The Adventures of Robin Hood (TV Series) A Husband for Marian (1955) User Reviews

A Husband for Marian

[Prismark10 · 6/10 · 20 March 2021]

A comedic episode as Sir Hubert De Vere is on his way to Fitzwalter Hall to marry Maid Marian.

The marriage is his reward for saving her father's life.

While talking to Robin and the Merrie men. Sir Hubert makes it very clear that he only interested in marrying Marian for her dowry.

Marian swaps places with her plain looking servant Ada (Thora Hird) in the hope that Marian can show her uncle that he is only after her money.

Marian's plan fails. Robin comes forward to do combat with Sir Hubert disguised as a German knight who also seeks Marian's hand in marriage.

There is a nice battle scene at the end. Sir Hubert is a cheeky scamp who finds Ada disguised as Marian a turn off but really has the hots for the servant.

Marian Comes Into Her Own

[iwarburton_2000 · 19 November 2011]

When Sir Hubert is intercepted in Sherwood Forest and tells Little John that he's on his way to Fitzwalter Hall to marry Maid Marian for the sake of her dowry, he is forcibly invited to dinner with the outlaws, so that details of his intentions can be made clear. This causes Robin to pursue an original way to deal with the issue.

Most of the action is based in Fitzwalter Hall rather than Sherwood Forest but this gives a chance to feature Marian in some depth and Bernadette O'Farrell puts in a particularly fine performance, with strength and sensitivity. A further pleasure is a guest appearance by Thora Hird, as a comic servant at Fitzwalter Hall who has definite ideas of her own as to how to handle this. It's a pity that such a funny and resourceful character didn't appear in more episodes. But this is a really enjoyable story, with humour as well as drama.