Talk:Black Arrow (1985 film)

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This Disney telefilm deserves a self standing article.--Drboisclair (talk) 03:44, 9 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Differences from the novel

The telefilm is based loosely on Robert Louis Stevenson's novel and simplifies the story. This film follows the 1948 Louis Hayward film more closely. The following are some of the major deviations from the novel:

The time of the story is changed from May and January 1460–1461 to just before 1469 when Warwick's rebellion against Edward IV began.

In the novel, one of Sir Daniel's retainers, Bennet Hatch, is blamed for the burning of Grimstone manor, the home of a Simon Malmesbury. Dick Shelton identifies Sir Daniel as Malmesbury's bane.^[1] Such an outrage is threatened on one of Sir Daniel's tenant farmers by Sykes, who is prevented from carrying it out by being assassinated by "Black Arrow."

Bennet Hatch, an important character in the novel, is left out, but two other retainers are added in the telefilm, Sykes and Scar.

In the telefilm Sir Daniel, who did vacillate freely between Lancaster and York, is presented as a Yorkist, while in the novel he is presented as a Lancastrian.

In the telefilm Richard Shelton becomes a knight in the household of Sir Daniel on the eve of his twenty-first birthday when he defeats Scar in a wrestling match. In the novel Richard is knighted by Richard Crookback on the field of battle in the fictional city of Shoreby.

Like Richard Shelton Joanna Sedley is an orphan in the novel. Joanna is under the guardianship of Lord Foxham in the novel, but in the telefilm, Joanna has a valiant father that leads the black arrow outlaws. This is also the plot of the 1948 film. At the start of the telefilm plot she has been housed in a convent for ten years under Sir Daniel's guardianship.

In the novel Richard Shelton escapes from Sir Daniel's castle when he realises that Sir Daniel murdered his father. Joanna is too frail to go with him. In the telefilm Joanna's stamina and manliness are emphasised as she escapes from Sir Daniel's castle by jumping over the moat from the battlement of the gateway.

In the novel Sir Daniel attempts to marry Joanna Sedley off to another magnate, Lord Shoreby, but in the telefilm and the 1948 film he plans to marry her himself.

In the novel Oliver Oates is a priest, and remains alive at the end of the story, but in the telefilm Oates is a layman associate or henchman of Sir Daniel like Sykes and Appleyard. He is killed by Sir Daniel when he denounces him. This is similar to the 1948 film in which the marriage of Sir Daniel to Joanna is interrupted when Oates is killed by a black arrow shot by a drunken Will Lawless trying to shoot Sir Daniel.

Instead of Jon Amend-All's fellowship, started by Ellis Duckworth, using black arrows as calling cards in the novel, the telefilm has Joanna Sedley's father, who goes by the name of "Black Arrow" lead outlaws against Sir Daniel. This is also the plot of the 1948 film in which Joanna's father, a John Sedley, led the black arrow outlaws.

In the novel the character Will Lawless is a loner while in the telefilm he is the best friend of the black arrow outlaw leader, "Black Arrow."

Richard Crookback, Duke of Gloucester, does not appear in the telefilm but is replaced by a different famous historic personage, Richard, Earl of Warwick. This authoritative character is an opponent of Sir Daniel in the novel while an ally of his in the telefilm.

In the novel Richard Shelton, when he confronts Sir Daniel for the last time, lets him go free on the outskirts of Holywood only to be killed by Ellis Duckworth with a black arrow. In the telefilm like the 1948 film Richard fights a duel to the death with Sir Daniel, but in the end Sir Daniel is killed by "Black Arrow" with a black arrow.

References

^ Robert Louis Stevenson, The Black Arrow: A Tale of the Two Roses, edited with an introduction and notes by Robert Sutherland, (London: Penguin Books, 2007), 49, 54.

[1] Robert Louis Stevenson, The Black Arrow: A Tale of the Two Roses, edited with an introduction and notes by Robert Sutherland, (London: Penguin Books, 2007), 49, 54.

[1]