terence Fisher as ever does a competent job, there are reasonable production values and some rather fetching photography. I always thought Richard Greene a little too schoolmasterly for an outlaw, and he is here rather portly, but he can certainly handle a bow. Nigel Greene and Niall McGinnis are well cast as Little John and Tuck, Peter Cushing is an excellent Sheriff, and Richard Pasco does well as the ambiguous Lord Newark. Oliver Reed's camp henchman is perhaps less successful.
The conspiracy plot unfolds at a relaxed pace and resolves satisfyingly. The weakest element is the tacked on romance with Sarah Branch's rather bland Maid Marion.
All in all a rather charming period piece, that gets closer to the spirit of the original ballads than most versions.