The Story of Robin Hood and his Merrie Men

History and Review Written By Michael J. Ruhland

Year Released: 1952
Michael's Movie Grade:A-

                                                                         History

After making Treasure Island in Britain, the Disney Studio decided to make another live action film over in Britain. Robin Hood was chosen as the story idea, partly because it is a well known story that takes place in Britain. In fact, The Story of Robin Hood and His Merrie Men, unlike most Robin Hood films, had some scenes that were actually shot in the real Sherwood Forest. This live action Disney film would be made 21 years before the more well known animated Disney film. However this story was not new to the world of film, as there had previously been over 20 film versions of Robin Hood by that time. One of these was released just a year before this version, that version was The Tales of Robin Hood (directed by James Tinling and staring Robert Clarke). The most famous film versions of Robin Hood by this time were the 1922 version simply called Robin Hood (directed by Allan Dawn and produced, written by and staring Douglas Fairbanks), and the 1938 version The Adventures of Robin Hood (directed by Michael Curtiz and staring Errol Flynn), the later one Walt admitted he had never seen.

Robin Hood and His Merrie Men holds an important milestone in Disney history. It is the first live action Disney film to have a regular live action Disney director. All the previous Disney live action films had directors that would only work at the studio for one film, but this film's director would in the future direct more Disney films. The director would be Ken Annakin. Ken Annakin was a British director, who had previously directed such films as Trio and Quartet. In fact most of the crew on The Story of Robin Hood and His Merrie Men were in fact British, despite it being made for an American company. However unlike with Bryon Haskin (director of Treasure Island), Walt was able to spend much time talking to Annakin about the making of this film. Annakin remembered Walt telling him often about how the film should not be like any previous Robin Hood adaption, but should stand on it's own. Annakin would not only work on more Disney films in the future but also on some other British/American co-productions for other studios. These non-Disney co-productions would include films like Battle of the Bulge and  Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines or How I Flew from London to Paris in 25 hours 11 minutes.

For the role of Maid Marian, Walt felt it should go to an actress named Joan Rice. Joan Rice had only appeared in two films before this. These films were 1951's Blackmail (directed by Marc Allégret), and One Wild Oat (directed by Charles Saunders), neither of which did she play a big role in. Not everybody working on The Story of Robin Hood and his Merrie Men liked this casting choice. Richard Todd, (who played Robin Hood) in particular, was unhappy with this feeling that the role should go to a more experienced actress. Todd would never warm up to her acting always feeling that the film would have been better with a different actress.

When the film was released it was a critical success, critics especially loving the rich environment and well written characters. Sadly I am unable to find any information on how the film did at the box office. However I will assume based on the fact that most of the cast and crew of this film would work with Disney again, despite many of them having this as their first Disney experience, it was at least a modest success, however this is an assumption and should not be taken as fact.

                                             
                                                     Review


Excellent Disney adventure film. Despite Disney's 1973 animated version being better known, this is easily the superior of two films.

These are some of the most likable versions of these characters ever put on screen. This is due both to Lawrence Edward Watkin's script and great performances from the actors. Despite Richard Todd's objections Joan Rice turns in a fine performance. As does Richard Todd, Peter Finch, and really the whole cast. This film puts a bigger emphasis on Robin and Marian's relationship than most Robin Hood films, and this relationship is handled beautifully. The two leads (despite Todd's objection to Rice being cast) have great on screen chemistry. You really buy and appreciate this romance.

This is one of Disney's best looking live action films. Guy Green's cinematography is excellent, as are the sets, and costumes. This film looks very lavish, and there is never a scene that doesn't have something great to look at. However this look does not distract you from the stories or characters. In fact it really enhances the story by giving it a great epic scope. This is especially true of the climax, which while a bit too short is very exciting, which would not work as well if the film didn't look so good.

Overall this is an excellent film that deserves much more attention than it gets.

                                         
                                              Film Credits



Director: Ken Annakin

Writer:  Lawrence Edward Watkin

Cast: Richard Todd (Robin Hood), Joan Rice (Maid Marin), Peter Finch (Sheriff of Nottingham), James Hayter (Friar Tuck), James Robertson Justice (Little John), Martita Hunt (Queen Eleanor), Hubert Gregg (Prince John), Bill Owen (Stutely), Reginald Tate (Hugh Fitzooth), Elton Hayes (Allan-a-Dale), Anthony Eustrel ( Archbishop of Canterbury), Patrick Barr (King Richard), Anthony Forwood (Will Scarlet), Hal Osmond (Much the Miller), Michael Hordern (Scathelock), Clement McCallin (Earl of Huntingdon), Louise Hampton (Tyb), Archie Duncan (Red Gill), Julian Somers (Posse Leader), Bill Travers (Posse Member), David Davies (Forester), Ivan Craig (Merrie Man), Larry Mooney (Merrie Man), Ewen Solon (Merrie Man), John French (Merrie Man), John Stamp (Merrie Man), Nigel Neilson (Merrie Man), John Brooking (Merrie Man), Charles Perry (Merrie Man), John Martin (Merrie Man), Richard Graydon (Merrie Man), Geoffrey Lumsden (Merrie Man), Jack Taylor (Merrie Man)

Producers: Walt Disney, Perce Pearce

Music: Clifton Parker

Songwriters: Eddie Pola, George Wyle, Elton Hayes, Lawrence Edward Watkin

Cinematographer: Guy Green

Editor: Gordon Pilkington

Casting Director: Maude Spector

Art Directors: Carmen Dillon, Arthur Lawson

Costume Designers: Michael Whittaker, Yvonne Caffin

Makeup Department: Geoffrey Rodway, Vivienne Walker, Gordon Bond, Trevor Crole-Rees, Ann Fordyce, Stuart Freeborn, Eddie Knight, Wally Schneiderman, Joan White

Production Managers: F. Sherwin Green, Anthony Nelson Keys, Douglas Peirce

Assistant Directors: Peter Bolton, Basil Keys, Kip Gowans, Peter Manley, Christopher Sutton

Second Unit Director: Alex Bryce

Sound Department: Winston Ryder, Reg Barnes Heath , Peter Davies, Basil Fenton-Smith, George Paternoster, Ken Rawkins, Fred Ryan, C.C. Stevens, Pat Wheeler

Still Photographers: Frank Bellingham, Charles Trigg, George Courtney Ward

Cameraman: David Harcourt

Assistant Cameraman:  Peter Hall

Assistant Editors: Deveril Goodman, Leslie Hodgson, Richard Marden, Terry Poulton, Henry Richardson


                                                            Resources Used
The Disney Films by Leonard Maltin
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0045197/?ref_=rvi_tt
http://www.thedisneyfilms.com/search/label/Story%20of%20Robin%20Hood%20and%20His%20Merrie%20Men%20%28The%29



-Michael J. Ruhland

Alice in Wonderland

History and Review Written By Michael J. Ruhland











Year Released: 1951
Michael's Movie Grade:B+

                                                               History
Walt Disney's first association with Alice in Wonderland, was in the 1923 short film Alice's Wonderland. This film was made before the Disney studio was formed, and was directed by Walt Disney himself, and combined live action and animation. the point of that film was to reverse what the Fleshier Brothers had been doing with their Out of the Inkwell cartoons. In those cartoons an animated Koko the Clown entered a live action world. In Alice's Wonderland a live action girl (played by Virginia Davis) entered an animated world. This would morph into Walt Disney's first cartoon series. These would be called the Alice Comedies, and 57 of these films would be made.

Also before the studio embarked on Snow White, Mary Pickford approached Walt Disney about making a feature film where she would play a live action Alice and  would enter completely animated Wonderland. Though this film was never made, the idea persisted quite a while after, and as late as 1945 the idea of making a part animated and part live action animated feature was still on Walt's mind. Actresses such as Ginger Rodgers, Lisa Davis Waltz and Disney's own Launa Patten were all considered for the role of a live action Alice. It wasn't until 1946, that it was decided to make a completely animated version with no live action.

An art director picked out for the film was a man named David S. Hall. David S. Hall was a man who had never worked for Disney before, never would again, and his work doesn't even appear in this film. This would have been Hall's only foray into animation if it had worked out. He had previously done art direction for such films as Wee Willie Winkie (staring Shirley Temple and directed by John Ford), the 1939 version of The Three Musketeers (directed by Allan Dawn, and staring The Ritz Brothers), and Charlie Chan in Reno (directed by Norman Foster (who would later direct the Davy Crockett films for Disney, along with directing some segments for the Disneyland TV show) and staring Sidney Tolar). However Hall's designs for the film resembled John Tenniel's book illustrations too closely, that they became to difficult to animate. On top of this Al Perkins (who was a writer for Disney's Reluctant Dragon) wrote the original screen play, but it was too dark for Walt's liking. So these two men were replaced, and work on the film had to go back to square one.

The much needed new look for the film was heavily influenced by the design work of Mary Blair. Walt loved her work and it set the tone not only for the visuals, but the story as well. The film would become more comedic and lighthearted and the parts that didn't fit that mold would not be included.

Probably more than any animated Disney film before this the voice cast would hugely help make these characters into who they appear as on screen. The Mad Hatter and March Hare, would fit very well into the normal screen characters for Ed Wynn and Jerry Colonna. In fact Ed Wynn improvised much of his dialogue for the watch fixing scene. Katheryn Beaumont would be both the live action model for, and the voice for Alice. Much of what Alice's personality would be would come from this actress. Katheryn Beaumont would do the Alice voice for the Alice in Wonderland Ride at Disneyland, and she is still doing the voice for things such as the Kingdom Hearts games. Alice was originally going to have a Somewhere Over the Rainbow-esque song for this film, but Katheryn had difficulty singing it and Walt worried that starting the film with a slow ballad was too risky a thing to do. So instead we got a more lively number the Katheryn felt more comfortable singing near the beginning. She was only ten years old when doing this voice and she would in fact be schooled partly on the Disney lot. Just to bring it up Janet Waldo (voice of Judy Jetson) was once considered for the voice of Alice, and even though she didn't get the part in this film, she would later voice Alice in the 1966 Hanna-Barbera TV movie  Alice in Wonderland or What's a Nice Kid Like You Doing in a Place Like This?.

This film would have the same directors as Cinderella did. These directors would be Clyde Geronimi, Wilfred Jackson, and Hamilton Luske. Again the supervising animators would be all nine of Disney's Nine Old Men, plus Norm Ferguson. Again also, supervising animators would be cast by character, such as: Marc Davis for Alice, John Lounsbery for the flowers and the Cheshire Cat, Frank Thomas for the Queen of Hearts, Ollie Johnson for the King of Hearts, Ward Kimball for The White Rabbit, Tweedledee and Tweedledum, Mad Hatter, March Hare and The Walrus, Eric Larson for Dinah and the Caterpillar, Milt Kahl for Alice's Sister, and so forth.

Sadly Alice in Wonderland lost money at the box office. Walt would blame it on the film lacking the warmth of the most popular Disney films, and believed he shouldn't have made a film based off a book that he definitely couldn't please many fans of the book.

                                                                   

                                               Review
Considering how hard of books these are to adapt, it is amazing how good this film is. It is full of great artwork, very funny slapstick humor, and complete craziness.

The design work on this film is downright amazing. Those familiar with the work of Mary Blair will notice some of her best work all over this movie. This work is not only beautiful to look at but it draws you into the madness of the film.

Alice may be underwritten compared to her book counterpart, but she is fantastically handled by both excellent animation from Marc Davis, and fantastic voice work from Kathryn Beaumont. These both give a great personality to this version of Alice, and more so than the film's writers gave her.

The humor is excellent the film is simply very funny, and great animation work just brings that to life perfectly. Which makes me wish certain really funny scenes from the books had been included. In fact as a fan of the Alice books and this film, there are so many scenes from the book I wish had been in this film, because I know Disney could have done them quite well.

The biggest fault of this film is that even though it has the most songs put into a Disney film at this point, none of the songs are as memorable as the ones from some other Disney films. However they are pleasant but not up to Disney standards.

Overall this is a great film, that does surprisingly well at adapting, this hard to adapt source material.

                                                            Film Credits

Directors: Clyde Geronimi, Hamilton Luske, Wilfred Jackson

Writers:  Winston Hibler, Bill Peet, Joe Rinaldi, William Cottrell, Joe Grant, Del Connell, Ted Sears, Erdman Penner, Milt Banta, Dick Kelsey, Dick Huemer, Tom Oreb, John Wallbridge

Based on the books Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass by Lewis Carol

Voices:  Kathryn Beaumont (Alice), Bill Thompson (White Rabbit, Dodo), Heather Angel (Lorina - Older Sister of Alice), Joseph Kearns (Doorknob), Ed Wynn (Mad Hatter), Jerry Colonna (March Hare), James Macdonald (Dormouse), J. Pat O'Malley (as Pat O'Malley) (Walrus, Carpenter, Tweedledum, Tweedledee), Richard Haydn (Caterpillar), Queenie Leonard (Bird in the Tree), Sterling Holloway (Cheshire Cat), Verna Felton (Queen of Hearts), Dink Trout (King of Hearts), Doris Lloyd (The Rose), Bill Lee (Card Painter), The Mellonmen (Cards), Don Barclay (Card), Larry Grey (Bill), Marni Nixon (Singing Flowers), Norma Zimmer (White Rose)

Producer: Walt Disney

Music: Oliver Wallace

Songwriters: Bob Hilliard, Sammy Fain, Don Raye, Gene de Paul, Mack David, Al Hoffman, Jerry Livingston, Oliver Wallace, Ted Sears

Production Supervisor: Ben Sharpsteen

Editor: Lloyd L. Richardson

Sound Department: Robert O. Cook, Harold J. Steck, C.O. Slyfield

Effects Animators: Josh Meador, Don MacManus, Gorge Rowley, Blaine Gibson

Special Effects: Ub Iwerks

Color Styling: Mary Blair, John Hench, Ken Anderson, Claude Coats, Don DaGradi

Layout Animators: McLaren Stewart, Tom Codrick, Charles Philippi, A. Kendall O'Connor, Hugh Hennesy, Don Griffith, Thor Putnam, Lance Nolley

Background Artists: Ray Huffine, Art Riley, Dick Anthony, Brice Mack, Thelma Witmer

Supervising Animators: Milt Kahl, Ward Kimball, Frank Thomas, Eric Larson, John Lounsbery, Ollie Johnston, Wolfgang Reitherman, Marc Davis, Les Clark, Norm Ferguson

Animators: Hal King, Judge Whitaker, Hal Ambro, Bill Justice, Phil Duncan, Bob Carlson, Don Lusk, Cliff Nordberg, Harvey Toombs, Fred Moore, Marvin Woodward, Hugh Fraser, Charles Nichols

                                                Resourses Used
http://www.bcdb.com/cartoon-characters/29-Alice-In-Wonderland
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0043274/?ref_=rvi_tt
The Disney Films by Leonard Maltin

-Michael J. Ruhland