King John (George Macready) is once again up to his old tricks of excessive taxation and oppression. He has hired five thousand Flemish mercenaries to roll back the rights given by Richard the Lionheart (remember, this is fiction) and regain absolute control for the monarchy, and now he has to find a way to pay them. Robin (John Derek), son of the now deceased Robin Hood, and Little John (Alan Hale) reform the merry men and set about stopping John. They are aided by John’s ward, Lady Marianne (Diana Lynn). If I was John, I would stop acquiring wards.
A middling Swashbuckler that retells the same cinematic tale of Robin Hood that’s been done better before (with the son of Robin replacing his father as the hero), Rogues of Sherwood Forest stands out only as a curiosity. It is Alan Hale’s third time playing the role of Little John. He first appeared as Robin’s sidekick in the silent Robin Hood (1922) and then in the classic The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938). He’s long-in-the-tooth to be doing the Swashbuckling-thing, but he’s still the best thing about Rogues of Sherwood Forest. He died the same year it was released.
Besides questionable acting from the non-Hale part of the cast, there’s nothing substantially wrong with Rogues of Sherwood Forest. Everyone goes through the standard light action pic paces with workman-like efficiency. It’s an assembly line movie, with each part nicely in its place and nothing remarkable. There’s the required amount of sword fights and bow shooting, although some of the footage was swiped from The Bandit of Sherwood Forest: The Son of Robin takes out guards that are following him on horseback; different sons, same guards.
If you remember anything after the end credits roll, it will be John Derek’s appearance. Derek, considered too pretty to be a leading man, is best remembered as the photographer and husband of Ursula Andress, Linda Evans, and Bo Derek. While a passable Robin at best, he looks as if he could be the son of Errol Flynn. With his looks, and Hales’s presence, there is a pleasant feeling of continuity with the superior 1938 film.
Alan Hale’s other Swashbucklers are: The Prince and the Pauper (1937), The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938), The Adventures of Marco Polo (1938), The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex (1939), The Man in the Iron Mask (1939), The Sea Hawk (1940), and Adventures of Don Juan (1948).
Other Robin Hood Swashbucklers I’ve reviewed: The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938), The Bandit of Sherwood Forest (1946), Sword of Sherwood Forest (1960), Robin and Marian (1976), Robin Hood (1991), and Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves (1991).