Showing posts with label Ken Annakin. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Ken Annakin. Show all posts

Ken Annakin (1914-2009)



I recently received this from John, who wrote :

“ Saw this and thought of you”.

John sent me this signed picture of Ken Annakin (1914-2009),  the legendary director of Walt Disney’s Story of Robin Hood and his Merrie Men (1952). In 2009, shortly after his sad death,  I reproduced his obituary from The New York Times:

"Starting as a cameraman in Britain on training films for the Royal Air Force in World War II, Mr. Annakin went on to direct more than 40 feature films for the British screen and Hollywood.
His 1965 comedy about the early days of aviation, the full title of which is Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines or How I Flew From London to Paris in 25 Hours 11 Minutes, starred Stuart Whitman as an American flier racing for a prize awarded by a British newspaper. It intertwined romance, cheating and international conflicts with soaring flight scenes. It earned Mr. Annakin an Oscar nomination, with Jack Davis for best screenplay.

Comedies were Mr. Annakin’s specialty in his early directing days. One hit from those years was Miranda (1948), with Glynis Johns as a mermaid caught by a doctor on a fishing trip; her tail reappears whenever she gets wet. In 1948 and ’49 Mr. Annakin directed a series of films about a down-to-earth British family, the Huggetts.

One of the first live-action Disney movies was Mr. Annakin’s “Story of Robin Hood and His Merrie Men,” with Richard Todd as Robin Hood. Shot in England and released in the United States in 1952, it entered many more childhood memories when it was shown on television in 1955. Another Disney film directed by Mr. Annakin was the 1960 version of “Swiss Family Robinson,” with John Mills, Dorothy McGuire and James MacArthur.


Ken Annakin with Claudette Colbert at the premiere of Robin Hood


Some of Mr. Annakin’s work was more serious. In 1957 he directed “Across the Bridge,” in which Rod Steiger played a Wall Street swindler hiding in Mexico using the identity of a man he had murdered. Mr. Annakin’s daughter said “Across the Bridge” was her father’s favorite film.

In 1962 Mr. Annakin was one of the four directors of “The Longest Day,” the sprawling World War II epic about the invasion of Normandy. He directed the scenes involving British and French troops.

In 1965 he was the sole director of “Battle of the Bulge,” with Henry Fonda.
Among Mr. Annakin’s other directing credits are “The Biggest Bundle of Them All” (1968), a comedy heist movie set in Italy; “The Call of the Wild” (1972), starring Charlton Heston; and “The Pirate Movie” (1982), an adaptation of “The Pirates of Penzance” starring Kristy McNichol and Christopher Atkins.

Kenneth Cooper Annakin was born in Beverley, in Yorkshire, England, on Aug. 10, 1914. His daughter said he was an only child who left his parents as a teenager and never told her his parents’ names. Besides his daughter, he is survived by his wife of 49 years, the former Pauline Carter; two grandchildren; and two great-grandchildren.

After dropping out of school, Mr. Annakin traveled to Australia, New Zealand and the United States. He returned to England and sold insurance and cars, then joined the RAF.

In 2002 Queen Elizabeth named Mr. Annakin an officer of the Order of the British Empire.”

To read a lot more about Ken Annakin and his work for Walt Disney on The Story of Robin Hood, just click on the label here.

Behind the Scenes at Denham Studios

Anthony Eustrel, Patrick Barr and Walt Disney

Once again I am indebted to Neil Vessey for sending me yet more rare pictures of the making of Walt Disney's Story of Robin Hood and his Merrie Men (1952). Neil has kindly scanned these images from the Picture Show Annual of 1953. Above we can see Anthony Eustrel in costume as the Archbishop of Canterbury, Patrick Barr as King Richard the Lionheart with Walt Disney, during the filming of Robin Hood at Denham Studios.

In July 1951, just as his cartoon version of Alice in Wonderland  was released in America, Walt Disney visited England with his wife Lilian and his daughters, to supervise the production of his second live-action movie.


Ken Annakin with Perce Pearce

In the second image (above) we can see Ken Annakin (1914-2009) the director of this wonderful film with Perce Pearce (1899-1955). Pearce was chosen by Disney to supervise and produce his early film productions in England, including Treasure Island, The Sword and the Rose, Rob Roy the Highland Rogue and of course The Story of Robin Hood and his Merrie Men.

To read more about the making of Robin Hood at Denham Studios and the wonderful cast of actors that appeared in this Technicolor masterpiece, please click on the relevant labels.



Final Resting Places Continued

Two years ago Christian sent me images of the final resting places of some of the people responsible for creating our favourite film, 'The Story of Robin Hood and his Merrie Men' (1952). To see that original post, please click here.

Recently Christian has kindly shared more information and pictures regarding the graves and tombs of those much-loved people.


Peter Finch as the Sheriff of Nottingham



Peter Finch is buried at the Hollywood Forever cemetery in Los Angeles, California in the U.S.A.


James Robertson Justice

James Robertson Justice (1907-1975) played an irascible Little John. He was cremated and his ashes were taken by a party of friends to Scotland. On a moor where Justice had often hawked, and along with the accompaniment of a lone piper, they created  a cairn and his ashes were interred there.


Ken Annakin




Ken Annakin, the director of 'The Story of Robin Hood' (1952) is buried in Westwood Memorial Park, Los Angeles in the U.S.A.



Walt Disney

Walt Disney (1901-1966) although uncredited, was the executive producer on his second live-action movie. He was buried at Forest Lawn Cemetery (Glendale), Glendale, Los Angeles County, California, U.S.A.



Many thanks to Christian for getting in touch.

Walt Disney's Memo

Joan Rice in an earlier page-boys outfit.

Last week we looked at how Walt Disney set up Perce Pearce and Fred Leahy to supervise the production of his early live-action movies in England. Below is an example of Disney’s concentration on the detail in a memo he sent to them during the pre-production of the Story of Robin Hood and his Merrie Men (1952):

“The final tests arrived the first part of the week and we looked at them. I think [Richard] Todd is wonderful, and I feel he will project a great deal of personality and do a lot for the role.
Joan Rice is beautiful and charming. I think, however, she will need some help on her dialogue. I thought at times, she lacked sincerity, although one of her close-ups was very cute. I do not care much about her costume in the first scenes. It seems that women of that period always have scarves up around their chins, but I think it does something to a woman’s face. I’d like to see us avoid it, if possible, or get around it in some way or other-maybe use it in fewer scenes.
When we see Miss Rice disguised as a page, this costume seemed bulky and heavy. The blouse or tunic was too long and hung too far down over her hips-it didn't show enough of her and I thought distracted from her femininity. I do believe the costume did much to set off her femininity. I think a slight showing of the hips would help a lot.

Joan Rice wearing the updated page-boys costume.


I liked Elton Hayes as Allan-a-Dale. He has a good voice with quite an appeal. The last word I had from Larry [Watkin] was to the effect that he would be sending in a new and complete script very soon. I have been following his changes and the little thoughts I have are close to “lint-picking”, which I feel he is smoothing out in his final script, so I won’t bother about passing on my thoughts until I get his so-called final script...”

This is a fascinating insight into the pre-production of the Story of Robin Hood and although we do know a little about the original ideas for the movie, I can’t help wondering what the original script was like! 

At the start of this post we see a still from the movie, showing Joan Rice as Maid Marian, in what might be the page’s costume that Disney mentions - as it was never worn in the film.

Joan Rice with Ken Annakin going over the script.


In his memo, Walt Disney describes Joan Rice’s difficulties with the dialogue. The director, Ken Annakin went into great detail in his autobiography about the problems he had with her; how he had to slavishly go over the script with her word for word. But it is worth mentioning, I believe, that this was only her second role in a movie and apart from being rushed through the ‘Rank Charm School’ a year earlier; my research has shown that she had no experience in acting beforehand.


From Animation to Live-Action



The British government, in an attempt to revive its own film industry after the war, had imposed a 75% import tax on American films shown in Britain and ordered that 45 % of the films shown in British theaters be made in England. (A similar restriction had been agreed in France). This was a terrible blow to the Disney studio and to make matters worse, the French and British governments had both impounded receipts earned by American studios in those countries, insisting that the currency be spent there. For the Disney studio, this amounted to more than $1 million. Obviously Walt couldn't set up an animation studio in England or France, but he had another option. He could make a live-action film in England and finance it with the blocked funds. In effect, then, when Walt Disney finally crossed over into live-action, it was because the British government had forced him to do so.

Producer Perce Pearce with art director Carman Dillon 
and director Alex Bryce on the 'Robin Hood' set.


The project Walt selected for his live- action feature was Robert Louis Stevenson’s Treasure Island and he dispatched Perce Pearce and Fred Leahy to England to supervise the production. But he remained unusually involved in the post production  at least compared to the offhanded way he had been treating recent films. He had asked Pearce and Leahy to air-mail him specific takes for editing, and after a test screening in early January, he ordered them to cut ten to twelve minutes and provide a more forceful musical score; he also advised them that a more detailed criticism would follow. Two day later he ordered the editor to fly from England to Los Angeles, apparently so that Walt could oversee the editing himself.

The finished film, Walt Disney’s first all live-action feature, was both a critical and financial success- unbelievably the first in a long, long time. Treasure Island (1950) grossed $4 million, returning to the studio a profit of between $2.2 and $2.4 million. With the euphoria of this success was the worry that the animation side of the studio was dying. But Walt reassured those that had raised concerns, (including Douglas Fairbanks Jnr.) “We are not forsaking the cartoon field-it is purely a move of economy-again converting pounds into dollars to enable us to make cartoons here.” So in a strange turn, Disney had to make live-action films now to save his animation.

Richard Todd as Robin Hood

In July 1951, just as his cartoon version of Alice in Wonderland was released in America, Walt Disney visited Europe with his wife Lillian and his daughters to supervise his second live-action movie. The Story of Robin Hood and his Merrie Men (1952) was financed again by the blocked monies of RKO and Disney. Before leaving, Walt had screened films at the studio, looking at prospective actors and directors and making what he himself called ‘merely suggestions’, while he left the final decisions to Perce Pearce, who was producing. For his part, Pearce had laid out every shot in the movie in thumbnail sketches, or storyboards, just as the studio had done with the animators, and sent them on along with photostats and the final script to Walt for his approval, which Walt freely gave, though not without a veiled threat that Pearce had better make the film as quickly as possible. “This is important not only to the organization but to you as the producer,” he wrote.

Walt Disney using the Storyboard


The use of storyboards was new to ‘Robin Hood’ director Ken Annakin, “but it appealed to my logical brain very, very much,” he said later, and prompted ingenious scenes such as the first meeting between Prince John and the Sheriff of Nottingham after King Richard has left, played on the balcony of the castle against a brilliant but ominous orange sky at sundown. “I had never experienced sketch artists, and sketching a whole picture out,” Annakin said. “That picture was sketched out, and approved by him—but it was designed in England, and sketches were sent back to America.” For all his influence and control, Walt was not an overbearing studio head in Annakin’s view. “Basically, he visited the set maybe half a dozen times, stayed probably two or three hours while we were shooting.”

Though Walt delegated a good deal of authority on these films, he nevertheless took his approval of the storyboards seriously. When he noticed that one sequence wasn't shot exactly as agreed, he questioned Ken Annakin as to why. Annakin replied that he was going over budget and wanted to economize. “Have I ever queried the budget?” Walt asked. “Have I ever asked you to cut? Let’s keep to what we agreed.” In the end, Annakin never wavered from his understanding that the film he was making was, even with his own directorial expertise and perspective, and an insistence on a more authentic telling of the Robin Hood story, a Walt Disney production.

Director Ken Annakin

Meanwhile as Robin Hood was being filmed, Walt, Lillian and his daughters wandered through Europe, visiting the Tivoli Gardens in Denmark, and did not return to the studio until August.

While making those live action movies in England (which also included Sword and the Rose (1953) and Rob Roy the Highland Rogue (1954)), “Walt achieved something that I’m not sure he actually knew he was going to achieve”, suggests Disney authority Brian Sibley,  “which was that he placed himself as being not just an American filmmaker, but also a European filmmaker—or specifically a British filmmaker. We thought of him as making films not just about us, but making them here as well. I think that that gave Britain a kind of ‘ownership’ to Walt Disney, and that only came about in the ‘50s.”







Inside the Dream: The Personal Story of Walt Disney by Katherine & Richard Greene (2001)

Walt Disney: The Biography by Neal Gabler (2007)
So You Wanna Be A Director by Ken Annakin (2001) 


The Cinema: April 1951


Neil has discovered an interesting snippet from The Cinema magazine of April 1951. It backs-up the strong rumor that Robert Newton had been lined up to play the part of Friar Tuck in Disney's Story of Robin Hood (1952).

It was in May 2008 that I first posted a story taken from the Los Angeles Times, that Disney had wanted both Bobby Driscoll and Robert Newton to appear in his version of Robin Hood. You can read it here. The original film script seems to have been based around the exploits of a young boy (Bobby Driscoll) in the outlaws  camp. But in the end he decided to highlight the romance between Robin Hood (Richard Todd) and Maid Marian (Joan Rice).

Robert Newton had already worked for Disney on Treasure Island (1950) and had been a huge success.As Neil pointed out in his email to me, Newton's performance as Long John Silver is the yardstick to which all others are judged. Unfortunately Newton was already signed up to film Androcles and the Lion for RKO, so we will never know how he would have performed as Friar Tuck.

So the part of the jovial friar was given to James Hayter, who had only just completed playing the title role in the director Ken Annakin's earlier movie, The Verger (Trio) 1950.

James Hayter as Friar Tuck

Film of the Month




These two YouTube clips from the Walt Disney Family Museum in San Francisco were kindly sent in by Neil.   The first one advertises the fact that the Story of Robin Hood and his Merrie Men (1952) was going to be the film of the month for May. I would have loved to have been there and would be interested to know if the museum had an exhibition dedicated to the movie!


The second clip is part of a fascinating interview with the late Ken Annakin (1914-2009), describing his work for Walt Disney. In this small section we hear him explain about Disney’s choice of CarmanDillon as Art Director on Robin Hood and the technique of sketching out each and every scene.


To read a longer interview with Ken Annakin on the making of Robin Hood, please click here.


Ken Annakin and Claudette Colbert


My thanks go out again to retired press photographer Horace Ward, who has very kindly sent me yet another rare photograph from his collection; this time taken at the charity premiere of Walt Disney’s Story of Robin Hood and his Merrie Men at the Leicester Square Theatre on Thursday 13th March 1952.

On the night, Horace just walked casually through the main foyer without any problem. “I had the cheek of the devil in those days,” he said.

His restored photograph shows the director of the movie, Ken Annakin arriving at the glittering premiere, with the legendary film and stage actress Claudette Colbert.

Richard Todd, in his autobiography ‘Caught In The Act,’ describes the first showing of Disney’s ‘Robin Hood’ as ,’.....the forthcoming Royal Film Performance.’ This led me to believe originally that it was a ‘Royal Premiere.’ But it was sadly not the case.

"I would have heard on the grapevine if royalty were around," Horace says, "...also the streets around Leicester Square would have been 'blocked off'. Security was tight then, like today. More so 'premieres', perhaps because of all that jewellery more than terrorists. All this talk about 'royals' attending might have been a publicity stunt by Disney. He could only wish...only a star, not a queen!"

If you remember, or even attended the charity premiere of Walt Disney’s Story of Robin Hood and his Merrie Men at the Leicester Square Theatre on Thursday 13th March 1952 please get in touch at : disneysrobin@googlemail.com. It would be great to hear from you.


Ken Annakin (1914-2009)

I have just heard the very sad news that Ken Annakin has passed away in Beverly Hills aged 94. As my regular readers will know, it was Ken who directed Walt Disney's be-loved Story of Robin Hood and his Merrie Men. (1952).

Ken had previously been in good health and always talked about making more films, even though he had not directed since the early 1990s, his daughter Deborah Peters said. "He was absolutely fine, other than old age," she said. "He was walking and mobile, chatting and working, still trying to get films made. I don't think anybody like that ever really stops." His health had been failing since he had a heart attack and stroke within a day of each other in February. He passed away on Wednesday night.


I intend to look into the life of this Disney Legend in the future, but for now here is today's obituary from the New York Times:

"Starting as a cameraman in Britain on training films for the Royal Air Force in World War II, Mr. Annakin went on to direct more than 40 feature films for the British screen and Hollywood.
His 1965 comedy about the early days of aviation, the full title of which is Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines or How I Flew From London to Paris in 25 Hours 11 Minutes, starred Stuart Whitman as an American flier racing for a prize awarded by a British newspaper. It intertwined romance, cheating and international conflicts with soaring flight scenes. It earned Mr. Annakin an Oscar nomination, with Jack Davis for best screenplay.


Comedies were Mr. Annakin’s specialty in his early directing days. One hit from those years was Miranda (1948), with Glynis Johns as a mermaid caught by a doctor on a fishing trip; her tail reappears whenever she gets wet. In 1948 and ’49 Mr. Annakin directed a series of films about a down-to-earth British family, the Huggetts.

One of the first live-action Disney movies was Mr. Annakin’s “Story of Robin Hood and His Merrie Men,” with Richard Todd as Robin Hood. Shot in England and released in the United States in 1952, it entered many more childhood memories when it was shown on television in 1955. Another Disney film directed by Mr. Annakin was the 1960 version of “Swiss Family Robinson,” with John Mills, Dorothy McGuire and James MacArthur.

Some of Mr. Annakin’s work was more serious. In 1957 he directed “Across the Bridge,” in which Rod Steiger played a Wall Street swindler hiding in Mexico using the identity of a man he had murdered. Mr. Annakin’s daughter said “Across the Bridge” was her father’s favorite film.
In 1962 Mr. Annakin was one of the four directors of “The Longest Day,” the sprawling World War II epic about the invasion of Normandy. He directed the scenes involving British and French troops.


In 1965 he was the sole director of “Battle of the Bulge,” with Henry Fonda.
Among Mr. Annakin’s other directing credits are “The Biggest Bundle of Them All” (1968), a comedy heist movie set in Italy; “The Call of the Wild” (1972), starring Charlton Heston; and “The Pirate Movie” (1982), an adaptation of “The Pirates of Penzance” starring Kristy McNichol and Christopher Atkins.


Kenneth Cooper Annakin was born in Beverley, in Yorkshire, England, on Aug. 10, 1914. His daughter said he was an only child who left his parents as a teenager and never told her his parents’ names. Besides his daughter, he is survived by his wife of 49 years, the former Pauline Carter; two grandchildren; and two great-grandchildren.

After dropping out of school, Mr. Annakin traveled to Australia, New Zealand and the United States. He returned to England and sold insurance and cars, then joined the RAF.
In 2002 Queen Elizabeth named Mr. Annakin an officer of the Order of the British Empire."


Disney's nephew Roy described Ken Annakin as, "an important part of the Disney legacy [who] made several memorable films for my uncle Walt."


“Star Wars” creator George Lucas paid him an indirect compliment when he named the character Anakin Skywalker for him.


In addition to his daughter Deborah, Annakin is survived by his wife of 50 years, Pauline; grandchildren Alice and Matthew; and great grandchildren, Oliver and Zoe. A memorial service will be held at 3 p.m. on Monday at Westwood Presbyterian Church in Los Angeles.

In 4 days time Walt Disney's Story of Robin Hood DVD will go on general release across America. This film will be one of a number of wonderful lasting legacies of a man who insisted, that he only made films for audiences.

Thank you Ken.

Peter Finch as the Sheriff of Nottingham




This excerpt is taken from the excellent book, Peter Finch –A Biography by Trader Faulkner….

“As soon as Peter had finished his six week contract in Point of Departure he went straight on to the Story of Robin Hood and his Merrie Men at Denham Studios. The Americans were very anxious to make an authentic, accurate film on the Robin Hood legend and Carmen Dillon, who had done memorable artistic work on Olivier’s film of Henry V and who subsequently designed Richard III, was sent to Nottingham to do detailed research. They were also very keen, says director Ken Annakin now, to get ‘what we’d now call National Theatre actors, which surprised everybody, because they never did manage to get any.’

Richard Todd, a contract artist, had already been cast as Robin Hood and Disney were determined to test everybody for the Sheriff of Nottingham. All the best available actors were tested. Peter had only done Train of Events, for Ealing and he didn’t regard himself as a costume actor. But ‘Peter’s test,’ says Annakin, ‘was simply great and everyone agreed he should play the Sheriff. He brought sincerity to the part with a lot of bite and I would say it was rather like the casting of Guinness in Star Wars. He gave the whole of Robin Hood a lift with consummate acting. He had some marvelous scenes with Hubert Gregg as Prince John, another very good English actor. Of course he had to do a lot of action stuff as well.

‘I remember one Saturday afternoon we had him on one of the typically untrained horses that England produced at the time. We had to do seventeen takes to get a close-up of him on the horse and it took us the whole afternoon. Every time we turned over, the horse seemed to understand at once and played up. Peter showed great patience. In fact, he was one of the most professional actors I’ve ever worked with. He was a sympathetic person and very responsive to direction. In his later life we all know he had a period when he started hitting the bottle. I never saw a sign of this when we were making Robin Hood, but clearly his life was not satisfying him entirely.

‘He was a marvelous actor, but if one has asked him in the old days whether being an actor was the sort of thing he really should be doing, I suspect his answer would have been that he needed more out of life than just that. I think he found himself forced into a shoe, a shape, which for a long time he didn’t accept.

‘He had the intelligence to be a director. I don’t know whether he had the patience to apply himself constantly. I always feel that direction is about forty per cent obstinacy and forty per cent patience.’

With the Sheriff of Nottingham, Peter began to be accepted in England as an important actor in terms of screen potential. Ken Annakin maintains that what Peter Finch did with his role was the best that an actor had done in that kind of film until that time and that people in the film industry began to take serious notice of him because of this. It gave a tremendous boost to his confidence and the possibility of a substantial film career really fired his enthusiasm.”


Peter Finch-A Biography by Trader Faulkner p.166-167


For more information on Peter Finch, please click on the Peter Finch Label.





An Interview with Ken Annakin


"I was interviewed by Perce Pearce, who was the producer and we got on very well. I hadn’t met Walt till he came over and visited the set while we were shooting.

In the planning of our picture, they were very determined that ours should be very, very true. We went up to Sherwood Forest, to Nottingham and the script was written as actually as it could be from the records. I thought we were probably making a truer picture than had been made before.
Now we didn’t have Errol Flynn, but all the things we had in the picture, were very British and very true. I mean, he [Walt] was making his picture, his version and I think we came up –with Walt’s help and insistence on truth and realism-as near as makes any matter.

He [Walt] didn’t stay very long on Robin Hood. He had a great trust in Carmen Dillon, who was responsible for the historical correctness. Everything, from costumes to sets to props and he- I’m not so sure why he was so certain- but he was dead right at having chosen her. And she did that picture and Sword and The Rose too. And his reliance was 100%. A director can’t go into every historical detail and so I would check with her also, pretty well on most things. And she would quietly be on the set and if we used a prop wrongly, she would have her say. Mine was the final say, as director, but one couldn’t have done without her.

Now Walt really-I remember him on that picture- having set the overall key of what he wanted- and seeing it was going the way he wanted- he trusted Perce Pearce as the producer, he came to trust me as the director. And I must say, I have never had Walt looking over my shoulder at anything.

I had never experienced the sketch artists and sketching a whole picture out. Now, that picture was sketched out by and approved by him. My memories of Robin Hood are basically that he visited the sets, maybe half a dozen times. He stayed probably 2 or 3 hours, maybe, while we were shooting. Not often 2 or 3 hours (laughs). And I remember that he used to go off to a place very near Denham where we were shooting. He used to go off to Beaconsfield and spend hours with the guy that had the best model railway, I think, in the world. And this was the beginning of his thoughts on Disneyland. Beaconsfield was just a place where, this guy had built up his model railway. Beaconsfield also has a studio, but the studio hasn’t any connection with that.

Then the film went back to here [America] and the whole of the post-sync work and the post production work was done. And the director was never called in to have anything you do with that. It wasn’t until I had made my fourth picture with Walt, which was Swiss Family that I was ever really allowed to do anything with the editing (laughs) or to say about the music or anything. But once you had, shot it, that was your job as the director."

After The Fight


Another interesting behind-the scenes picture sent to me by Neil. This time of Richard Todd (Robin Hood) and James Robertson Justice (Little John) with film director Ken Annakin.
This magazine picture was taken at one of the massive sets at Denham Studios, during the filming of Walt Disney's Story of Robin Hood (1952). We see them examining Richard Todd's leather jerkin after the dramatic quarter-staff fight over the wooden bridge.

Behind The Scenes

Once again Neil has sent me a remarkable picture. This time it has been taken behind the scenes of the First Unit’s filming of Walt Disney’s Story of Robin Hood. Little John (James Robertson Justice) is shaking hands with Will Scarlet (Anthony Forwood) just after the fight scene over the bridge with Robin Hood (Richard Todd).

This was filmed on one of the huge sets, inside Denham Studios and leaning against the huge Technicolor camera, getting a view of the action is Ken Annakin the director.


The First Unit were:
Director:- Ken Annakin
Unit Manager:- Frank Sherwin Green
Director of Photography:- Guy Green
Camera Operative:- Dave Harcourt
Technicolor Technician:- Ian Craig
Asst. Technicolor Technician:- John Tiley
Clappers:- Derrick Whitehurst
1st. Assistant Director:- Peter Bolton
2nd. Assistant Director:- Peter Manley
3rd Assistant Director:- Kip Gowan
Continuity:- Joan Davis
Sound Mixer:- C.C. Stevens
Boom Operator:- Fred Ryan
Sound Camera:- K Rawkins
Floor Props:- Jim Herald
Floor Electrician:- Maurice Gillet
Floor Stills:- Frank Bellingham
Production Secretary:- Teresa Bolland

Ken Annakin had vivid memories of shooting in Technicolor at that time:

“It was the very elaborate three-strip system, with a very immobile camera. When you wanted to reload the camera in its very heavy blimp, you had to have it lifted on chains, and it took the first class Technicolor crew a minimum of eleven minutes to reload the camera. After every single shot the camera had to be opened and the gate had to be examined; the prism was the great thing because this was the light splitter which gave the registrations on the three strips.

For this reason if you were making a big picture like Robin Hood, you had to be very certain that you were not wasting setups or wasting shots, because it was a big industrial process every time to set up your camera.”

More the Merrier


Some critics of Walt Disney’s Story of Robin Hood were surprised by the casting of Richard Todd as the outlaw. They said it flaunted a Hollywood tradition by making Robin Hood a sturdy medium-sized man. In place they said, of the long-legged athlete, head and shoulders above all his rivals mentally and physically.

It had been the legendry cartoon producer himself, who had decided on the Dublin born actor. Todd was invited to Burbank in November 1950 and was given a personal tour by Walt Disney of the acres of sound stages and rows of drawing offices, where the animators were busy sketching.

He seemed to know every single one of the workforce, Todd remembers, every where he went he was greeted with ‘Hi Walt’, and he replied, ‘Hi! Jack-or Fred-or Art-or Lou!’


Eventually, Richard Todd continued in his autobiography 'Caught In The Act', we arrived in his office, a large panelled comfy room with a bar at one end. Before we settled down to talk, Walt proudly showed me how, at the touch of a button, the bar became a soda-fountain for youngsters. He adored children, and delighted in surprising them.

Walt Disney introduced his senior live-action producer, Perce Pearce to Richard Todd and outlined his ideas for the planned film. But Todd was doubtful:

With images of Douglas Fairbanks and Errol Flynn in my mind, I simply could not see it as a vehicle for me. I was not physically built to play a larger-than-life swashbuckler, and I could not see myself swinging from the same Sherwood family tree as the mighty Flynn.

Above all, I considered myself an ‘actor’; not for me the Lincoln Green equivalent of Tarzan.

But Walt Disney was very persuasive and explained that his Robin would be as a quick-thinking welter-weight, not a ponderous heavyweight. But Todd remained unsure.


There was a series of ‘agonised phone calls’ from Todd’s agent in California, Milton Pickman. He told the British actor that it would firstly, be a big international movie and secondly that it would pull in a huge world-wide audience of youngsters, probably seeing their first screen programme, to whom Robin Hood would be a hero for ever. Richard Todd remained unsure and to give himself time he promised to read the new script as soon as it was ready.

After Christmas 1950, Todd had read the latest version of the Robin Hood script and liked it.
I was beginning to enjoy the thought of larking about in the forest with a band of merrie outlaws-subject to one proviso: that I should not be doubled by a stunt-man in any of the action scenes. I felt that if I could do the stunts myself, however clumsily, then they would be much more believable. Besides, although perhaps not a very practical attitude for a professional actor, it was a small matter of pride-what would my ex-Airborne friends think if they knew that I had been standing around watching somebody else do the dirty work!

In mid January 1951 Walt Disney’s producer, Perce Pearce arrived back in London. Now that I had finally made up my mind, Todd said, I was thrilled at the prospect of working for the great Disney organisation.


A meeting was arranged at his suite at the Dorchester Hotel with Richard Todd and Maud Spector, the leading British Independent casting director. In the afternoon Todd agreed to play Robin Hood and they spent a couple of hours going through lists of candidates for parts in the film. My only contribution, Todd says, was to suggest James Robertson Justice as Little John and this turned out to be a good idea.

Filming was due to start on 30th April 1951. A gymnasium was set up at Pinewood Studios and under the tutelage of top British stunt man, Paddy Ryan, Todd worked out almost every day:

I practised back flips and tumbles that I hadn’t tried since my early army days. Rupert Evans, a former Champion at Arms of the British Army, coached me in sword-play and he and Paddy worked with me throughout the picture. In addition, I had hours of tuition in archery and practice on horseback, with and without bows and arrows. I may not have been the greatest celluloid Robin Hood, but I was certainly going to be the fittest!

Ken Annakin, Disney’s director on ‘Robin Hood,’ described Richard Todd as a .......
popular British stage actor, who was no acrobatic movie idol like Errol Flynn or John Barrymore. He was, in fact short like Alan Ladd, and often had to be stood on an apple box, or walk on a plank beside Maid Marion, so that one didn’t notice the discrepancy in height. But Richard was a good trouper.

Nearly sixty years later, we seem to have come full circle! The BBC’s new television series of Robin Hood has had similar mutterings from critics about the hero being a bit on the puny side! One newspaper reporter wrote that the actor playing the outlaw
needs to get down the gym and eat some pies!

These harsh words must have affected Jonas Armstrong who plays the leader of the merry men. He admits that when he saw a picture of himself during the launch of the first series,
“I looked a bit thin. So I got a personal trainer and I’ve put on a stone and a half in muscle. I now train four times a week and I feel a lot fitter. The stunt guys have been telling me: ‘You look much more confident in your body!’”

Working for Walt Disney


When asked recently how often Walt Disney visited the 'Robin Hood' set at Denham Studios, Ken Annakin replied that the great man didn’t stay very long. It was no more than half a dozen times, sometimes in fact, less than two or three hours, while they were shooting a scene.

It was Perce Pearce, Walt Disney’s chosen producer, who interviewed Ken Annakin at Denham, for the job of director, on the movie. Annakin finally met Disney when shooting had begun. He had already, according to Annakin, set the overall key of what he wanted. Disney was never looking over his shoulder, but the whole movie was sketched out by artists, the way he wanted, and approved by him. Something Ken Annakin had never experienced before.

Disney trusted Perce Pearce as the producer, Annakin said, he came to trust me as the director. He had a great, great trust in Carmen Dillon, Annakin continued, Disney was, dead right in choosing her, his reliance was one hundred percent.

Carmen Dillon was given the responsibility of designing and checking the historical accuracy of everything from props and costumes to the huge historical sets. She would stand quietly and have her say, only, if a prop was used wrongly. I had the final say as director, Annakin said, but one couldn’t have done it without her. Carmen Dillon went on to work for Disney and Annakin a year later, on ‘Sword and the Rose’.


Annakin was also asked if he was concerned about previous films about Robin Hood. We didn’t have Errol Flynn he replied, but no, he wasn’t. All the things we had in the picture were very British and very true. They went up to Sherwood Forest and Nottingham, he said and the script was written, as accurately as possible from all the records. After all, Annakin continued, Walt was making his picture, his version. I think we came up, with Walt’s insistence on truth and realism, probably as near (to the real story) as makes any matter.

At the end of shooting the film was taken back to America, where the whole of the post sync work and post production work was done. As director, Annakin said, he was not called in to help with that. It wasn’t in fact, until he made his fourth picture for Walt Disney, ‘Swiss Family Robinson’ that he was allowed to do anything with the editing or say anything about the music, or anything! Once you had shot it, that was your job as director!

Peter Finch





















The Sheriff of Nottingham was played by Peter Finch, in one of his first major film roles. ‘Finchie’ was a protégé of Laurence Olivier and became a good friend of film producer Ken Annakin.

Born in South Kensington, London, on 28th September 1916, Frederick George Peter Ingle Finch was the natural son of Major Jock Campbell, a Highlander in the Black Watch and Alicia Ingle-Finch, during her marriage to George Ingle-Finch a notable mountaineer from New South Wales.

After his parents divorced in 1926 he went to live with his grandmother in Paris and later they moved to India. Aged ten he arrived in Sydney, Australia, where during the Depression he took on several dead end jobs, before working as a comedians stooge in vaudeville. In 1935 he made his stage acting debut, touring New South Wales with his travelling theatre company 'Mercury’ performing the classics in little theatres. A year later he debuted onscreen in ‘Dad and Dave Come to Town’.

‘Finchie’ served with the Australian First Army in the anti-tank battalion in the Middle East during WWII. But later on ‘civvie-street’ in 1948 his artistic ability gained his first film credit as assistant director and casting director for ‘Eureka Stockade’. He was now Australia’s top radio actor and his talents were soon noticed by Laurence Olivier who invited him to London to join the Old Vic and signed him to a personal contract. His impressive stage debut was alongside Edith Evans in ‘Daphne Laureda.’

At this time Finch started his long affair with Olivier’s wife, Vivian Leigh. But although personally humiliated, Olivier kept Finch under contract and his acting career continued to flourish. During his life he was also to have well-publicised affairs with Kay Kendall and Mai Zetterling.

Although he was now becoming an experienced performer, 'Finchie’ began suffering with severe stage fright (he also had a fear of flying). So much so, that he decided to put all his creative energy into acting on film and he made his Hollywood debut with ‘The Miniver Story’ and ‘The Wooden Horse’ in 1950.

In 1951 Finch took on the role of the Sheriff of Nottingham for Disney.

“Peter brought a freshness and a snide threat to the villainous character, without the histrionics of his predecessors in the role," said his friend and ‘Robin Hood’ producer Ken Annakin. “We became close friends and over the years I was sad to see how the strain of show business made Peter hit the bottle. He drank in order to cope with theatrical challenges he had never dreamed of in the outback or truly prepared for. But I don’t think he was ever as happy as his days in Denham, strutting around the stages as the Sheriff of Nottingham.”

As the Sheriff, ‘Finchie’ had to ride a horse, something, although he was brought up in Australia, he had never done. So the majority of riding shots were completed by a double. But for some of his spoken lines he had to film on horseback. These caused particular problems because, Peter’s horse, although supposedly a trained animal, seemed to have a dislike for actors and directors!

Every time ‘Finchie’ tried to mount his horse, it moved away from its mark, causing all sorts of problems for the film crew. This was an example, according to Annakin, of how amateurish the supply of trained horses and wranglers were for film companies in Britain, compared to the States.

Eventually the wrangler had to climb under the camera and hold down the horses hooves, while Peter Finch as the Sheriff spoke his lines. Even then as soon as ‘Finchie’ opened his mouth, the animal started snorting. This scene was used and appears in the early part of ‘Robin Hood’ when the Sheriff arrests William Scathelok for not paying his taxes.

As Peter Finch approached middle age his film career took off, with movies like the romantic comedy ‘Simon and Laura’ in 1965, the sombre war drama, ‘A Town like Alice’ in 1956, ‘Nuns Story’ in 1959 and back with Disney as Alan Breck Stewart in ‘Kidnapped’ in 1960.

Between 1956-71 he won five BAFTA awards, one of these for an exceptional performance in ‘The Trials of Oscar Wilde’ in 1960 . His debut as a film director, writer and producer came with his short, ‘Antonito’ and he went on to acclaimed roles in 'No Love for Johnnie’ in 1961, 'The Pumpkin Eater’ in 1964 and 'Far from the Madding Crowd’ in 1967. During his career he received two Oscar nominations, one for his portrayal as a gay doctor in ‘Sunday Bloody Sunday’ in 1971 and as the crazed television anchor man in ‘Network’ in 1976.

Sadly 64 year old Peter Finch collapsed and died in the lobby of the Beverley Wiltshire Hotel during a promotional campaign for ‘Network,’ on January 14th 1977. He was interred in the Hollywood Forever Cemetery, in California. His part in ‘Network’ had received rave reviews and he was nominated for an Oscar. He went on to win the award, which was accepted by his widow, Eletha. ‘Finchie’ remains the only actor to have received a nomination and Oscar posthumously.

Peter Finch was married three times. He had a daughter by his first wife Tamara Tchinarova, two children by his second, Yolande Turner and one child by Eletha Finch.


© Clement of the Glen 2006-2007

The Truest Rendering Of Merrie Old England

The picture shows Richard Todd, Lawrence Watkin (script writer), Perce Pearce (producer) and Dr Charles Beard (research advisor) during the planning stages of the film, ‘Story of Robin Hood and his Merrie Men,’ visiting Ye Olde Trip To Jerusalem, in Nottingham.

In March 1952 Walt Disney spent three days with Ken Annakin, visiting Sherwood Forest and looking over a number of castles in the Midlands. But Disney was disappointed to see that most of them were ruined by Cromwell’s cannons centuries ago. He liked perfection in the realisation of his dreams.

So after leaving Nottingham, he said to Carmen Dillon, the art director and Perce Pearce, “I want this movie to be the truest rendering of ‘merrie old England’ to date. But I think shooting up here on location is a sheer waste of money. Ken (Annakin) says he can find a forest of oaks, within five miles of the studio and your castle set Carmen, can be much more impressive and realistic than any of these ruins we’ve seen. Is there such a thing as a good matte painter in England?”

It was Carman who suggested Peter Ellenshaw, “he is a clever young painter,” he said, “and has the backing of his father-in-law, Poppa Day, who has been doing optical tricks and matte’s with Korda for many years.”

“Sounds good,” said Walt, “we’ll paint all the long shots of medieval Nottingham, the castle, Richard going to the Crusades etc etc on glass. They’ll be much more fun than the real thing.”

Poppa Day had passed on his knowledge to Peter Ellenshaw, he had taught him how to give depth to a painting, the illusion of movement in a glass shot and how to marry special effects with painted mattes. But it was Walt Disney himself who taught Ellenshaw the use of false perspective and the importance of atmosphere in a painting.

This resulted in Peter Ellenshaw painting twelve matte shots for the movie and later becoming the matte genius of the world. He eventually moved from London to Burbank and was given a life long contract by Walt Disney.


© Clement of the Glen 2006-2007