Silent movies - Douglas Fairbanks in Robin Hood

I have been a fan of Robin Hood since, well, pretty much forever. My first clear memory is Richard Greene as Robin (did you start singing the tune, too?) followed for example by Errol Flynn, Kevin Costner, Cary Elwes, and Michael Praed/Jason Connery. Of course, there are many more and it looks as if Robin will be living on forever.
There was still one gap I definitely had to fill. Today I have  "Douglas Fairbanks in Robin Hood" from 1922 for you. Yes, it's time for Doug once again and the title was really copyrighted like this to avoid older Robin Hood movies trying to cash in on this movie's success.

Public domain via
Wikimedia Commons

I assume I can keep the plot description short this time and you also won't mind the usual spoilers?
Actually, it won't be that short. Not at all in fact, sorry. Because you see, it takes more than half of the movie - 73 minutes! - until we even get to meet "Robin Hood". The first half is the backstory when Robin is still known as the Earl of Huntingdon.
I'm sure his audience back then was just as surprised as me.

We start at the court of Richard the Lion-Hearted. The King has a bet with his brother John that his favorite, Huntingdon, will win the joust against John's favorite, Sir Guy of Gisbourne and of course he does. Richard announces that the Earl will be second in command on the Holy Crusade. Then he tells him to go and receive the winner's crown from the hands of the fair Marian.
And what's the Earl's reply?
"Exempt me, sire. I am afeared of women." 
That's where it gets a bit weird already.
Of course Richard doesn't care, no matter how often the Earl turns around with a pleading look.

Indeed he encourages all the women to gather round Huntingdon who sees no other way to escape than to jump into the water (the moat, I guess?). The scene is actually quite funny, but it seems a bit out of place, and there's more weirdness to come.

There's a big feast before the Richard and his men go off for the Crusade. You see couples making out in all corners of the castle - only Huntingdon is having fun "trying his strength for the goblet" with the boys, and to be honest, I don't think that comes across as, hm, let's call it manly, as intended.
Richard decides he "should try his love for a maid" instead, has him tied to a post that handily stands around in the hall and summons all the ladies saying "A castle and land to the maid who wins him". They all try their luck except Marian.
The drunk Prince John tells Gisbourne he shall also have his pick of maidens.
Gisbourne forcing himself on Marian catches the Earl's attention, and when Marian runs away and John goes after her, he follows as well and confronts the Prince. Huntingdon and Marian have found their love.

It's time to leave for the Crusade.
Huntingdon orders Little John (then still called the Squire) to guard Marian with his life.
Once the knights are gone - Gisbourne with the task to get rid of Huntingdon and Richard - John goes for it, taxes, torture (the scenes were censored in some areas), all around tyranny.
Marian tries to stand to up to the prince, then she sends Little John as a messenger to the Earl who asks Richard for permission to go home. Richard declines and Huntingdon decides to go anyway, but gets shot by Gisbourne who also lets a falcon loose on the pigeon carrying the message for Marian (how far was that poor bird supposed to fly, I wonder). Richard has Huntingdon and Little John imprisoned.

Meanwhile, John questions Marian's serving woman. Under torture, she tells him about the message, but is set free then and can thus tell her lady that the Prince intends to kill her. Marian and her servant escape by horse and feign her death.
John's tyranny continues while his brother is victorious in the Holy Land.
Huntingdon and Little John have managed to escape, however, and have come back to England where they learn about Marian's death.

"To God - to Richard - and to Her."

"Here began a new life .... - bitter - but joyous." (Huh?)
Yes, Robin Hood is born and it's about time as you will probably agree.

From there on you have all the jumping and skipping and dancing and prancing and merrymenning (I know that's not a word) you can hope for. No, seriously. I guess you just couldn't stop Doug.
And if you thought Errol Flynn invented Robin Hood's iconic stance with the hands on his hips, sorry, he didn't. (Probably Robin even did it in older films.)

We are getting into familiar Robin Hood terrain here now. Taking from the rich, giving to the poor.
He's still missing Marian, though.

Where's Richard, though?
Well, on the way home he escapes being assassinated by Gisbourne, but only because his jester, who has always liked to sit on Richard's throne, slept in his bed at the time.
Then a message reaches him about John's treachery and about Robin Hood. Richard immediately guesses it's Huntingdon and leaves for England.

Now a lot happens rather quickly.
In England, John's men have taken the gold from a nunnery. Robin and his men come to the nunnery where a nun informs Friar Tuck about Robin's real identity and points out Marian to him, and so the lovers are re-united.
Unfortunately, one of John's men witnesses that and tells the Prince. Marian is taken back to the castle and locked up.
John's men are going to Sherwood Forest to capture Robin Hood, expected by the Merry Men, while Robin goes to Nottingham to take over the town together with Will Scarlett and Allan-a-Dale. Yes, just those three.

Three men are quite enough if they know how
to motivate the people to help them, but the next
minute he'll have to go save Marian.

In the forest, an unknown (not to us, right?) knight turns up seeking Robin, "mayhap to join him - mayhap to slay him". He defeats Tuck in a stick fight and is immediately welcome (what?).
Oh, I forgot to mention that Gisbourne is back, too. He secretly takes the key to Marian's room from the Prince, but Marian threatens to jump out of the window if he touches her and she does - but Robin, who has fought his way through, sees her, climbs up the vines on the castle wall and catches her!

Then he kills Gisbourne.
They can't escape easily, though, so Robin, counting on his men, surrenders and gives Marian a dagger to kill herself if needed.
Of course, the Merry Men (and Richard) arrive in time. Huzzah! Richard throws John out of the castle.
The film ends with Robin and Marian being married and retreating to their room - and King Richard banging on the door like crazy.

Okay.
The movie is kind of weird. I have no idea why Fairbanks chose to turn the first half into a bit of a snoozefest because that's what it is honestly. I'm not saying it's a complete waste of time, but it was maybe worth 15 minutes. 20 minutes tops. I'm not the only one thinking that.
The second half, however, is classic Robin Hood, so classic in fact that it inspired later films a lot. Of course it was a great role for Fairbanks to show his acrobatic prowess although he actually hadn't even been sure at all that the story was worth making a film about.
He couldn't do all stunts himself, but it's said that it really was him climbing up the chain of the drawbridge although his brother Robert seemed to have convinced him that it was too dangerous. After rehearsal, however, the double went back to his dressing room and Fairbanks took over without anyone knowing it, thus doubling for his own double.

Even if the second half was a bit over the top with the skipping through Sherwood Forest, I really enjoyed that a lot which was good because I don't think I could have made it through more in the style of the first half.
Fairbanks's Robin was how I imagined Robin Hood, full of energy, and Alan Hale made a great and loyal Little John (a role he played three times, by the way). None of the other Merry Men got their usual stories, they were just there.

Sam de Grasse was a very believable villain as Prince John and Gisbourne was really creepy.
Have you missed the Sheriff of Nottingham, by the way? His role was so small that I wonder why they didn't leave him out completely.

King Richard. He was weird throughout the movie. Wallace Beery (whom I liked a lot better as Challenger in "The Lost World") was big. Everything about him was big, his gestures, his movements, even the way he kept eating all the time, but most of all his laugh. Richard laughed at everything and he kept tilting his head or even his whole upper body back to make the laugh so big, you could almost hear him (again I'm not the only one who thought that).
I found him so annoying, also his obsession with Huntingdon until the end. What kind of ending was that, having Richard banging on the door like an idiot? Did Richard want Robin to be with Marian or was he jealous of her in some weird way? After all, he had been the one insisting on him finding a maid to love.

Leave them alone, Richard, they got better things to do!

Let's talk about Marian (who wore the most interesting costumes, just like some of the other ladies, all those patterns!).
At the beginning, Marian isn't the typical damsel in distress. She speaks her mind very clearly when she refuses Gisbourne's advances, she speaks out against the Prince about the way he treats the people, and when threatened by death, she's smart enough to fake her own death before retreating to a safe space. Even later, she's not afraid to rather jump out of the window than to give in to Gisbourne.
Then Robin turns up and suddenly Marian is the damsel in distress, gasping and shielding her eyes. I thought that was very unfair.

The production design was, well, wow.
That huge castle made me feel immediately old because I kept wondering how you would even try to heat something like this, especially with all those open windows, and that long staircase reminded me of my youth and a similarly long staircase which I hardly managed to climb even then.
Seriously, though, it looked amazing and of course gave Fairbanks ample possibilities for stunts. I love his stunts and I love how joyful he manages to look when doing them. Doug Sr. was not as good-looking as his son, but when he laughs, I forget about that.

So did I enjoy the movie? Overall yes, I did. Could it have been better? Yes, I think it could have. A lot less backstory, a lot less of Richard exaggerating, a bit less skipping, and a bit more of the Merry Men.
Still, I can imagine watching this one again. With a bit of fast forwarding here and there 😉


Sources:

1. Allen W. Wright: Douglas Fairbanks in Robin Hood. 1922 Silent Film. On: Robin Hood - Bold Outlaw of Barnsdale and Sherwood. October 2022
2. Erik Lundegaard: Movie Review: Robin Hood (1922). On: Erik Lundegaard. February 12, 2010