Robin Hood en zijn schelmen

Summary

Children’s film about Robin Hood who frees count Andrew who has been abducted by a cruel sheik.

England’s nobles are riding off to the holy land in their droves. Count Andrew is one of them. His wife and son Robert are left behind at the family castle. Andrew is captured by the cruel sheik Ibrahim who wants a very big ransom. His family meanwhile thinks the unfortunate count has been killed. The countess and Robert find themselves without a protector and are forced to work as servants at the castle. When Robert is imprisoned, the master of the hunt helps him to escape and Robert joins Robin Hood and his merry men. With the outlaw’s help he sets off for the holy land to free his father. After many adventures he and his father return safely to England.

Director Henk van der Linden tells an enjoyable historical tale, taking the location problems - the film was shot in the Netherlands - in his stride. Van der Linden is regarded as the pioneer of Dutch children’s films. He made some forty feature length films between 1952 and 1985, often based on popular children’s books and cartoons such as ‘De avonturen van Dik Trom’ (Dik Trom’s adventures), ‘Sjors en Sjimmie’ (George and Jimmy) and ‘Billy Turf’ (Billy Bunter). Van der Linden not only directed, produced and edited the film, he also wrote the screenplay, designed the sets and worked behind the camera.