The Prince of Thieves
5 /10 1 Votes
Duration Language English | 5/10 IMDb Genre Action, Adventure, Drama Country United States | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Release date January 17, 1948 (1948-01-17) (USA) Cast (Robin Hood), (Lady Marian Claire), (Lady Christabel), (The Friar) Similar movies Related Howard Bretherton movies | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
The Prince of Thieves is a 1948 film nominally inspired by Alexandre Dumas' 1872 novel Le Prince des voleurs. Produced by Sam Katzman for Columbia Pictures and starring Jon Hall as Robin Hood with stuntwork by Jock Mahoney, the film was shot in the Cinecolor process that features an inability to reproduce the colour green. Sequences were shot reusing several of the sets of Columbia's The Bandit of Sherwood Forest and at Corriganville. Patricia Morison and Adele Jergens co-star.
Contents
Plot
After fighting in the Crusades alongside King Richard I of England, Sir Allan Claire is returning home to marry his betrothed Lady Christable. Accompanied by his sister Lady Marian Claire, the two are intercepted by Robin Hood and his band of Merrie Men. Recognising a friend of King Richard, Robin informs them that Lady Christabel is to be married to another against her will in the interest of politics and her father's fortune. The three team up to rescue the fair lady.
Cast
Production
Alexander Dumas' 1872 novel was based on a 1836 romance by Pierce Egan.
The idea for making the film came from Charles Schneer who worked for producer Sam Katzman. Katzman enjoyed making films from books in the public domain and Schneer discovered the title listed among the works of Alexander Dumas. Schneer's original intent was to write an original scenario just using the title, but once he had the work translated into English, Katzman wanted an adaptation of the book.
At this stage in his career, Katzman specialised in shooting musicals for Columbia over nine days with a budget of $140,000. He was so enthused by this project however he arranged to secure a budget of $400,000, including $100,000 for cast, and colour photography.
George Plympton was reported as working on the script in January 1947. Jon Hall's casting was announced in March.
The censor objected to depictions of Friar Tuck being interested in worldly pleasures and the character had to be toned down.