"Miss Robin Hood" has some promising ideas, a delightful start with its trick on the audience and introduces us to some delightful, interesting characters. At times it is quite inventively directed too with weird lighting, menacing close-ups and odd angles being used very imaginatively for comic effect. Such sequences as the arrival of the Macalister with its waiting bowler-hatted entourage and their peculiar gait effected by using a sort of slow-motion technique are quite memorable and stand well out from the rut of British "B"-picture film-making.
Other credits are as clever as the direction — the music score with its deft bird motif, the art direction so brilliantly evocative of the scenes and mood of the characters in them. We can imagine the typical publishing tycoon sitting in just such an office as is presented here while the editor of one of his smaller publications slaves away in a dreary cubbyhole. Miss Honey's residence perfectly complements her character and the Macalister's brewery is just what we would expect. We love Miss Rutherford's Robin Hood costume. The casting is well-nigh perfect. Not only are the principals judiciously cast, but as usual in British films even the smallest support role is filled to a "T". We can spot Miss Rutherford's husband Stringer Davis briefly among the executives, the delightful Peter Jones gives us another of his inimitable cameos of self-deceit, and Kenneth Connor is one of Jones' confidants. Justice as the blackly painted Macalister and Sid James as a hypochondriac cabbie also stand out, giving memorably "different from their usual" portrayals. There is a slight bit of romantic interest involving Gayson and Medwin but it doesn't amount to much and most of it could well be cut. In fact the whole film would be immensely improved by the deft trimming of around 15 minutes. By British "B" standards production values are lavish.
Incidentally, one could write a good book about movies that failed to impress distributors and/or were refused a circuit release for some reason. In this case, British Empire Films turned the movie down because it was "too sophisticated – a satire that would delight the critics, gain a spread of really enthusiastic reviews but turn off most audiences, both carriage trade and general." Well, I, for one, enjoy satire, no matter how sophisticated. I award top marks to director John Guillermin for a constant display of highly imaginative direction, rare in British comedy. Guillermin pulls out all stops, using bizarre camera angles, noirish lighting and odd effects to reinforce the crazy fun of this wonderfully eccentric story, crammed with such amusingly Dickensian caricatures as Margaret Rutherford's Hood-costumed bird-woman, Sidney James' scarf-knitting cabbie, Peter Jones' smarmy "We like it!" and James R. Justice's gloriously sneaky Macalister. Keen picturegoers will spot Rutherford's real-life husband, Stringer Davis, as a board member with one line of quick dialogue ("He really can write!"), plus Carry On fixture Kenneth Connor as another director who also shares his one line (something about banning the cover in Ireland) with Jones. Technical credits including Arthur Grant's superb cinematography, Manuel del Campo's creative film editing and Temple Abady's sprightly score, are all most definitely A-1.
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