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32 of 34 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Rollicking adventure from Disney, September 4, 2008
This review is from: Rob Roy : The Highland Rogue (DVD)
THE STORY: Rob Roy MacGregor (Richard Todd) is the leader of the MacGregor Clan of Highlanders in Scotland in 1715, and they are unhappy with the domination by the new English king, George I. Their answer is to rebel with force. Rob Roy is declared an outlaw, and must constantly avoid capture by the British. In between he has time to court Helen Mary (Glynis Johns). Helen asks Roy to surrender as she is certain he will be killed. Rob Roy even captures Inversnaid Fort. Terrific costumes and sets in this period piece, along with high adventure and swordplay. I prefer this version of the classic story, for starters it is not depressing or exceedingly violent and gory. It is very family friendly.
BEHIND THE SCENES & TRIVIA: This was the 4th in a series of live action films shot in Britain, during a period when the assets of American companies, including the Walt Disney Studio, could not be taken out of that country due to the economic devastation they suffered during the WWII. Walt's solution to this was to set up a semi-permanent movie production team in the United Kingdom from the late 1940's to 1954, who were responsible for producing live action movies including in order "Treasure Island", "The Story of Robin Hood", and the "Sword and the Rose", and "Rob Roy". Richard Todd was the lead actor in the last 3 of the films, appearing along with many other cast and crew that shared credits on all of the films. This film was the last produced by this U.K. Disney team, and Walt did not return to film there until 1960, with "Kidnapped". Roby Roy was directed by Harold French, since Ken Annakin was prevented by his contract to work on the film as planned. Screenplay by Lawrence E. Watkin, and Walt Disney studio's marketing campaign at the time stated that is was NOT based on the book by Sir Walter Scott, but other historical documents. The tagline for the movie was, "Every minute flames with furious action!" . The matte paintings for special effects were by Peter Ellenshaw, who was hired in England to work on Treasure Island and stayed on with the studio for decades, culminating in his receipt of the Academy Award ® for Special Effects for his work on Mary Poppins. The "Scottish Argyle and Sutherland Highlanders" appeared in the film on loan from the Scottish Command of the British War Office, appearing as the British soldiers in the movie. One reviewer here thought this was created as a "Wonderful World of Disney" television show two part episode. But actually it was released to theaters first, on February 4, 1954 in the US in glorious Technicolor. It had already premiered in England on October 26, 1953. Two years later it aired as a two-episode title on ABC television's "Walt Disney Presents Disneyland" on October 3 and 10, 1956. The title "Wonderful World of Disney" was not used until 1970. In the second episode Disney had to produce some filler material, so they used scenes from "The Mickey Mouse Club Newsreel" of Scottish bagpipers. There is an animated segments on persistence, using scenes cut from "So Dear to My Heart." The 85 minute movie edit of the film, not the TV edit, was first released to VHS in 1985. Neither the video or the DVD in current release includes the extras created for the television viewing in 1956.
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13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Rob Ruaidh, Outlaw or Hero?, August 17, 2010
This review is from: Rob Roy : The Highland Rogue (DVD)
My father took me to see this film when it was shown in theaters in the 1950s. A lot of the history was over my head at that time, but I was thrilled by the swordplay and adventure, because Rob Ruaidh was supposed to be one of my ancestors, according to family legend. I was extremely disappointed in the modern version of the film with Liam Neeson. They should have named that film, "Rob Roy, Lumbering Highland Oaf." The real Rob was a smaller than average man of the time, but very well put together, nimble, athletic, extremely hardy and durable. He had an education, could read and write, and spoke several languages. His wife, Mary, was his second cousin, and every bit of a match for Rob when it came to toughness. She wasn't raped, as they portray in the more recent film. Rob made the mistake of taking a loan from the Duke of Montrose, which put him into bankruptcy, and caused him to flee into the mountains around Loch Katrine, which was a notorious hide-away for "renegades". His home at Inversnaid is in the area. This was in 1712. Montrose and his henchman, Graham of Killearn, made matters worse by invading MacGregor lands and seizing Rob's property. They ransacked his houses, and turned his wife and kids out in the middle of the winter. Rob wasn't the kind of man who'd take this standing still, and he and his men began a war of attrition on Montrose and Killearn. Rob played the confidence game adroitly. Montrose's lands were easy pickings, not very defensible, and Rob figured that he and his people would dine nicely on the Duke's cattle for a good, long while. If any farmer on the Duke's land refused to pay for "protection" against cattle thieves, Rob and his band would "borrow" their cattle.
He also preyed upon the Campbells as well as Montrose. On one occasion he blackmailed Sir Colin Campbell of Aberwehill and Kilbryde. When Campbell's son, James, refused to pay, Rob waited until they were having a dinner party, rounded up the cows and threatened to take them all into the mountains. James Campbell backed down and paid through the nose. It was embarrassing as he'd shot off his mouth about standing up to MacGregor. As a consequence, Rob's part in Scotland's history is still debated. Was he a good guy or a bad guy? It depends on which side of the line you're on, I guess. Clan MacGregor had a number of nasty proscriptions enacted against it, so in MacGregor eyes, and the eyes of other warlike Clans, Rob was a hero. To the law and order types, and henchmen of the Crown, he was an outlaw. The fact that he had Jacobite sympathies didn't help, either. However, there was no climactic battle that ended in a duel and the death of Killearn. In fact, Rob once kidnapped Graham and held him for ransom on the island of Eilean Dubh in Loch Katrine. Rob eventually let him go. He might have been a cattle thief, but he wasn't a murderer. On another occasion, Rob caught Graham collecting rents and putting the money in a cupboard. With only one other man, Rob pretended he had his entire band with him, took Killearn and the cash, made him write receipts to all the tenants he'd taken the money from, and bought food and drink for all his followers while Graham was forced to watch his "hard-earned" groats vanish down the gullets of MacGregor brigands.
If I recall correctly (and memory is a fallible thing), towards the end of his career, Rob eventually ended up spending some time in Newgate prison, but was later pardoned and released. He died in bed, with Mary at his side. I seem to recall that he had five sons, four of whom died fairly young, mostly in various rebellions and fights. One survived to emigrate to Canada and continue Rob's line. Unlike the Neeson character, Rob didn't just hack and slash with a broadsword. He was ambidextrous, and could fence with a small sword or rapier (which had pretty much gone out of use in Britain at this time), or with hangers and other types of swords. He wasn't always in a kilt, trews were more practical for some things, like riding a horse, and he was a lot more clever and persuasive than the dour, simple-minded Neeson character. I've never understood the depiction of the rape in that movie. I suppose it was supposed to put the movie-goer emotionally in Rob's camp. The real grievances were too complicated to put into a 2 hour film. However, the actual injustices to he and his family, and Highlanders in general, were far more serious and unsettling than the fictional rape. All-in-all, I much prefer Disney's version. Is it sanitized and fictionalized? Yes, but I think it does more justice to Rob than the later version, portraying him as nimble of mind as he was of body, not the lumbering dullard with a simple grudge. He was a complex man.
A warning to those of you weaned on CGI and video games. This is an old-fashioned film with no car chases, androids, aliens, or Transformers. You might be disappointed. It's about historical times, places, and people. Take it for what it is and enjoy it.
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11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Fighting for Scotland's freedom, November 14, 2009
This review is from: Rob Roy : The Highland Rogue (DVD)
Based upon Sir Walter Scott's novel Rob Roy (Oxford World's Classics), this is a Wonderful World of Disney double segment focusing on the struggle of the Scottish clans against the Hanoverian Royal House of England in 1715. Rob Roy MacGregor (Richard Todd), known as "Robin" (and a sort of Robin Hood to his countrymen), is a leader of the Jacobites and the chief of his clan, a patriot who long resists the prospect of marrying his sweetheart, Helen Mary MacPherson (Glynis Johns) for fear of leaving her a widow, but is finally persuaded to follow his heart--only to have his wedding feast invaded by a force of British redcoats with the news that his clan has been excluded from the general amnesty negotiated by the Duke of Campbell (James Robertson Justice). Outraged, he takes to the heather as an outlaw to continue the fight, and his efforts earn him admiration all the way to London, where even King George I (Eric Pohlmann) and his indispensable Countess (Ina de la Haye) find the ballads of his exploits irresistible.
Though not fully faithful to either history or Sir Walter's original, this movie stands on its own merits as a tale of adventure and patriotism (as seen from several viewpoints) and includes plenty of rousing action and rugged scenery (it was filmed partly in rural Scotland). Rob Roy is a sympathetic and human character with his full share of flaws, and the supporting cast (including Johns, Justice, Pohlmann, Jean Taylor Smith as Rob Roy's mother, Michael Gough as the Duke of Montrose, and veteran Finlay Currie as Helen Mary's uncle, innkeeper Hamish MacPherson), is excellent. There's a lovely surprise twist at the end, too. This is a Disney Movie Club exclusive that will fit well into any family collection.
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