Customer Reviews

The Adventures of Robin Hood

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

If you've sort of wished you had some examples of Richard Greene's "Robin Hood" TV shows from the 50's - but have never done anything about it - then this boxed set might be for you. Otherwise, you might find you already own several of the episodes included.

"Robin Hood" is the quintessential English adventure story - set in days when soldiers fought with swords and arrows. Each episode is introduced (explained?) by a American frontman who uses 90's language. As an Englishman, I found this highly irritating. For example, he tells us at one point that Robin strives for "a win-win situation". Yuk!

He also tells us the series was filmed actually in Sherwood Forest. Wrong! It was filmed in some woods just outside London. Still, never mind, because the shows are what really matter - and they are still highly enjoyable. Entertaining, gently educating the young viewers about life way back when.

The actors are exceptional - to an adult it is amusing to see the same people playing different roles in each episode in order to keep casting costs within tight budgets. Because the actors are so good, I was annoyed that both the opening and end credits have been stripped off the episodes. I would have much preferred them to the frontman.

The episodes are: Children of the greenwood, The miser, Too many earls, Friar Tuck, The youngest outlaw, Woman's war, The highlander, Isabella, Tables turned, An apple for the archer, The lottery, A year and a day, Goodbye Little John, The May Queen, The prisoner, Ladies of Sherwood, The Thorkill ghost, The secret pool, Bride for an outlaw, Checkmate, The frightened tailor.

Buy it! It's good.

What a treasure! I have been begging the video stores to find out if such a compilation existed. Thank you, Amazon. I'm an old fan of this show, watching it from the very beginning and loving every moment of it. After all these years, it's like a time machine to be able to see those faces and hear those voices again. As an adult, I can see nuances in plots, judge the acting and the stories in different ways than I did as a 10 year old. How I wanted to join that outlaw band. In one episode, an 11 year old girl actually did do it for a short time and Robin gave her a kiss goodnight. In my jealous green, I'd fit right into Sherwood Forest. Even though the tapes are in glorious black & white, even though the sound is, at times, difficult, even though stock footage is sometimes used, this was a class production with real castles and the right feel of Olde England in the late Eleven Hundreds when Richard was the absent king and only Robin Hood and friends could keep the kingdom from sucumbing to his evil brother John. The actors experiment with different roles. Once, even the sheriff (Alan Wheatley) played a French Count, but it was refreshing to see him stretch his acting abilities. The show was true to its times in costuming and social behavior, so very English and well constructed. Please, can anyone convince Mathathon Music & Video to do the rest of the episodes? Penina Keen Spinka <peninas@juno.com>

For fans of 1950s-era television series, it's pretty hard to top this 21 episode set from Marathon Music & Video. "The Adventures of Robin Hood" still holds up remarkably well some 45 years after it was produced and aired on television. At times, this British produced series shows its age but, overall, the vast majority of the episodes are entertaining, thanks to good writing, acting, and production values. Richard Greene is a very appealing lead as Robin, but, at times, the supporting roles are a bit confusing as different actors portrayed characters like Maid Marian and Little John during the series' run in the US, from 1955 to 1958.

As much as I enjoy this series, these tapes are not without their problems, hence my rating of four stars rather than five. Several of the tapes had muddled audio which, I suspect, were NOT due to the condition of the source material as the introductions to each episode (read by Marathon's host) are muddled as well. The introductions are really unnecessary as they are the same descriptions found on each of the individual video boxes. Also, there is only one opening title segment for each tape and not each episode (3 episodes per tape), and there are absolutely no closing credits. It would have been nice to learn who the various actors were, though Donald Pleasence can easily be spotted as the evil Prince John.

After viewing these tapes once (I will be viewing them again), my hope is that Marathon Music & Video (or some other enterprising Public Domain video company) does two things:

1. Release more episodes (with full opening and closing credits), and

2. Release existing and/or previously unreleased episodes on DVD.

In the Fall of 1955, American television audiences were treated to one of the earliest imported television series from England, "The Adventures of Robin Hood." "Robin Hood" ran for three full seasons in the U.S. on the CBS network and paved the way for other British costume adventure shows like The Buccaneers: The Complete Series and The Adventures of Sir Lancelot Volume 1, among others. In the early days of television, each season meant a production schedule of 39 episodes. An abbreviated fourth season of 26 episodes was produced and aired in England, but not broadcast in primetime in the U.S., though these episodes did turn up in later syndication runs. "Robin Hood" starred British film actor Richard Greene, who was well known to both American and British audiences.

While "The Adventures of Robin Hood" has been officially released in its entirety in the United Kingdom from a company called Network, the series has never had an official release in North America. Apparently, many or possibly all of the episodes from this series have slipped into the public domain, and the result has been numerous DVD releases from multiple releasing companies. Currently, the most comprehensive release of episodes from the series comes from Alpha Video, which has released 60 episodes spread over 15 discs. This release of "The Adventures of Robin Hood" is, at the same time, one of the very best U.S. releases of the series as well as one of the most puzzling. Puzzling, in the sense that the packaging says "Season 1" but only the first 30 episodes (of 39) from season one are included, spread across three dual layered DVDs. It just begs the question of the releasing company, the Timeless Media Group, where are the other nine episodes? On the plus side, this release contains some of the best looking episodes that I've seen to date on a U.S. release of the series. The episodes are generally clean looking with minimal films specks and damage, and contrast is good. And, unlike Timeless' previous VHS release, Adventures of Robin Hood (7pc), the full title sequence and end credits are included.

This set was one of the later DVD releases of "The Adventures of Robin Hood" in North America and, as a consequence, has been overshadowed by releases from other companies, especially Alpha Video and, as previously mentioned, all 143 episodes of "The Adventures of Robin Hood" have been officially released on DVD in the UK. If you have a multi-region DVD player and the financial resources, then I suggest that you consider importing those sets. But this is one of the very best (and overlooked) collections of episodes available in the U.S. and, given the low selling price, is highly recommended for fans of the series and those interested in 1950s style action/adventure shows. However, the question remains, where are those missing nine episodes?

An excellent collection of 21 episodes of the 1950's series Staring Richard Greene. Many of these Episodes have not been available in other settings (believe me I've looked)

Instead of the standard credits for the show at the begining the company has a general intro with the closing song over the opening credits. Each episode has an introduction by the makers of the set. I would have prefered the actual intro but its a small price to pay since I haven't seen this complete a set offered by anyone else.

Of special note are two particular episodes:

FRIAR TUCK introduces The portly cleric into the scene as he attempt to get Robin's help to aid a girl running away from a forced marriage by the lord of the estate. Alexander Gauge played the role for the duration of the series and died the year it was cancelled.

GOODBYE LITTLE JOHN is one of two episodes included in the series from the later years of the series that contained John Arnatt as the Deputy Sheriff of Nottingham he is a more cerebral villain then Alan Wheatley and frankly more sinister. Little John has a dispute with Will Scarlett as he feels his role as Robin's 2nd in command is threatened. The wiley Sheriff decides to expand the rift by offering a no-frills pardon claiming that John was unjustly made an outlaw. This is a great tense episode as John struggles with both his position and his desire for freedom.

In addition to the high quality of the series it is a great bit of history. We see the origin of the term "Hue & Cry", We learn about serfdom. For people very young some of the behavor will seem very strange but the assumptions and ways of the time are presented without modern bounce: A lord stopped from his actions due to fear of Excommunicaton, A woman joking about the beating she would get from her man if getting home late, the arbatary nature of taxes, the life of people living truely hand to mouth, the Crusades (rightly) protrayed as a just war, the absolute nature of law and rule of the time, I could go on and on but you get the idea.

Buy it.

This is a low cost 3-episode compilation from "The Adventures of Robin Hood" that was broadcast on CBS from 1955-58. As is the case with most US releases of this series, these episodes have fallen into the public domain and the prints utilized for this release are a bit ragged looking, but certainly watchable. The episodes "Isabella" and "Food for Thought" have been released on other Robin Hood TV collections, but the episode "Lincoln Green" has not been released on any other compilation of Robin Hood episodes to date, at least as of this writing. As such, this DVD would be of interest primarily to those who are collecting episodes from this entertaining series, or those who are looking for a low cost introduction to the series.

Wonderful acting and interesting plots. I loved this series as a kid, and it's just as delightful now. The lack of acting credits for each episode is unfortunate, however. I hope this oversight is corrected if Marathon Music reissues more episodes. I think I recognized Ian Bannen (Waking Ned Devine), and Paul Eddington (Good Neighbors, etc.) in at least two of the episodes, but couldn't be sure. The host introductions added by Marathon Music at the beginning of each episode were not necessary and detract from the overall production.

This series has aged very well, and is a bit of nostalgia this Anglophile baby boomer appreciates greatly. Highly recommended.

This is just what we needed, a welcome break from today's cheap, cynical, formula tv, well-written, many scenes shot outdoors, so glad these were still available!

This 7 Video, 21 episode set is appropriate for all ages. -No flippancy, graphic violence or sexual innuendo here- The series simply relies on good stories -or- as good as you could expect in a little less than half an hour. I'd highly recommend this series for both viewing and passing along!

What a wonderful step back into simpler times. I loved this as a girl, and I love it still. Amazing that after 50 years, it is still enjoyable to watch. The acting is relaxed and believable, the episodes pleasing and uplifting. I actually enjoy the original black and white and am very glad they didn't colorize this. I highly recommend this set not only for its nostalgia virtues, but for its ability to just plain entertain. Even my grandkids are enjoying it!