Cornel Wilde hit it big in a drama A Song to Remember but his next few films indicates his employers thought "yes, well, he was in a drama but he can't really act so why push our luck - let's put him in swashbucklers".
Here he plays the son of Robin Hood and although there's nothing wrong with his fencing his performance is extremely wooden - he got better at the feisty flirting and hearty back-slapping stuff, but here it's pretty dire and drags down the film. Perhaps this is why his appearance is delayed.
There are some good things here - the colour, the ever-reliable Henry Daniell as the villain, the concept of having Daniell starve Wilde before a duel to ensure he'll win - but far too many dud moments - the love interest is bland, its uncomfortable when Robin Jnr meets her and he basically sexually assaults her (forcing himself on her for a kiss - when he later finds out she's royalty he apologises... so its only OK to molest the lower orders?); there's a clunky climax while Robin and his merry men and the baddy's henchmen just sit around and watch while Wilde duels Daniell; Wilde isn't allowed any new friends, he has to deal with old Little John, Friar Tuck, etc so there's no real camaraderie between him and the Merrie Men, he's just a son taking over dad's business, including dad's old hack support gang (which might have provided rich fodder for dramatic conflict but isn't exploited at all here); the young Henry III is a big wimp, not someone worth fighting for, and you'll laugh at his prince valiant haircut and habit of bursting into tears.
No comments:
Post a Comment