Talk:Douglas Fairbanks in Robin Hood

Summary of making of "Robin Hood" movie from "The Parade's Gone By..." by Kevin Brownlow

There's an excellent account of Douglas Fairbanks making his 1922 "Robin Hood" in Kevin Brownlow's book "The Parade's Gone By...", University of California Press, 1968, pgs. 247-257. The movie was originally going to be called "The Spirit of Chivalry". A slump had hit the movie industry so Fairbanks himself put up the money, a million dollars, and became sole owner of the movie. He established the Robin Hood library for accurate research. 500 workmen were employed to build the sets. The set was too big for ordinary arc lights so they built huge tin reflectors, 20 feet across, to reflect sunlight. Real chain mail was too heavy, it "would break your back", said Allan Dwan, the director, so they used heavy burlap sprayed with silver paint and just used chain mail for the close-ups. The work continued at night, lit by huge lights, which attracted mosquitoes. The silhouette of the huge castle could be seen from miles away. It was built on the old Jesse Hampton studio grounds on Santa Monica Blvd., near La Brea, which was just empty fields at the time. The structure towered 90 feet above the street. There was no detailed script during the shoot; Fairbanks, under his pseudonym Elton Thomas, with Allan Dwan and Lotta Woods, scripted the movie as they went along. The shooting of "Robin Hood" was Hollywood's big tourist attraction. The picture broke box office records almost everwhere; it ran for so long at Grauman's Egyptian Theatre that the streetcar conductors there announced "All out for Robin Hood" instead of announcing the street. "Robin Hood" ended up costing $1,400,000 but it earned $2,500,000. The picture was awarded the Photoplay 1922 Medal of Honor (this was before the Academy Awards). The film later became lost for many years but was discovered in America by a collector. The poem at the beginning ("So fleet the works of men...", etc.), is Charles Kingsley's "Old and New". The picture was shot to be shown at 22 frames per second (fps during this time period varied). Allan Dwan, the director, said "It was the atmosphere that we strived for far above anything else". The castle was designed by Wilfred Buckland and was said to be the biggest structure ever built for a silent film; its size was further increased by a glass shot. Fairbanks copyrighted his film as "Douglas Fairbanks in Robin Hood" as a caution against imitators. I hope this info improves the article. I'll let Wiki editors decide how to incorporate it.63.198.19.168 (talk) 02:50, 7 March 2010 (UTC)Sgt. Rock

Missing Release section

This article is incomplete and is missing important information on the film's theatrical and home media releases which needs to be added to the article.--Paleface Jack (talk) 18:14, 7 November 2016 (UTC)

Requested move 23 July 2024

Douglas Fairbanks in Robin Hood → Robin Hood (1922 film) – Per WP:COMMONNAME, "Wikipedia does not necessarily use the subject's official name as an article title; it generally prefers the name that is most commonly used (as determined by its prevalence in a significant majority of independent, reliable, English-language sources) as such names will usually best fit the five criteria listed above." and per Wikipedia:Naming conventions (films) "Common names – Sometimes, it is acceptable to use an alternative common name that is more concise or recognizable.". In all historical articles of the film I've read and most film databases, the film is known as "Robin Hood" not "Douglas Fairbanks in Robin Hood". The title alone makes it sound like a represetnation of acting in the film. Andrzejbanas (talk) 13:37, 23 July 2024 (UTC) — Relisting.  ASUKITE 17:35, 31 July 2024 (UTC)

Oppose per WP:NATDIS. JohnCWiesenthal (talk) 19:35, 23 July 2024 (UTC)

i'm not sure this applies per the statement "an alternative name that the subject is also commonly called in English reliable sources". As stated above, in all reading I've done in this film, this era, this country of production, the film is simply referred to as Robin Hood. Just as how Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein is most commonly referred to by that title, over its onscreen title of Abbott Costello Meet Frankenstein or its poster title Bud Abbott and Lou Costello Meet Frankenstein. Andrzejbanas (talk) 05:53, 24 July 2024 (UTC)

• Oppose per JohnCWiesenthal. As mentioned above (Talk:Douglas Fairbanks in Robin Hood#Summary of making of "Robin Hood" movie from "The Parade's Gone By..." by Kevin Brownlow), Fairbanks deliberately copyrighted his production as "Douglas Fairbanks in Robin Hood" and AFI Catalog of Feature Films lists the full form as "Alternative Title". The main title header Robin Hood (1922 film) should, of course, remain as a redirect. —Roman Spinner (talk • contribs) 23:32, 23 July 2024 (UTC)

  While this is true in terms of copyright, Wikipedia:Naming conventions (films) we do not just use a copyrighted title and suggest other databases. Just as AFI refers to the title as Robin Hood predominantly. so does the BFI [Collections Search | BFI | British Film Institute here]. They also list Douglas Fairbanks in Robin Hood as an alternative title but specifically state Robin Hood as the "original title". Further reserach (I can provide sources if needed) state that Fairbanks gave this film the slightly irregular title for reasons of copyright, as he had issues with other "Three Musketeers" films coming out from his previous project. Andrzejbanas (talk) 12:19, 25 July 2024 (UTC)

Note: WikiProject Film has been notified of this discussion. ASUKITE 17:33, 31 July 2024 (UTC)

Relisting comment: Responders might wish to address the common name argument, which at the moment still appears to be prevalent ASUKITE 17:35, 31 July 2024 (UTC)