Richard Todd enjoyed a long career during which he played nearly every type of role imaginable. Among those were a few swashbucklers.
ROB ROY: THE HIGHLAND ROGUE (1953) – Accurate history has no place in this Disney film in which Richard Todd stars as Scottish Clan leader and legendary outlaw Rob Roy MacGregor. The film begins in 1715 as Clan MacGregor is among the Scottish forces fighting against King George the First of England in the Jacobite Uprising.
The Duke of Argyll (James Robertson Justice) leads troops loyal to the king and defeats the rebellious clans despite his grudging admiration for them, especially Rob Roy MacGregor. By 1717, Argyll’s rival the Duke of Montrose is placed in charge of the Scottish Highlands and is much harsher than the Duke of Argyll was.
Montrose pardons all the Jacobite Clans except the MacGregors, who are forbidden to even use their surname, hence their leader being renowned as simply Rob Roy. Our hero is imprisoned by Montrose but escapes and leads his kinsmen and loyalists in rustling Montrose’s cattle and looting his estates.
And so the film goes, with the Duke of Montrose used as a Prince John in Robin Hood figure and his underling Killearn serving as a Sheriff of Nottingham type. Rob Roy and his men thwart the bad guys at every turn, and ultimately the Duke of Argyll arranges a truce between Rob Roy’s clan and the king.
Glynis Johns co-stars as Rob’s wife Helen Mary MacGregor with Michael Gough portraying the villainous Montrose. 81 minutes.
THE SWORD AND THE ROSE (1953) – Many of the same actors and the same level of deviations from history are featured in this movie. This time around, Todd portrays Charles Brandon, a dashing military man who catches the eye of Mary Tudor, played by Glynis Johns.
Mary convinces her brother King Henry the Eighth (James Robertson Justice) to make Brandon his Captain of the Guard so she can have him on hand. Her budding romance with Charles ends when King Henry marries her off in a political union with France’s King Louis the Twelfth.
Henry dries her tears by promising her that if Louis dies she may select her next husband for herself. Mary then sets out to erode King Louis’ health via partying while back in England, the Duke of Buckingham (Michael Gough) plots against Charles Brandon because he wants Mary Tudor for himself.
Amid much derring-do in both France and England, Charles and Mary overcome all obstacles and all villainy to end up as man and wife in the end. At one point, the evil Buckingham even imprisons Brandon in the Tower of London, but he escapes.
Uncharacteristically for a Disney production, Mary Tudor’s hastening of her French husband to his grave is treated light-heartedly. At any rate, King Henry honors his promise to let Mary pick her next hubby, Charles Brandon, and makes his new brother-in-law the First Duke of Suffolk. 92 minutes.
THE STORY OF ROBIN HOOD AND HIS MERRIE MEN (1952) – Richard Todd was you-know-who in this umpteenth reworking of the Robin Hood legend. Joan Rice played Maid Marian, Peter Finch was the Sheriff of Nottingham and James Robertson Justice played Little John.
Robin Fitzooth wants to impress the beautiful Maid Marian so he enters an archery contest at King Richard’s palace. On the way home with his father Hugh Fitzooth after wowing the crowds, Robin witnesses his father’s death at the hands of Prince John’s thugs.
He takes to Sherwood Forest and adopts the name Robin Hood. Our hero leads a gang of outlaws in championing the oppressed peasants against the tyranny of Prince John and the Sheriff of Nottingham while also foiling the prince’s plan to usurp the throne while King Richard is off fighting in the Crusades.
Maid Marian – often disguised as a boy – covertly coordinates subversive activities with Robin until our good guys triumph. Actual location filming in Sherwood Forest adds some novelty to this movie to distinguish it from all the other Robin Hood productions of the time.
Elton Hayes was Alan-a-Dale, Anthony Forwood played Will Scarlet and James Hayter was Friar Tuck. 84 minutes.
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