This week, we hit 1,500 likes on The Mouse Castle Facebook page. To celebrate this momentous occasion, I'm cleaning out the gift closet and giving away a bunch of Disney stuff. You could win one of these very cool prizes:
Water to Paper, Paint to Sky: The Art of Tyrus Wong by Michael Labrie, companion book to the current exhibit at the Walt Disney Family Museum plus two tickets to the museum.
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs: The Art and Creation of Walt Disney's Classic Animated Film by J. B. Kaufman, signed by Lella Smith, creative director with the Walt Disney Animation Research Library and curator of the former WDFM exhibit.
The Fairest One of All: The Making of Walt Disney's Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs by J. B. Kaufman.
The Sword in the Stone 50th Anniversary Blu-ray Combo Pack.
Robin Hood 40th Anniversary Blu-ray Combo Pack.
Disneynature's Chimpanzee Blu-ray/DVD.
Oz the Great and Powerful DVD.
Disneynature's Crimson Wing DVD.
To be entered in the drawing, all you have to do is LIKE our Facebook page at www.facebook.com/themousecastle and JOIN our event at www.facebook.com/events/180775945440694/. You must be a U.S. resident to enter. Only one entry per person, please. Winners will be announced on our Facebook page after the entry deadline. Thanks for supporting The Mouse Castle and The Mouse Castle Lounge. Good luck!
It would have been easy to choose a Pirates movie as best action film in my 30-day Disney movie project. For that matter, The Rocketeer wouldn't have been a bad choice either. But, I was feeling nostalgic, so I reached back a bit further to a time when "action film" still meant high adventure without any explosions or Bruce Willis.
I chose 1952's The Story of Robin Hood.
To help rebuild its economy after World War II, England froze the assets of foreign companies that did business there (Disney among them) to obligate them to spend their money within the nation. Unhindered by the inconvenience, Walt Disney seized the opportunity to produce a number of well-crafted, live-action films in England. The Story of Robin Hood, with its spirited action sequences and sumptuous outdoor locales, is among the best of that bunch. It's certainly miles ahead of the cartoon remake Disney churned out in 1973.
It's the familiar legend of the charming rogue Robin Hood (Richard Todd), who, with his band of merry men, steals from the rich, gives to the poor, and torments the corrupt Prince John (Hubert Gregg) and his henchman, the evil Sheriff of Nottingham (Peter Finch). Robin and his men are loyal to King Richard (Patrick Barr), who is off fighting the Crusades and is unaware of the excesses of his brother John, who is unfairly taxing his subjects to line his own pockets.
Robin Hood has the requisite amount of archery, swordplay and derring-do, and director Ken Annakin keeps the action lively and fun. Todd is less flamboyant as Robin than Errol Flynn was in the better known Hollywood classic The Adventures of Robin Hood, but he's also more rugged, presenting himself as a better suited outdoorsman. As Robin's love interest, Maid Marian (Joan Rice) is both sweet and feisty and there is great chemistry between the two.
For movie adventure, The Story of Robin Hood is an overlooked gem from the Disney Studios.
Coming up next, Walt Disney never did horror movies, or did he?
In 1952, Disney produced a rousing live action movie based on the legend of Robin Hood. You would think 22 years later, it would've informed them on how to make an entertaining animated version.
It didn't.
Hampered by a limited budget at a studio spiraling down in the years following the death of its founder, 1973's Robin Hoodmarked the low point in Disney animation.
Robin Hood and Little John, walking through the forest
On paper, it sounded pretty fun. An animated take on the residents of Nottingham and Sherwood Forest with animals playing the characters. Five of the surviving "Nine Old Men" would contribute their talents (producer/director Woolie Reitherman and directing animators Milt Kahl, Frank Thomas, Ollie Johnston and John Lounsbery). Well known Hollywood character actors would do the voices (Phil Harris, Peter Ustinov, Terry Thomas, Andy Devine and Pat Buttram, among others). Popular singer/songwriter Roger Miller would contribute a few songs (and provide the voice of the narrator, Alan-a-Dale). What could go wrong?
Plenty.
Robin Hood went so far out of its way to be family-friendly, it jettisoned most of the swashbuckling derring-do that made earlier film versions of the story so exciting. Robin Hood (Brian Bedford) and his hefty sidekick Little John (Harris, still channeling Baloo from The Jungle Book) spend a lot of time just walking, talking and playing tricks on the buffoonish (you can't really call him evil) Prince John (Ustinov). They do get in some scrapes, most notably at an archery contest set up by the prince to capture Robin, but the ensuing chase is so broadly slapstick with runaway tents and crashing elephants, there's little fear that our heroes are in any real danger. Even in the climactic scene where Robin finally confronts the lazy (you can't really call him menacing) Sheriff of Nottingham (Buttram), Robin's final plan of action is not to fight, but to run away. Oh, the sacrifices you must make to keep a G-rating.
Robin Hood's worst transgression, though, is how it blatantly recycled animation from earlier Disney films, as this often-viewed YouTube video illustrates:
Disney would redeem itself somewhat in 1977 with the release of The Rescuers, but more than a dozen years would pass after Robin Hood before the animation studio would truly begin to rise from the ashes and be a creative force again.
. You would think 22 years later, it would've informed them on how to make an entertaining animated version.
marked the low point in Disney animation.