The Men of Sherwood Forest is a 1954 British adventure film directed by Val Guest and starring Don Taylor, Reginald Beckwith, Eileen Moore and David King-Wood. It was written by Allan MacKinnon. The score was by Doreen Carwithen. The film follows the exploits of Robin Hood and his followers.

Plot

In 1194, on his return from the Third Crusade, Richard the Lionheart is taken prisoner in Germany. Disguised as a troubadour, Robin Hood builds a plan to rescue him from this tight spot but is captured. The Merry Men then have to fulfil a double mission: find Robin Hood and save the King.

Cast

Production

Produced by Hammer Films it was shot at the company's Bray Studios with sets designed by the art director J. Elder Wills. Exteriors were shot at Bodiam Castle in Sussex. Val Guest called it "a merry romp, it was a send-up of all the Robin Hood things... It was a fun picture, but nothing really riveting or historical."

Critical reception

The Monthly Film Bulletin wrote: "This unassuming addition to the Robin Hood saga is in the real Sherwood tradition. Don Taylor makes a good-natured Robin Hood, and the tone of the film generally is genial, although Friar Tuck's rollicking joviality is at times played up at the expense of the action." David Parkinson noted in the Radio Times "a cheap and cheerful Hammer outing to Sherwood, with production values on a par with the infamously parsimonious ITV series starring Richard Greene", concluding "Val Guest directs with little feel for the boisterous action, but it's a tolerable frolic all the same." TV Guide wrote that "this low-budget swashbuckler is good fun for the undiscriminating".