Actor Richard Greene, synonymous with the Robin Hood character thanks to his playing the role in the long running British television series, The Adventures Of Robin Hood, reprises his most famous character for the big screen in Hammer Studio's take on the mythos. Directed by one of the studio's greatest directors, Terrance Fisher, this film was Hammer's second attempt to bring Robin Hood to the big screen, following the Val Guest directed The Men Of Sherwood Forest from 1954 which saw Don Taylor in the lead role.

When the film begins, Robin Hood and his band of merry men come across an injured solider out in the woods. He's been hightailing it away from the evil Sheriff of Nottingham (Peter Cushing) and as it goes with Robin Hood stories, any enemy of the Sheriff's is a kindred spirit. If finding an injured solider weren't lucky enough on its own, Robin Hood also finds a lady skinny dipping in the river - Maid Marion (Sarah Branch). They bicker a bit and she takes off but you just know that she digs him despite her bickering. The next day, Robin Hood finds a note from her stuck to a tree instructing him to meet her in a house outside of the woods. When he shows up, the Sheriff is there and he offers Robin Hood some money and a pardon in exchange for the wounded soldier. Robin Hood, of course, declines as he figures there's got to be more to this than the Sheriff is willing to admit.

Soon enough, the injured man dies and Robin Hood and his pals find themselves wrapped up in a plot in which the Sheriff is hoping to buy up land around the town and sell it to his rich friends who will in turn build castles and stuff. Lead by the Earl of Newark (Richard Pasco) and his young crony Lord Melton (Oliver Reed),this plot is not only a threat to the local real estate market but also to the Archbishop of Canterbury, Hubert Walter (Jack Gwilam), who just so happens to be running jolly old England while the King is fighting in France (for reasons never explained).

Shot by director of photography Ken Hodges mostly on location in the rural countryside of Ireland, if nothing else Sword Of Sherwood Forest looks very nice. Shot in scope, the cinematography is colorful and elegant and it uses lots of lush greens to bring out the best of the local scenery. On top of that, the costumes are quite fancy and often make for a nice contrast against the various backgrounds and interiors that appear throughout the movie. Unfortunately, without an interesting script Fisher is only able to do so much. The story takes too long to really get set up, making the first half hour or so fairly plodding, and by the time it's up and running, the conclusion feels rushed. Characters aren't really developed very much and are really just caricatures more than anything else, and it's hard not to feel like we've been here and done this before.

That said, the film is entertaining enough even if it doesn't reinvent much of anything. Greene is a little too old to play the lead here and his chemistry with the fetching Ms. Branch is nil, but if nothing else he's at least charming and amusing in the part. The villains steal the show, however, with Cushing doing a fine job as the Sheriff of Nottingham and both Pasco and Reed playing up the more sinister qualities of their characters as well. Niall McGuinness is amusing enough in a supporting role as Friar Tuck, offering a bit of comic relief in his perpetually unsuccessful quest to ride his donkey and with his constant wanting of food. There are a lot of sword fights in the last half hour that are moderately amusing and there's a fair bit of action in the finale but much of the film is literally a retread. The attempts to differentiate the story from the standard Robin Hood mythos aren't fleshed out very well and suffer from some pretty massive logic gaps (wouldn't the Earl of Newark want to stop Robin Hood from escaping when he knows about his plans?). So yeah, there are flaws aplenty here to quibble over - but yet, there's still a fair bit of entertainment value to be had in spite of all of this. The film isn't a classic and it can't hold a candle to some of the better Robin Hood films that have been made over the years, but Hammer buffs and Robin Hood fans alike should be able to enjoy this one as the light eighty minutes work of disposable entertainment that it is.

Video:

Sword Of Sherwood Forest makes its North American home video debut on DVD in a 2.35.1 anamorphic widescreen transfer that, while far from perfect, isn't bad. Some shots look remarkably crisp and clear while others show a fair bit of heavy grain and mild print damage resulting in an image that is a bit inconsistent. Colors are generally reproduced well even if they do periodically lean towards the flat side and skin tones always look pretty decent. Black levels aren't quite as deep as we might have wanted them to be but they're not terrible. There aren't any problems at all with compression artifacts or edge enhancement, but a little bit more restorative work probably would have made fans happy.