Arqueiro Misterioso - O Filho de Robin Hood

And neither is the beginning or the middle as the story of Robin Hood gets the AT SWORDS' POINT treatment, with a bunch of little-known actors -- except for George Couloris, David Farrar and Marius Goring -- under the direction of George Sherman, who spent most of his career, properly, directing B westerns.

June Laverick, a pretty young blonde, plays the daughter of Robin Hood, who spends most of her time hiding behind David 'Al' Hedison, who pretends to be her -- him -- that is, Robin Hood's son, leading Robin's old and graying Merry Men. The whole thing is directed with little of the silliness that attended AT SWORDS' POINT, but the whole thing is handsomely shot in wide screen. Unhappily, the prints were definitely not Technicolor, but have aged poorly, casting a gloomy and pink sheen over the entire proceedings. The score is also a nice variation on Korngold's score for the Errol Flynn version. You can skip this one.

SON OF ROBIN HOOD is a cheapjack addition to the Robin Hood franchise which, despite plentiful action sequences, is largely a somewhat laughable viewing experience and more often than not a bore. The film is set some twenty years after the Robin Hood story and sees David Hedison adopting the moniker of the son of Robin Hood, even though he's actually not; Hood's offspring was a daughter, not a son.

Confused yet? It doesn't really matter. There's a girl to romance, some hijinks to be had in Sherwood Forest, and a Sheriff of Nottingham-alike and his men to fight and pierce with arrows. This film looks and feels very cheap with cardboard walls, painted backgrounds, and a general fake feel. I was surprised to see that it was made in England as it has more of a stylised, fantasy Hollywood feel and is no patch on the similar, more grounded efforts that Hammer put out around the same time such as THE SWORD OF SHERWOOD FOREST.

Hedison never really convinces as an outlaw hero and it's fair to say that the majority of the cast members simply go through the motions. The only one I really liked was George Woodbridge, who makes a decent stab at the character of Little John. Marius Goring and George Coulouris show up in support too. The direction is very poor with plenty of continuity errors and the like which constantly distract the viewer, although the climactic sword fight isn't bad in a "let's rip off THE ADVENTURES OF ROBIN HOOD" type way.

Absolutely, ridiculous tale of Robin Hood's alleged son who is really a girl....don't get too confused.....it confused me at first....tale concerns Robin Hood's offspring who was expected to be a man, who comes back to England to fight, not the Sheriff of Nottingham, but a bird named "DeRoche"......Al Hedison inherits the role of Robin Hood's son as it appears RH did not have a true son.....ridiculous acting, poorly staged action battles and acting worse than "Plan Nine from Outer Space".....in one instance a group of Deroche's men try to corner the men of Sherwood and Robin Hood's daughter shoots an arrow in a man in a tree who was a spotter for DeRoche.....man falls out of tree and no where are the 25 men of DeRoche after the shooting!!!! Cardboard castle walls among the other ditties....want more - son of Robin Hood gets invited to DeRoche's castle and soon starts bedding DaRoche's girlfriend!!!! Whew!!! No recognizable actors of any renown.....Robin Hood's men (25 years older!!!!) wipe out the bad guys along with Hedison......this total production by 1959 standards could not have cost more than $100,000 to make.....where was Peter Cushing in this film???? Go figure.......

This lovely little Saturday full-length feature was filmed during the heyday of Robin Hood spin-offs, and it was apparent that the producers and directors spared almost every expense to maximize what little profit their copy-cat production was likely to make. The acting was wooden and artificial, the stunts (fights, etc.) appeared as though the actors had only received their choreo the day before filming. The casting was obscure, with only David Hedison (who has no command of the English accent whatsoever) and George Coulouris being the only familiar names in the cast. It was difficult to identify the direction, too. Other than those items, the film was a bit like a train wreck -- difficult to tear one's eyes away from. It's very unfortunate that the cast and the director played the entire film straight and took themselves seriously. This could have been a delightful comedy had there been the knowing look, the wink, the nudge, the glance toward the 4th wall from time to time to keep the audience engaged. I rated this one 4 stars b/c of the train-wreck nature of the film ... I just couldn't look away for fear I'd miss something positive.

Robin Hood is dead but his merry men need a new hero to take on the baton and save England.

This is a nonsensical but nevertheless at times mildly entertaining adventure. It looks low budget and the script is average to say the least. On the plus side the acting is passable and to be honest the cast at least look like they are enjoying themselves. David Hedison makes for a good looking hero as he takes on the mantle of Robin Hoods son.

The fight scenes are a bit clumsy and it all becomes a bit repetitive but it just about manages to hold your attention till the predictable end. This is a film that doesn't take itself seriously which is just as well.

The Son of Robin Hood is a very average adventure but a good natured one. This is a watchable film but you'll forgot it ten minutes after seeing it.