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Robin Hoodlum
Fox is Robin Hoodlum and the Crow is the Sheriff pursuing R. Hoodlum and his merry band. He escapes one trap after another until he is lured into an archery contest at the Palace---everybody plays the Palace sooner or later---and gets caught.
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Reviews
Sadly Over-hyped
It's a movie as timely as it is provocative and amazingly, for much of its running time, it is weirdly funny.
Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.
Actress is magnificent and exudes a hypnotic screen presence in this affecting drama.
Robin Hood's archery skills are rather suspect, The (new) Sheriff of Nottingham is far from the sharpest knife in the drawer, and the devotion of Robin's Merry Men to tea and crumpets has left them rather out of shape . . .ROBIN HOODLULM is the first cartoon that UPA did as part of their "audition" for Columbia Pictures to become the studio's regular supplier of cartoons. To call the film a parody wouldn't be accurate; it's sort of an off-hand riff on the usual elements of the legend, whimsical in tone, visually rich without making a big deal about it, and, as others have noted, a nice reversal of the usual "Fox and Crow" cartoons, with the Fox (who plays Robin) getting the upper hand for once. Less remarked upon is the film's (refreshingly) spare use of dialog and a smart musical score. As far as I'm concerned, the only version of the story that's any better is the one with Errol Flynn . . .
The Fox and Crow are probably not mentioned much in the annals of great animated cartoon characters but they're possibly responsible for a) Columbia's Screen Gems Cartoons' survival through the '40s and b) UPA's eventual acceptance as Screen Gems' replacement in the studio's animated shorts division. Here the Fox is the title character with the Crow becoming the new sheriff assigned to capture him. Nice switch on who becomes the fall guy here if you're familiar with their Screen Gems shorts. Loved the negotiations concerning various money and deadline exchanges between the Crow and the king. Also loved the Merry Men and their mention of "Tea Time" as a ritual. What a very worthy start for the new UPA studio!
This cartoon, nominated for an Oscar, is part of a series featuring The Fox and The Crow by UPA and Columbia. This is not your grandfather's Robin Hood at all! Thoroughly delightful from start to finish. This was out on one of the Columbia Classics series of tapes and is well worth hunting up. UPA did some of the most interesting and creative shorts around in the late 1940s-1950s and almost everything they did was at least very good and much is excellent! Highly recommended
