By Michael Lyons
“Keep your chin up. Soon there’ll be happiness in Nottingham again, you’ll see.”
This line of dialogue delivered by the title character in Disney’s 1973 animated feature, “Robin Hood,” not only serves a morale booster for a downtrodden character, but it could also be what the artists at Disney were saying to each other at the time.
“Robin Hood” was produced at the Studio’s most challenging times. Walt Disney, the creative guiding light, had passed away seven years earlier and many in charge struggled to “keep moving forward” without him at the helm.
From this unsure time, came a number of projects that attempted to live up to all the name Disney meant to audiences, but there was a constant feeling from both those at the Studio and audiences alike that things weren’t like they were in “the old days.”
One of the projects at this time that attempted to bring luster back to Disney was “Robin Hood,” the Studio’s 21st animated featured film. It was a re-telling of the classic tale with anthropomorphic animals in each role.
Robin and his band of Merry Men (or, as the posters at the time called them, the “Merry Men-agerie!”) attempt to bring happiness back by outwitting the whimpering villain Prince John, who has taxed the “heart and soul of Nottingham.”
Not only was the cast filled with almost every member of the animal kingdom, but almost every popular TV and movie personality at the time for their voices.
Robin Hood, the Fox was noted British actor Brian Bedford; Little John was Disney stalwart Phil Harris (as a very distant relative of “The Jungle Book’s” Baloo); Oscar winner Peter Ustinov, was brilliant as Prince John, the cowardly lion; British comedian Terry Thomas was his sidekick the snake Sir Hiss (and the character was given the comedian’s trademark gap teeth); the twangy star of “Green Acres,” Pat Butram was the Sheriff of Nottingham, a burly wolf; the rooster narrator Alan-a-Dale was Roger Miller, a popular country and western singer at the time, who also wrote several of the film’s songs; the raspy sidekick of many western, Andy Devine gave voice to Friar Tuck, a badger; and actresses Monica Evans and Carole Shelley (who had provided the voices for the geese in “The Aristocats”) were Maid Marian, a fox and Lady Cluck, a chicken.
The eclectic voice cast is a prime example of just how scattershot a movie “Robin Hood” is, but that’s also part of its charm.
The movie had gone through a number of iterations in those “post Walt” years. Starting life in the ‘60’s as an adaptation of the fable Reynard the Fox and afterward being adapted as a Western-themed version of “Robin Hood” (hence the number of associated American voices in it), the movie is a reflection of the artists struggling to find just the right tone for their work without Walt.
As an example of the unsure time, “Robin Hood” has become most famous in animation circles as the movie that “traced over animation” from previous Disney films like “Snow White” and “The Jungle Book,” in an attempt to cut costs (a search on You Tube will demonstrate).
But such attempts to find chinks in the armor are petty, as there is so much to love in Disney’s “Robin Hood.” The animators (most of them the veterans of the Studio’s classic films) get so much personality from each of the different animal characters that the film is brimming with personality animation, even from characters who are only on screen for a few minutes.
Nowhere is this more evident then with Prince John. With snarky, spoiled rotten delivery from Peter Ustinov, coupled with brilliant acting through animation from Ollie Johnston, Prince John emerges as not only one of the Studio’s best, comical villains, but one of their most original characters.
Debuting on November 8, 1973, “Robin Hood” was a hit for the Studio and meant a lot for the young generation in the ‘70’s who grew up with the film. Unlike today, “Robin Hood” was made a time when a new Disney animated feature came along every three to four years, not on the current annual schedule that Disney and Pixar provide.
Additionally, when Disney made the decision in 1984 to begin releasing their animated films on home video, “Robin Hood” was the first, making it a favorite of the “VHS generation.”
Since then, “Robin Hood” has earned a special place in the hearts of many a Disney and animation fan.
Not quite the standard of other Disney fare? A product of the Studio’s darker hour? Standard animated feature film fodder?
Sure and probably yes to all of these questions.
But...”Robin Hood” also stands as an example of artists doing their best with what they had, using their talents to bring to life what could only be done in the world of animation and daring to try something that the Studio had never done before.
It’s a story of always looking toward brighter days and knowing that “Love goes on and on.” And that, in many ways, is what makes “Robin Hood” so special to so many.
And so, while there wasn’t “happiness in Nottingham” at the time “Robin Hood” was made and that “happiness” wouldn’t come for another twenty years with films like “Beauty and the Best” and “Aladdin,” “Robin Hood” provided many a generation with happiness that would last a lifetime.
PS - As “Screen Saver” now celebrates one year, thank you all who have read and supported this humble endeavor!
Sources: Wikipedia
IMDb
No comments:
Post a Comment