Genre – Crime
Movie Total Runtime – 59 Hours 05 Minutes
Spoilers – No
What in the actual…?
So, I thought I was buying a more recent BBC production which I had already seen. Turns out I bought a black and white 1950s American production.
One Hundred and Forty-Three Episodes.
Fifty-Nine Hours.
I am not watching the whole thing for the sake of this review. There is simply too much material for any sane attempt.
Instead, I will watch enough episodes to give an honest assessment of what I’ve seen.
I am saying this up front to be honest with you, and because it’s the only workable compromise between skipping it and blitzing the series like a madman.
First the video encoding is inconsistent from episode to episode. Some are too dark for easy viewing, some have severe quality issues. Some are quite sharp. The costuming looks “Good enough for the budget” since I get the impression this was not burning stacks of cash. We get chain knit sweaters for chainmail. The plot starts with the now standard “Robin returns from Crusade to find England a mess”. I don’t know when this was adopted into the folklore, but it’s newer than the stories overall. It is, however, now the orthodox form.
Roger De Lille has taken over the manor. From my layman’s knowledge of the tales, the name does not ring a bell. He’s supposedly a Norman. Since England still held Normandy at this time, I’m going to say he didn’t come over during William the Bastard’s invasion but was a more recent arrival. After all, “Robin” isn’t a Saxon name. It arrived with the Normans. But this pattern of Norman-Saxon strife continues into the first episode. It is centuries after the invasion, and England is running out of French holdings.
The handing of Locksley Manor over to Roger De Lille makes more sense than the other renditions where the hall is slighted and left in ruins. You get the advantage of continuity of government and economic activity rather than disrupting the order of things. Better to reward a loyal servant than let it fall to waste.
Our first swordfight between Robin and De Lille’s men is… of questionable choreography. But this is a made for TV adaptation from the 1950s. After the waggling of blades, Robin still hopes for redress from the Sheriff of Nottingham, but happens on to the game wardens capturing a poacher. The punishment for poaching is quite severe. As a deviation from more modern ‘stupid evil’ goons, the wardens disagree with the punishment, but are prepared to carry out their duty until Robin threatens them off. During the dialog, they indicate that Prince John is the person to talk to regarding redress of punishments in the royal forest. I am guessing this means Richard is either still fighting Saladin, or on his way to being captured by Ze Germans. Since Robin is returning from the Crusade, the Saladin Tithe has already been collected. So the next tax to be collected would be to ransom Richard back from Ze Germans. I wonder if they’ll mention that or make the taxation an ongoing matter.
One thing a lot of the historical-focused adaptations overlook is the nature of medieval taxation in England. By and large, the crown ran on revenue from its own estates – rents from vassals and tenant farmers. These are fixed rates and usually covers the expenses of the country. Tax collectors were only mustered when extraordinary one-off levies were required such as the aforementioned Saladin Tithe and to cover Richard’s Ransom from Ze Germans. Prince John, later King John, was the poor bastard left behind in England covering Richard’s expensive hobbies of Fighting the French, going Crusading, Fighting the French, getting captured by Ze Germans, and Fighting the French. When it came John’s turn to deal with the French, revenues had become so strained and the continental situation so dire that he lost all but Calais and was forced at sword point to sign the Magna Carta to reign in the collection of new taxes from the nobility.
It was John’s association with the raising of these revenues to cover Richard’s hobbies which inevitably got him tied up with the events of the Robin Hood folklore and thus got Robin the crusader stamp. The poacher tells Robin about the outlaws of Sherwood, and they part ways. The line to see the Sheriff is quite long, and Robin is unable to barge to the front. He’s finally admitted after De Lille has arrived and been able to chat up the Sheriff.
I appreciate that the Monks in the show are depicted as tonsured. It’s a stupid haircut, but it is the one they had by rule. While they didn’t have the money to bring the setting to the screen fully, and it shows in the small sets, it’s clear that they tried. They made the attempt to make it look correct.
For interfering in the King’s Justice with the game wardens, the Sheriff sentences Robin to imprisonment and the forfeiture of his estates, neatly removing the conflict in a legal sense. And Robin is guilty of all those crimes. The show doesn’t belabor the point, expecting people to grasp the difference between legal and right. Robin does present a writ from the King which makes the Sheriff take a different track. He recognizes the legal rights to get Robin to leave, then sends De Lille and Count I forget his name to make sure an accident befalls Robin. The Ambush fails, getting De Lille shot instead. He dies. Robin ends up fleeing. The outlaws also fail in ambushing Robin. Episode one wraps up with the poacher convincing Will to accept him into the band.
I notice that the arrows have a tendency to have target points when nocked and switch to broadheads on impact. Going into the second episode I’m still trying to determine if the show is episodic or serialized. Episode two has Will still as the leader of the outlaws, and Robin just starting to earn his keep. I will refrain from harping too much on the idea of peasants borrowing 2-3 Marks at this point in history. A Mark is 2/3 of a Pound. A Pound Sterling was everything a swineherd would earn in a year and then some at the time.
In an ambush by the Sheriff’s men, Will gets hit, though the bowfight choreography is no better than the swordfights. Robin gets him aid from the swineherd to whom they returned two marks taken by usury earlier. Will still dies, making me second guess whether he was meant to be Scarlet or another Will. Anyway, leadership of the outlaws gets passed to Robin.
In the third episode I finally realized that the minstrel’s song at the opening was not a theme tune, but that he was actually singing about the episode. This one mentioned Little John, who makes his first appearance in this episode. As does Marian, who as yet has not met the outlaws. Annoyingly there is another monetary mistake, which I could not let go unmentioned. The bounty on Robin was one thousand Guineas. The Guinea was introduced in 1663. The name was not applied to any coin nor quantity of regular money until after it existed. Not adjusting for inflation regarding the swineherd’s finances is one thing, but this is another entirely. However, as my biggest complaints have been regarding minutiae of monetary measures, this means the show itself is fairly well put together. It follows the folklore faithfully for the most part, having no interest in reinterpretation. The fight scenes are another weakness, but tolerable enough.
In all, it appears to be a serviceable, if not overly remarkable show.
Well, I might have been wrong about this being an American production.
Regardless, it’s from the 50s.
One of my favorite lines I wrote regarding history is in this article – I wonder who’s going to figure out which one it is.
It’s not as funny as I intended, but maybe I read it too many times.
I haven’t been able to deduce to what line you’re referring, but as a turn of phrase, I like “waggling of blades” to refer to the – shall we say – unconvincing swordplay.
A wild guess:
“waggling of blades” was indeed a reference to unconvincing swordplay choreography – but is not the line I was talking about.
I’m afraid your wild guess missed.
“Prince John, later King John, was the poor bastard left behind in England covering Richard’s expensive hobbies of Fighting the French, going Crusading, Fighting the French, getting captured by Ze Germans, and Fighting the French.”
*shoots! Ball… patiently pauses in flight*
Okay Evan how did you do it – how is the ball suspended in mid-air?
Actually, yes, you guessed correctly.
History is one of those pursuits I always told myself I would dedicate more time to after all the other pursuits I dedicate my time to. 🫤
*SWISH, backboard shatters, net disintegrates to ash, explosion wave radiates in powerful proportion to 2hr suspenseful pause the ball waited through in mid-air*
How? Well, I used my gravitational authority, politely awaiting your confirmation before I released the ball from my grasp. As for the guess, it seemed to be a phrase you talked yourself into keeping. Like one of those “little babies” Vonnegut advises folk to cut, one you’d maybe thought was too clever /cute for its own good. However, it served its purpose very well. Got a chuckle from me.
@Ev – I don’t do nearly as much editing of these articles as that would imply. I write them on the fly and maybe do one or two proofreading passes for eggregious typos. Sometimes, not even that much.
Eggceptional, UCS.
Rhy – comments get even less proffreading.
I spel like a public school victim.
I resemble that statement UCS.
I am a government school victim.
I remember this show (I think).
Black and white old teevee show.
When I saw the title I was expecting Errol Flynn.
Flynn’s Robin Hood was 1938.
Relevant. From the classic “Rabbit Hood”.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=20oc4ZNv-M0
…and Tres comes through.
might have been wrong about this being an American production.
I’m pretty sure the one I’m thinking of was English.
British. The commercials attached to the opening credits threw me, but it was ITV, which is why it has commercial sponsors.
And, like a lot of ITV shows, conceived with a view of getting it on TV in America.
Lew Grade was a pretty bright businessman.
“Please welcome to the show, Low-grade lewd Lew Grade!”
What a fucking spectacular name for a showman. (Originally, a dancer.)
So John unfairly got the bad rap for all the taxes that were really Richard’s fault? Of course, that’s not to say that John may not have deserved his largely negative historical legacy for a host of other reasons, but that one seems rather unfair, what? [Disclaimer: my impressions of these monarchs may have been skewed by early exposure to The Lion in Winter, which may have played a little fast and loose with these characters.]
John, being the guy still in England during Richard’s reign caught the bad PR during the Lionheart’s tenrue. Then he was unable to right the spiral they had gotten in to with the French wars. He wasn’t a great king, and did earn some of the bad reputation of his own merits, on balance I think history treats him harsher than he earned. His problems just kept getting worse when he had to keep dealing with the French with no money in the treasury. Then when the alled the Barons to arms to retake Normandy they went, “No.” and he lost the battle.
*Tenure.
Lion in Winter is absolutely in my Top 10. So much fun, so well acted, and just the snipey snideness of O’Toole and K Hepburn alone is wonderful to watch.
“You counted the days?!”
“I made the numbers up.”
You may like this: O’Toole and Richard Harris recount their drinking stories.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VUGpaKKALvw&t=805s
My first exposure to TLIW was actually a live production performed by players in the late great Trotwood (OH) Circle Theatre (the original one, when it was still in Trotwood) including actors from whom I was getting some training in theater/acting via a long ago Federally funded program for high school students.
@Tres: I miss when folk just smoked on stage and no one cared cuz it wasn’t important.
@GT: Very cool. Shocked you admitted your youthful involvement in federally funded propaganda for the arts.
*scribbles*
You take your breaks where you can get them when you’re a kid. My family sure as hell couldn’t have afforded anything comparable in the private sector at that point (probably not at any point when I was growing up. When I was a little squirt, I once got yelled at by my mom for coming home after a school trip to the ballet and announcing that I wanted to be a ballerina.)
GT, I was going to be a major league baseball player, as soon as I got a mitt.
Still haven’t got the mitt so there’s still hope.
I’ve been making the mistake of looking at PCCs…
I keep looking at them myself. But I always mange to remind myself, do I really want to spend the better part of two grand to be able to shoot steel plates at close range?
I assumed everyone was looking at suppressed Five-seveNs today…
I’d rather look at Seven of Nine.
That dude is a living breathing demonstration that it is better to be lucky than good.
I’m looking forward to the knowledgeable analysis of that when things settle down.
As a non gun guy, just the physical logistics of EDC a suppressed pistol seems wild.
I don’t understand the suppressed 57 reference
Shooting at an In-n-Out (an AR, apparently).
Bystander who apparently EDCs a suppressed Five-seveN responded, to unclear effect.
https://nitter.net/ScopeReport_/status/2083673501383139762
If the internet sleuths are correct, good guy has put in training time as well as luck.
That’s a “welcome to Idaho moment” Slum.
🤔
My Welcome to Idaho was a nice tour of a knife factory.
I bought a Vector because I thought it looked cool.
Looks like it’s this guy.
https://m.youtube.com/@PovertyOperator/videos?ra=m
You do you.
Another great Stern soundbite from Grandpa Muster:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wltvb1K1chY
And likely the funniest thing I ever heard on Stern:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HSC2UrQskQY
Banshee in 10mm…
🤤
I know! But 10mm vs 9mm for high round count shooting… still would like a 10mm for a woods gun.
Meanwhile Beretta has rebates, including 1301, PX4 compact carry, and Cheetah. And the APX carry is darn cheap. Swung by the gun counter at the local farm store yesterday and had a 442 for a decent price. S&W has rebates too…
Springfield Kuna
Beretta PMXS
Sig MPX
Definitely the Kuna, out of those three. The MPX has a reputation for poor reliability among the PCC practical shooting crowd, and the PMXs is a Tec-9 with pretensions.
My plan kinda went perfectly. Lovely Sat with family. Drive home today with the Yanks /Cubs game on the ‘radio.’ Worked it out and figured I could be back for the end of the game if everything went accordingly. A pretty big delay between Peru and Mexico cuz a big accident. But, allowing for delays and pit-stops, I still arrived in time for the bottom of the 8th! The youthful ursines didn’t abide.
Place to myself the next couple days. Even Peabody’s at the kennel, so no outside responsibilities. Very rare, this. Huh.
An extended edition of Slutty Sunday After Dark.
https://archive.is/d8xHz
NSFW.
“The Mamdani administration re-upped a $1.86 billion contract that will see hotels across the five boroughs provide emergency space for the homeless. The three-year- contract with the Hotel Association of New York City Foundation, which represents nearly 300 hotels, runs from July 1 of this year through June 30, 2029.
“Over the last 15 years, [the Department of Homeless Services] has faced numerous crises that forced it to rely on commercial hotels to temporarily house clients,” a DHS spokesperson said.”
How the fuck is this a good idea? I’ll be homeless to live in a NYC hotel for free. I can stay for-, like, -ever, yeah? That’s a huge step-up for most people. Why the fuck would you encourage the thing you’re ‘trying to get rid of?’ It seems Mumdaddy’s goal to ‘actively destroy NYC’ is blatant enough for voters to begin questioning why they supported him.
They won’t because they *can’t.* It would mean admitting they fell for a false prophet, investing their faith in bullshit.
Sorry, rhy.
Homeless also have this nasty tendency to trash wnatever space they get warehoused in. These places must be charging out the nose to put up with that shit.
I saw the figure one time when this program started some years ago – it was much higher than market hotel room rental rates because of course.
I worked a bunch of hotels in college and for years after – I cannot for the life of me imagine putting up with that shit. And I worked some shitty crime-ridden fleabags.
Because the homeless – especially illegal aliens – are more valuable to Dem politicians than chumps who work and support themselves. And no, voters will not reject it unless and until conditions become much, much worse (see: the 1970s through early 1990s).
I am neither a NYC resident nor in three weeks a NYS resident. But the same anti-American bullshit rules in all blue cities and states now and don’t think it isn’t coming to the “safe” city or state of your choice too.
That was a rhetorical, facetious cry from the balcony, to this audience, a throng in on the joke.
I’m not far from Chicago, but Indiana’s not doing too bad. We’ve got our own stockpile of arms, let alone supplying the rest of the nation with their militant weaponry, and we’re at least a fiscally sane state. I don’t hear about a whole lot of bullshit coming from us, and compared to many/most other states, that’s pretty high praise.
Mike Pence came up during a family meal for some reason. Mom hates him but was careful to point out he “did one good thing!” in office, which was, uh? Having the electoral votes certified in ’21? Whatever. I wisely abstained from such talk.
The DSA is one or two elections away from ending that.
*flaps fingers in rhy’s face* Oh, stop it! Negative nancies everywhere! Constantly reminding us with the reality that things can, and likely will!, get worse soon! I’m aware you’re correct, but plenty elsewhere is worse.
There’s wisdom in being the younger sibling of far more incorrigible (and bigger) states. (Merely being playful now, not realistic.) Keep your nose low, stable enough for the serfs, let the big battles occur elsewhere. Yes, we’ll burn as fires spread, but they (likely!) won’t start in my backyard.
Mentioned before, it’s one of the reasons I don’t wear any clothing with words or pictures on ’em. Often, I find it far better to casually blend in, rather than pointedly stand out.
I do not understand these sovereign citizens who act as if magic words will get the cops or the judge to sudden go “you know what, you are free to go.”
I’m not asking them to have an understanding of the actual law, I’m wondeirng why they think armed men accustomed to being obeyed would suddenly kowtow to someone saying some magic words rather than breaking out the baton and cracking some skulls. I’m impressed that fewer skulls get cracked than I expect during these interactions. Applyiung force to gain compliance is literally their job in the case of the cops and court baliff. The judge takes an even dimmer view of deviation from standard procedure or the application of magic words legal defenses. You were dragged into the courtroom in cuffs, you are under their jurisdiction.
The oddness of seeing a chorus of Japanese faces singing Carmina Burana. I swear, this tickles me pink.
That said, the Ozawa performance with the Berlin Philharmonic isn’t the best one I’ve ever heard. That would be this one
Ode to Joy: 10,000 Japanese sing Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony
“The Japanese have always worshipped German culture.”
Jugsy and I were driving up a street this afternoon and passed an LDS Church as it was letting out (Its complicated). She saw a black couple in a car pulling out and said, “why are black people leaving this late from church?” I said they’re Mormons. She actually said, “they let black people be Mormon?”
I said, “why not?”. She replied, “I dunno. Its weird. I don’t know- arent they all baptists?”
“Mormons?”
“Huh?”
“You said “Aren’t Mormons all Baptist?
“NO! I said Blacks ar…stop doing this to me! I never said that!”
——silence———
That’s funny.
And they were supposed to turn white.
Why Lego, why?
Next thing they’ll do is a Rush tribute set at this rate.
https://www.lego.com/en-us/product/gustav-klimt-the-kiss-31221?module=HERO-section=BUTTON&cmp=emc-c=PROMO-eid=216686-d=8/2/2026-n=20260802_Q3_PROJECT_GOLD_REVEAL_EA_EM-sid=45326599-jid=1127277-s=NEWS-t=INSIDER-a=ACTIVE-tst=&j=1127277&sfmc_sub=45326599&l=259_HTML&u=33885319&mid=510004361&jb=29044
https://ideas.lego.com/product-ideas/16dc2d5e-4ff2-4474-928a-4b9e281676c9
Why?
(I thought that was Spinal Tap.)
On some planets, Geddy Lee’s voice is weaponized as a sonic cannon.
56 supporters.
Actual number of Rush fans on the planet.
That company is literally a money-printing operation.
something something sucker born something
I may have contributed far too much to Danish taxes in the last thirty years.
I credit Lego and Carl Banks for a large part of who I am and how I think.
I like some of the LEGO™️ video games but I haven’t touched a real-life brick in 40+ years.
Some of the games are fun.
While being terribly frustrating at the same time.
Rush is a fantastic flick. Great, interesting characters and F1 era. Ron Howard makes good’uns.
With the cars, easy to merchandise. You so negative, too.
I am POSITIVELY negative.
Less grumbly than UCS.
An absolute delight in person, I promise.
I am quiet in person, I do my complaining here.
Let the anger flow.
I do too much complaining here. You guys are my social media now that I’m perma banned from the two big platforms. I’m still a little salty over that.
Me too.
Rush is a great flick
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3poimzNM5SY
Here’s the set I want: https://ibb.co/XZ4YwbRT
Happy rainy Monday.
*waves tiny USA flag*
🇺🇸☔️😒
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xVt4akMZD6Y
🎶🎶
Good morning!
How do you know what kind of god damn morning it is?
You’re pissed and not a First; therefore it’s a good morning.
Good morning, Sean, Ted’S., and Bro!
Morning, GT.
Good morning, U. How are you today?
heavier
😣
I’m sorry. 😟 I’m having trouble losing weight myself. I haven’t been to the rec center to exercise for a couple of weeks. I really should get back there tomorrow.
Don’t despair! You can do it!
How are 🐱👤😼👩🦰🎸?
TT is plugging along the best he can and sleeping rather a lot. He has at least one medical appointment this week to which I’ll have to drive him. The kitties are okay. Ninja Cat is asleep on my lap right now.
My boss is back from vacation this week, so I may be a bit busier than I was last week. The first of the month isn’t nearly so hectic as I’ve handed off some of my reports to a coworker.
Here’s hoping he keeps getting better.
Glad the kitties are doing good.
You can handle your boss. I believe in you.
https://abc7ny.com/story/more-100-box-turtles-dumped-riverbank-cranford-nj/19607931/
Save the 🐢🐢🐢!
And I oops.
10,000 Japanese singing Ode to Joy.
The Japanese have more respect and appreciation of Western culture than nearly all of the West. Kind of sad actually. I wonder how many of Gen Z have heard it let alone know what the fuck it is.
“Fa ra ra ra ra….”
roraparooza
Hold on a second. Are we talking “‘Lesbian’ Mud Wreastling” or “Lesbian Mud Wrestling”? These are very different sorts of events.
I’m always amazed at how many mouth breathing tards don’t carry their ID with them while fucking driving at that.
Especially the young women. It’s like tell me you’ve never had an authority figure fuck with you just because before.
A real Firster IS the authority figure.
How do they get into bars?
Hey, bouncers like blow jobs, too.
They want that last seat.
More election fairness coming.
It will be right there in the name.
Not feeling it today. I think Ill more PTO
I played a lot of PTO back in the day. You definitely want to tilt the balance toward research and production as much as you can get away with early on, so you can unleash invincible fleets later, and land based bombers never get very good at sinking ships.
You sound stoned.
Perhaps you should take the day off.
Wait you never played PTO? I’d have thought turned based strategy was right up your alley.
Someone’s got a case of the Mondays.