Actor/director Don Taylor energetically swashbuckles his way through a lush, Eastmancolor Sherwood Forest to an exuberantly memorable score by Doreen Carwithen in Hammer's first colour feature - and their first dalliance with Robin Hood. Directed with verve by Val Guest and packed with the cream of British character actors, The Men of Sherwood Forest has been painstakingly restored by Hammer in 4K from the original film negatives.
1194. Richard the Lionheart is held prisoner in Germany while his wicked brother John plots to steal the throne. Then, a courier carrying the plans for Richard's return is murdered in Sherwood – and the blame is placed firmly on Robin Hood.
ADDITIONAL INFO
This limited collector's edition comprises:
- The Men of Sherwood Forest and supporting material on three discs in a stylish digipak and rigid box: one UHD and two Blu-rays, with the content duplicated across both formats.
- English, French, Italian, Spanish and German subtitles on both The Men of Sherwood Forest and Wolfshead. Optional French and German audio tracks on The Men of Sherwood Forest.
The discs feature:
- Wolfshead: an unaired TV pilot from 1969 subsequently purchased by Hammer and used as a second feature in the 1970s. Restored in 4K like the main feature.
- New commentary on The Men of Sherwood Forest with writer, journalist and researcher David Huckvale.
- New commentary on Wolfshead with writer, podcaster and occasional broadcaster Tim Worthington.
- Sherwood’s Secret Weapon: Doreen Carwithen’s score remains one of Hammer’s most memorable. Composer and author Neil Brand discusses Doreen’s music and, with access to her written archive, learns more about Doreen’s life and work.
- Swashbuckler: Hammer was no stranger to derring-do and revisited both Sherwood Forest and the wider swashbuckling genre many times throughout the 1950s and ’60s. Barry Forshaw and others revisit some of their favourites from this rarely-discussed aspect of Hammer’s archive.
- A Welcome Guest: Film historian and writer Neil Sinyard examines The Men of Sherwood Forest, its pioneering use of colour, its cast, its rousing score and its director, the much lauded Val Guest.
- And Then There Was Colour!: Keith M. Johnston, co-author of Colour Films in Britain and film and media historian Melanie Williams examine the introduction of colour in British films and its impact on Hammer.
- John Hough interview: Interviewed in 2007 for the British Entertainment History Project, this extract from director John Hough’s career-long interview covers his early work on television and how that all resulted in his directing Wolfshead.
- Wolfshead VHS version: As a comparison to the restoration we present how Wolfshead was previously seen commercially - a low-resolution standard definition master only sold in the US.
- A gallery of stills and publicity material alongside music from Doreen Carwithen’s memorable score and replacement tracks used in the 1990s during the creation of a new M&E track.
The booklet features:
- New article by writer and actor Bruce G. Hallenbeck who examines the production of Hammer’s first flirtation with Robin Hood.
- New article by Philip Kemp who investigates the career of Don Taylor – a Hollywood actor who went on to make a greater impact with his directing.
- New article by Miriam Balanescu who examines the use of colour in The Men of Sherwood Forest, Hammer’s first colour feature.
- New article by Andrew Pixley who looks into the groundbreaking but rarely-seen pilot movie Wolfshead – and how it came to be Hammer’s last Robin Hood production (to date).
- New article by Philip Kemp who investigates Wolfshead director John Hough’s career, which started in adventure and ended in horror.
- Article by Denis Meikle who profiles Michael Carreras, whose relationship with the company he eventually owned was as fractious as the one he had with his father.
- Article by Wayne Kinsey who interviews John Jay, widely regarded as one of the world’s top film photographers and who worked at Hammer for seven years.
