Full article: http://www.jimhillmedia.com/mb/articles ... hp?ID=1353Ah, yes. "Robin Hood." One of the more misbegotten movies that Disney Feature Animation ever turned out.
Don't get me wrong, B. There's still a lot to like about this 1973 Walt Disney Productions release. But -- based on stories that I've heard from various WDFA vets who actually worked on this project -- "Robin Hood" was a bit of a train wreck. Due almost entirely to constant second-guessing on Woolie Reitherman's part.
"What was the problem?," you ask. Well, you have to understand that "Robin Hood" was actually the very first film that Disney Feature Animation produced all on its own following Walt's death. By that I mean, even "The Aristocats" (which was released in 1970) had at least been given a very tentative greenlight by the Old Mousetro just prior to his death in December 1966.
Whereas "Robin Hood" ... This was the very first film that the studio's animation staff did all without any input from Walt. Which -- as you can probably understand -- made the animators extremely nervous. Which is why -- throughout this film's production -- "Robin Hood" 's production staff constantly kept asking themselves "Are we doing the right thing here? What would Walt have done?"
Which was why -- on this particular WDFA project -- the studio's motto seemed to be: "When in doubt, play it safe."
Mind you, "Robin Hood" didn't start out a safe project. The first animator assigned to the project -- Disney Legend Ken Anderson (Who's credited with coming up with the film's initial concept as well as its character design) -- initially wanted to play fast & loose with this legend. Which is why Ken proposed shifting the story's setting from the woods of Merrie Old Englande to the swamps of the deep south. So that WDFA could then produce an Americanized animated version of "Robin Hood." A project that Anderson hoped would recapture some of the fun & the spirit of "Song of the South" 's animated sequences in "Song of the South."
Well, those of you who read this week's "Rewriting Uncle Remus" article are already aware that -- by the early 1970s -- execs at Walt Disney Productions were already starting to have some very serious concerns about the studio's 1946 live action / animated release. So Ken's proposal to turn "Robin Hood" into "Song of the South Revisited" just wasn't going to fly.
Which is why -- in the end -- Reitherman nixed Anderson's idea, insisting that Disney's new animated version of "Robin Hood" be just like the live action version of this classic English folk tale that the studio produced back in 1952. As in: This story is set in England.
The studio's whole "play it safe" philosophy even extended to the actors that WDFA initially hired to do voicework for "Robin Hood." They deliberately chose Tommy Steele to voice the film's title role because Walt had so enjoyed watching this Broadway vet work perform on the set of "The Happiest Millionaire." Likewise, Woolie chose Peter Ustinov to do the voice of Prince John because Disney -- during one of his last visits to the studio -- had really enjoyed watching this Academy Award winner frolic on the set of "Blackbeard's Ghost."
Well, Peter proved to be an inspired choice for "Robin Hood" 's villain ... Whereas Mr. Steele … Well, my understanding is that - after just a few weeks of recording - it was determined that this "Happiest Millionaire" star just didn't have a very heroic sounding voice.
Sure, Tommy could pull off "Robin Hood" 's sillier scenes without any problem. Likewise his character's more romantic moments with Maid Marian seemed to come off fine. But in those parts of the picture where Robin had to sound heroic, inspirational ... Steele just came across as rather goofy sounding.
Which was why -- in the end -- Tommy was quietly let go and Reitherman found another, more heroic-sounding Englishman to do voicework for the film's title character: veteran stage actor Brian Bedford.
However, given all the time that was wasted on exploring different settings for the film and/or auditioning new actors to voice the film's title character, "Robin Hood" fell ridiculously behind schedule. So much so that -- in order to get this picture out in time to meet its December 1973 release -- the staff at WDFA had to recycle animation that had been used in the production of "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs," "Alice in Wonderland," "The Jungle Book" and "The Aristocats" in order to complete some of the trickier scenes in the picture.
Don't believe me? Then go pull out your "Robin Hood" DVD. Jump to the chapter that features the "Phony King of England" musical number. Now watch this scene carefully.
If you've a good eye or/or have a great memory for Disney animation, you'll be able to recognize the moments where the folks at WDFA "repurposed" footage from other pictures. Snow White's dance with the dwarfs. King Louis and Baloo boogie-ing. There's even bits borrowing from the musical felines from "The Aristocats."
This all-too-obvious recycling remains a real sore point with some animation professionals. They feel that the folks who were then-working at WDFA should have created all new animation that actually fit this sequence, rather than borrowing so obviously from the past.
But -- to be honest -- this practice continued well into the 1990s. Remind me sometime to tell you where -- the studio's 1991release, "Beauty and the Beast" -- you can see footage that was repurposed from "Bambi" and "Sleeping Beauty."
Now, I know all about the recycled animation from Snow White, The Jungle Book and The Aristocats, but does anyone know where some of the reused Alice animation appears in the movie? And also, apart from Beauty and the Beast and the 70s Disney features, what other Disney films recycle animation?
