"Robin Hood should be made lavishly or not at all…” Douglas Fairbanks
Robin is in the heart of Prince John’s castle, he’s up
against dozens of soldiers in a huge fortress with impenetrable walls, chased
up stairways and surrounded on all sides by the solid steel: the cold-stone
certainty of death. The situation looks hopeless and yet he’s laughing,
bouncing towards danger and improvising joyful escape… this, I should imagine,
is pretty much how Neil Brand felt when composing his new score.
You are almost floating on a cloud of sound in the
intense confines of Saffron Hall, as purpose-built acoustics allow the
full-force of the BBC Symphony Orchestra to blast forth. I’ve seen many loud
rock gigs but this is the most elegant noise: precision volume… you are aware of all the players with Timothy
Brock pulling forth the different sections like Thor controlling the weather.
Blasts from the brass and agitation from the strings, lightened by the woodwind
and relieved by percussion. Waves of sonic satisfaction with music that fills
the huge spaces of Fairbanks and Allan Dwan’s film whilst moving in perfect
sympathy with Robin and Marion’s romance, Prince John’s evil schemes, King
Richard’s noble course, the merry men… and, don’t worry Sir Guy of Gisbourne,
Mr Brand has your back…
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| Douglas Fairbanks or is it Neil Brand? |
Robin Hood is a mighty film, from the unsurpassed
dynamism of its producer, writer and lead to sets designed to induce shock and
awe. Mr Brand’s lionhearted score matches the action and emotion step for
pirouetting step. It is a powerful work and full of joy – a celebration, not
just of this film but of the art of scoring itself; a sequel of sorts to Neil’s
series on the subject.
I’d previously seen Robin Hood at London’s Cadogan Hall
with John Scott conducting the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra playing his own
score. That was a special evening but I have to say that the epic played better
in Essex, lifting the spirits with all the agility of Fairbanks himself.
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| Big cast and even bigger set |
It’s hard to believe that Dwan had to work hard on his
star to make the film; he just didn’t see Robin as cinematic enough but, after
interesting Doug in archery, the idea of incorporating Richard’s crusades
hooked him in. “The robust, heroic figure
of Richard… stirred me at once. The period contained every dramatic element: a
strong religious impulse, a kingdom undermined by treachery… fair maidens won
by valour… all the colour of the adventurous Middle Ages…” purred Fairbanks
(according to Robert E. Sherwood in The
Best Moving Pictures of 1922-23).
It’s not my period, but this is, of course, the Twelfth Century as viewed
through Hollywood’s rose-tinted time-telescope.
The film’s centrepiece was Richard’s massive castle, the
largest physical set of the silent era even bigger than Intolerance’s Babylon. Fairbank’s biographer Tracey Goessel reports
that one million feet of lumber were used along with thirty tons of nails and
twenty thousand yards of “heavy velvets”.
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| Our baddies: Guy and John |
The story goes, as told by Dwan to Brownlow in The Parade…, that Fairbanks, doubting
even he could fill these gigantic spaces, considered cancelling the project
upon seeing the almost completed set. This seems unlikely given Fairbanks’
intentions for the film and his reported reaction to first the set from French
director Robert Florey: Doug had already worked out the new stunts he was going
to perform against this backdrop he knew it would make his movement all the
more dramatic.
As The Film Daily critic wrote, “Douglas Fairbanks in
Robin Hood out-spectacles all that we have seen before on the screen...” and
it is precisely his juxtaposition of relentless kinetics against overwhelming
scale that makes this proto-blockbuster complete. Well, that and the thousands
of extras – in knitted hemp “chainmail” – on horseback or in Lincoln Green.
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| And the part of Wallace Beery is played by Richard I... |
There is also the monumental presence of Wallace Beery as
King Richard who plays a far greater part in this tale than later versions.
Beery’s energy magnifies Fairbank’s own and the two dominate from the opening
pageantry onwards.
The film features a good hour of set-up before the
first arrow is set loose from Robin’s bow. At this point, the future outlaw is
the noble Earl of Huntingdon, right-hand man to the King and therefore the man
in the way for the wicked King John (Sam De Grasse on top form, with evil beard
and unforgiving fringe) and his henchman Sir Guy of Gisbourne (Paul Dickey).
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| Robin and Marian |
Huntington’s a fighter not a lover but soon changes his
mind when he encounters Lady Marian Fitzwalter (Enid Bennett) who is also
attracting the attention of the dark Prince and his loathsome pal, Guy. It
feels like the film is deliberately marking time before the fireworks start but
the score brings out the most form this sequence with some splendid romantic
lines as Robin and Marian fall in love.
Richard and Huntington head off for the Holy Land leaving
a Squire (Alan Hale) to look after Marian but the country at large is
completely at the mercy of Prince John and the bodies are soon hanging from the
battlements, maidens are being whipped and peasants tortured as The High
Sheriff of Nottingham (William Lowery) enforces his master’s presidential
orders…
It’s only a matter of time before Robin makes his return
and the real story can begin but first he must overcome the connivances of
Gisbourne…
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| The Merry Men |
A year passes and the fun begins with Friar Tuck (Willard
Louis), Will Scarlet (Bud Geary), Alan-a-Dale (Lloyd Talman) and Little John
(Mr Hale) all in place: the men make merry and conduct a resistance in King
Richard’s name, robbing from the rich and giving to the poor…
In many ways, Robin
Hood is a superhero film; an individual changing the course of events through
physical prowess and mental strength. Its appeal is universal and enduring not
because of historical truth but because we all need to believe that good will eventually
triumph in the end.
Tonight its glorious monochrome was amplified by a
super-powered score to renew our faith in heroes once again.
Robin Hood is
available on DVD from Kino but this score deserves a release on its own. Here’s
hoping…
.JPG)
