The Guardian from London, Greater London, England • 26

THE GUARDIAN Thursday January 17 1991 26 REVIEWSCREEN Hollywood glamour: Errol Flynn and Olivia De Havilland in The Adventures Of Robin Hood (1938). Above, Cheshire plain: Ankle deep in mud on the set of John Irvin's film. Merrie England was not as jolly as they would have us dews thorpe Robin comes round, again "Robert Redford gives one of his most deeply felt performances and Lena Olin, a terrific actress, matches him." David Arisen NEWSWEEK MAGAZINE Peckforton Castle, a Victorian medieval folly near Malpas. Apart from the merit of being empty it's about to be turned There are two Robin Hood movies currently being shot in Britain. Why does a medieval outlaw continue to fascinate film-makers? Robin Thoraber reports into an hotel its relative newness is authentic: very few castles had suffered 600 years' weathering in the 13th century.

A HE transatlantic movie moguls have decided that after a decade of greed we He had stumbled across the place years before as a documentary-maker for Granada Television and remembered it. With Patrick Burgin and Uma Thurman, their first choices, cast as Robin Hood and Maid Marian, they scoured the should be coloured a more caring, sharing shade of green. So Robin Hood, of all people, is suddenly in the ether. Two rival versions of the legendary redistributive outlaw are currently being shot in good old merrie England and will be locked in a traditional David-and-Goliath battle for the Century Fox, when he took the script with him. Fox passed the project to native bearers, the British independent producers Working Title.

The script, by American Mark Allen Smith, was set in the Californian redwoods in midsummer. Producer Sarah Radclyffe (of My Beautiful Laundrette, Wish You Were Here, A World Apart) had the dialogue translated into English by Scottish theatre writer John McGrath. Given the script in August with a January deadline and a budget of $13.5 million, she chose to shoot it on location in Cheshire. Director John Irvin (of Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, The Dogs Of War, Turtle Diary, Next Of Kin) found the site Jj joDcentres ot Cheshire, Liverpool and Manchester for bearded, hairy extras with craggy, medieval faces and found then enthusiastically forthcoming. T7 NGLISH authenticity is sure sign that a previous film unit had been there.

He just asked the one word: "Platoon?" Films reflect popular moods and expectations, Irvin says, and it's time for the hero to make a comeback. "There's been a glut of pseudo-heroes; the bad guys have been winning. It's time to get back to the original stuff, the prototype. Robin Hood is socially aware without being wimpish, he's active not passive." This doesn't mean that he's po-faced or earnest. McGrath's script is terse with droll irony.

"Without self-mockery there's a danger of Robin Hood being ludicrous," Irvin says. "People who've had hard lives tend to have a sardonic, laconic humour. There's an element of self-mockery. He's an active man, not a philosopher. He's the life-force.

He's the Green Man." Meanwhile Morgan-Creek are making their own version, Robin Hood: Prince Of Thieves, with Kevin Costner at Shepper-ton Studios. With a budget said to be nearer $60 million, their set is closed to the press because of the competitive deadline. John Irvin is unruffled. "There are a number of things that the British can do better than the Americans. I hope that telling the story of Robin Hood is one of them.

Theirs is more of a romp. I don't see them as rivals: what they're doing is an box office. much vegetation they looked as jif they'd been shot at the Chelsea Flower Show. He had been asked by Hollywood seven years ago to film Robin Hood but when he ran the 1938 Errol Flynn version he just said: "Re-release it." (There have been at least 20 screen manifestations since 1909, with Douglas Fairbanks, Richard Todd and Sean Con-nery playing the hero as well as Richard Greene in the Fifties television series which ran for 165 episodes. Irvin agreed to direct the film on one condition "that we lose the All that Lincoln green and feather-in-the-cap stuff, he says, "I wouldn't have enjoyed The outlaws were medieval Hell's Angels, they were poachers wearing skins and hides.

"Merrie England was not as jolly as they would have us believe. What was it like in the greenwood when the leaves fell off the trees? The answer is: 'tough'." He's delighted they're making the film in the middle of winter, ankle deep in mud with the freezing fog closing in across the Cheshire plain. "When I did Hard Times for Granada," he says, "the crew wanted mud money." Irvin is also a veteran of rival filming campaigns. When he was making the Vietnam war movie Hamburger Hill and looking for a location in the Philippines, he found a polystyrene cup on the ground a The reason for this is that -Ei their imimip selline nrnnn. sinon.

Everyone seen ine producer Joe Roth, having sniffed the air and found robbing the rich to give to the poor an idea whose time was imminent, commissioned a script for dappled sunlight coming thrnueh the leaves." Sarah Radclvffe savs. Irvin Morgan-Creek productions echoes this: all the previous film versions, he says, had so just before his departure to 20th i no itk a mv a 11x1 ttx i "MAGNIFICENT" Derek Malcolm, The Guardian WINNER of 4 EUROPEAN FILM AWARDS 1990 including EUROPEAN FILM OF THE YEAR PEDfl (PORTE APERTE) II Al TOM IWJ all I HilU ira lint Aiui i im i a it kiHci tvm rta hi uv to- alternative." LL'tLlLilUl 1L" i.iw b-jii a.aa.i; IiIMUhim 0 iibih im 1 1 nun ir im wh FROM FRIDAY JANUARY 25" "A marvellous piece of cinema, superbly played by an outstanding cast" IN 70rsh DOts BCAMMOM A film by GIANNI AMELIO starring GIAN MARIA VOLONut and ENNI0 FANTASTICHINI SHOWING FROM 17TH JANUARY nmsToux RJLHAMRD 071 370 2636 BAKER ST. 0719359772 BOX OFFICE NOW OPEN -FILM REVIEW NATIONAL FILM THEATRE, South Bank, Lon Telephone BOX OFFICE 071 928 3232 Gaia Celebrity Premiere Sun. Jan. 20th at Empire Leicester Sq.

7.00pm to aid GT. OrMOND St. OflLDRENS HOSPITAL "FILM YOU SHOULDN'T MISS THIS AND REALISTIC THRILLER" Dark Malcolm "An important film that deserves to be seen and discussed" Steve Grant timeout "Agrippingthriller" DavidRobinson the times ring of Ben Francis city limits 66 99 The next great British film TO Jtf 66 "Jacobi This fine succeeds marvellously and rich film" -HARPERS AND QUEEN -EMPIRE The Fool. mLMm g4w gEB mn o-uv aho MM awMM (wcet'SSK'lJll ijMtMt? chhrto ot twoatwi nun uan ia tot "I'n'i iHwbn. mu 1 smm" i KEN LOACH'S CONTROVERSIAL From dim ol Little DoilH' SANDS HLMS FILM K)UR INTERNA TIONAL BRITISH SCR EN JOHN TYLLR prcM.nl "THE FOOL' A SANDS FILMS PRODUCTION DEREK JACOBI CYRIL CUSACK as Ihc Ballad Seller Director of Pholography ROBIN VIDGEON B.S.C.

Music MICHEL SANVOISIN Eililtd by OLIVIER STOCKMAN Screenplay by CHRISTINE EDZARD OLIVIER STOCKMAN Produced by RICHARD GOODWIN Directed by CHRISTINE EDZARD EASTMAN KODAK Distribution by r43 HOBO FILMS Hidden Agenda Exclusive Presentation From Tomorrow aCAMHOt HAYMARKET anwiin CURZON West End SHAFTESBURY AVENUE 07MJ9 4805 BO Nti jaiM eiaUVAMMrTOTTENHAMCTRD check STARTS C1ASSIF1EDS 'mmml GREENWICH CINEMA ADVANCE BOX OFFICE NOW OPEN SEPARATE PROGRAMMES DAILY 2.IS, S.I5, 8.15 pm 0t18A3003 F0R0ETAILS TOMORROW i (MEMMm Wmmi jmucLjlvm.