Corrected entry: In the hanging scene, the executioner steps out in public and THEN puts on his hood. The idea of the hood was that people would not know who he was, but his face is visible to the crowd gathered, so there was little point in him putting on the hood after all.
Twotall
1st Jun 2005
Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves (1991)
13th Jun 2005
Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves (1991)
Corrected entry: The Sheriff of Nottingham refers to swords being forged from Spanish steel shortly before stabbing his cousin. After the stabbing he again says, "This is good steel." Steel wasn't invented until the 19th century.
Correction: Rubbish. Steel was first produced in Cyprus around 1100 BC (as far as we know. It could have been invented earlier, but the oldest surviving artifacts are from this age). This was a very inferior carburized iron, but the principal technique spread and by the year 900 AD Middle Eastern smiths could make "Damascus steel", which is said to be ideal for swords. The "Spanish Steel" the Sheriff talks about probably mean that the blade was made in Toledo, a city famous for making excellent swordsteel since the early Middle Ages.
13th Mar 2005
Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves (1991)
Corrected entry: In the extended version where the Sheriff finds out Mortianna the Witch is his mother, something doesn't make sense. Mortianna says she killed a baby from the castle and replaced it with her own (the infant Sheriff). What would that achieve? As far as anyone in the castle is concerned it would be the same baby and there'd be a new mad old crone hanging around saying it was her charge. She'd be burnt as a witch. Alternatively, they'd realise it was a different baby and Mortianna would still be burnt as a witch and a murderess. Either way, it doesn't make sense that Mortianna would have managed to have stay with the Sheriff whilst he grew up.
Correction: You are assuming that Mortianna had told her story to others. If she never told anyone that she had had a baby, nobody would know, and her child would grow up in a richer and better household than she could provide. She only tells him when he is grown up. In addition, Mortianna has the protection of the Prince. This makes it very difficult to have her burned, and as we can see it lets her practice her witchcraft quite freely.
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Correction: This is a character mistake at best. In many medieval communities, people knew who the local executioner was regardless of whether he covered his face or not (often, criminals were sentenced to being executioners, or people could figure out his identity based on bodily distinctions). If the crowd knew who the executioner were and what he looked like, the hood would be used more out of tradition, and not to hide his identity. So it is possible that the headsman in this movie simply did not care to hide himself.
Twotall