Robin Hood (1912)

movie

(71)

Country: UK, USA
Genres: Adventure, Drama, Romance, Short
Release: 1912-08-22
Director: Étienne Arnaud , Herbert Blaché
Writers: Eustace Hale Ball
Language: None | English
Stars: Robert Frazer , Barbara Tennant , Alec B. Francis , Julia Stuart , Mathilde Baring , Isabel Lamon , Muriel Ostriche , M.E. Hannefy , Guy Oliver , George Larkin
Runtime: 30 min
Awards: N/A
AKA: Robin Hood (United States of America) , Robin Hood
Plot: Maid Marian is represented in the cast as the daughter of Old Merwyn and it is at his house that the action begins. He introduces a rich gentleman as her prospective husband after displaying jewelry which the formal suitor has sent ahead with his declaration of love. Friar Tuck appears under the pretense of asking for alms and warns Marian that Robin is waiting at their meeting place. She manages to escape during a parley between her father and her future husband, Guy de Gisbourne, and keeps her appointment. She is discovered, however, and her angry father, backed up by the unheroic Guy, protests valiantly against the clandestine love-making, but formidable Robin is only amused. The bold outlaw is so careless about his personal safety that he eventually falls into an ambush prepared by Guy de Gisbourne, is captured and is bound to a tree while they set off in search of the Sheriff of Nottingham to obtain a formal warrant for Robin Hood's arrest. Marian hurries to where Little John is repairing swords at his forge and finds besides the brawny blacksmith Will Scarlet and Alan-a-Dale. As soon as these members of Robin Hood's band hear of their leader's plight they go to his rescue, free him and organize for revenge. Guy, meanwhile, repairs to the Sheriff of Nottingham's house, where he obtains the warrant he desires. He next visits Marian's father and uses his legal instrument to such advantage that he is promised the hand of the maid as soon as he arrests the outlaw. Guy gets busy. He sets out with a body of armed men expecting to find his prey tied to the tree, but is drawn into an ambush like that he prepared for Robin Hood. Robin and his men fall upon the invaders of their natural domain, drag them from their horses and bind them to the trees in the same manner as their leader had been treated. They then decide to capture the Sheriff. This bold plan fails when it is on the verge of success. The old gentleman wakes just in time to sound an alarm, which summons the guards and the entire band of outlaws is captured. Maid Marian effects a second rescue with greater difficulty, as Robin and his men had been incarcerated in a prison. She and a bunch of her pretty girl friends flirt with the sentinels and lure them away from their posts, while the outlaws scale the wall and descend to the other side by means of a rope secretly furnished for that purpose. The Sheriff now puts a price on Robin's head, while the latter buries himself deeper in the forest and gathers a powerful band of recruits. The second part opens at a wayside tavern near Nottingham. The Sheriff of Nottingham, Guy de Gisbourne, and Old Merwyn are in conspiracy, Friar Tuck watching them closely from another table while pretending to be drunk, and into this plotting comes a new character, a majestic stranger of formidable aspect. The newcomer is none other than Richard Coeur de Leon, the King himself, whose adventures are so entrancingly told by Sir Walter Scott. For some reason or another, not satisfactorily explained, the three gentlemen engaged in conspiring propose to capture the mysterious stranger. Without suspecting their evil devices the mysterious unknown seats himself and calls for refreshment. Friar Tuck draws near and warns the stranger. The latter secretly draws his sword and laughs at the idea of danger. Presently the Sheriff signals soldiers who are awaiting his call and they pour into the tavern. Their attack is directed against the stranger and some lively sword play follows. He backs up to the wall, cuts and thrusts in magnificent style and is materially aided by the monk. They do effective work, accomplishing marvels with their weapons, but are about to be overcome when Tuck draws the stranger away through a secret hiding-place and they seek safety in flight. The belligerent Friar conducts his new friend through the forest to the secret camp of the outlaw and there a great feast is prepared of venison and other game. Robin Hood gives up his own tent to the accommodation of the stranger when the latter retires for the night. Next day Robin and the unknown have a friendly bout with swords in which the famous outlaw is disarmed. He exclaims in amazement, "Only one man in all England could disarm me." "Who may that be?" asked the stranger. "Our Most Gracious King," replied Robin. Then Richard Coeur de Leon drops his long coat and exclaims: "I am the King!" This is Robin's opportunity. He and his band acclaim the monarch, while Richard the Lion-Hearted seems to enter into the spirit of their calling. When they depart on a secret mission, attired as monks, he gives them his sanction and bids them godspeed. They are on their way to abduct the beautiful Marian. Some lively adventures follow, but they get the girl and carry her away to their forest retreat, where she is wedded to her true lover by Friar Tuck. He performs the ceremony beneath the tree on whose trunk has been fashioned a cross made of daisies. All is not over. The persecutors are still busy. The Sheriff and Guy and Merwyn with all their soldiers appear at the wedding of Maid Marian and lay violent hands upon Robin. Now does the King advance and say, "Hold, that lady is Robin's wife!" In vain Merwyn urges that Marian is his daughter and that the King shall be informed of this indignity practiced upon his family. The monarch reveals his identity and orders Robin's men to clear his forest of the intruders, Sheriff and all. They do this with no reluctance and the play is over; virtue triumphs in the person of the noble lawbreaker, while vice, typified then as now by those who make and interpret the laws, is punished as it deserves.
IMDB:tt0002465