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1[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/the_prince_of_thieves.jpg]]
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3''The Prince of Thieves'' is a 1948 American adventure film; a loose adaptation of Creator/AlexandreDumas' 1872 novel ''Le Prince des voleurs''. Produced by Sam Katzman for Creator/ColumbiaPictures, it was directed by Howard Bretherton and stars Jon Hall as Robin Hood and Patricia Morison as Lady Marian.
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5After fighting in the Crusades alongside UsefulNotes/RichardTheLionheart, Sir Allan Claire is returning home to marry his betrothed Lady Christabel. He and his sister Lady Marian Claire are saved from an assassin in Sherwood Forest by Myth/RobinHood and his band of Merry Men. Recognising a friend of King Richard, Robin informs them that Lady Christabel is to be married to Baron Tristan, the nephew of Prince John, against her will in the interest of politics and her father's fortune. The three team up to rescue the fair lady.
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7No connection (other than subject matter) to 1991's ''Film/RobinHoodPrinceOfThieves''.
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9!!Tropes:
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11* ArrangedMarriage: Lady Christabel is being forcibly wed to Baron Tristan to bring all of Nottinghamshire under Norman rule, enrich the coffers of Baron Tristan, and grant Sir Fitz-Alwin a family connection to Prince John.
12* BadHabits: Maude helps Robin escape from the keep by smuggling him Friar Tuck's habit to use as a disguise.
13* BatteringRam: Sir Fitz-Alwin's men use a battering ram to break down the door of the Head household while Friar Tuck is desperately trying to barricade it.
14* BriefAccentImitation: Baron Tristan briefly impersonates Robin Hood's voice to lure Friar Tuck and the ladies into an ambush when the two groups encounter each other on the trail in the dark.
15* ChairmanOfTheBrawl: Robin and Will Scarlet hit several of Sir Fitz-Alwin's men over the head with stools when they storm the Head household.
16* ClothFu: During the fight in the castle, Robin disables a group of Sir Fitz-Alwin's soldiers by ripping down a heavy tapestry and tossing it on top of them.
17* DamselInDistress: Lady Christabel and, to a lesser extent, Marian exist to be kidnapped and imprisoned by the villains so Robin and Sir Allan can rescue them.
18* DressingAsTheEnemy: After Robin is called on to surrender, [[TrojanPrisoner Little John and Will Scarlet deliver him to the castle]] disguised as Fitz-Alwin's soldiers. This allows them to mingle with the castle troops during Robin's execution.
19* EekAMouse: Maude does this deliberately to switch Lady Christabel's note before the seneschal can read it. She screams that she has seen a mouse and leaps up on to her chair. While everyone is looking for the mouse, she switches the note for a harmless poem.
20* FromDressToDressing: Lady Christabel uses a strip from her blue gown to bind up the wound on Sir Allan's arm before the wedding.
21* HandsOnApproach: Robin employs this while showing Marian how to shoot a bow. The scene ends with them kissing.
22* HarpOfFemininity: Beautiful DamselInDistress Lady Christabel is introduced playing the harp while imprisoned in her room awaiting her ArrangedMarriage.
23* HatDamage: While Robin is using the HandsOnApproach to teach Marian archery, an accidentally loosed arrow knocks the hat off Little John who us sleeping under a tree.
24* HistoricalCharactersFictionalRelative: Baron Tristan is the nephew of Prince John. From the way people talk he is not King Richard's nephew (or son), meaning he could only be a nephew of John's wife Isabella, Countess of Gloucester, who had three elder siblings.
25* HoldingTheFloor: Friar Tuck starts telling a long joke about two knights and two maidens who want to get married to distract the castle guards while Robin and Allan sneak in. The scene cuts to Robin and Allan breaking in before cutting back to Friar Tuck and the OrphanedPunchline "...so they got married and the mothers-in-law lived happily ever after".
26* InCaseYouForgotWhoWroteIt: The full onscreen title is ''Creator/AlexandreDumas' The Prince of Thieves''.
27* MenOfSherwood: Robin Hood's Merry Men. Only Little John and Will Scarlet are named, but this large band of outlaws are essentially a commando force. They are able to storm a castle, and silently take out all of the soldiers guarding the village and size control without the Normans noticing until one of the slain guards falls of the roof, by which time it is too late
28* OrphanedPunchline: Friar Tuck starts telling a joke about two knights and two maidens who want to get married to distract the castle guards while Robin and Allan sneak in. The scene cuts to Robin and Allan breaking in before cutting back to Friar Tuck and the punchline "...so they got married and the mothers-in-law lived happily ever after".
29* OutdoorBathPeeping: Baron Tristan, Sir Phillip and their men come across Marian and Maude bathing in a forest stream, resulting in Marian's capture.
30* ShootTheRope: When Robin is about to hanged, Little John hides under the scaffold and cuts the rope with a dagger when Robin drops through the trapdoor.
31* SkinnyDipping: Marian and Maude go bathing naked in a very picturesque forest stream.
32* TrojanPrisoner: After Robin is called on to surrender, Little John and Will Scarlet deliver him to the castle [[DressingAsTheEnemy disguised as Fitz-Alwin's soldiers]].
33* WeaponizedHeadgear: While Maude is being forcibly kissed by one of the castle guards, Robin removes the man's helmet and uses it to knock him unconsciousness.
34* WhyWasteAWedding: At the end of the film, the intended double wedding between Baron Tristan and Lady Christabel and Sir Phillip and Lady Marian instead becomes a triple wedding between Sir Allan and Christabel, Robin and Marian, and Will Scarlet and Maude after Robin and Allan have killed the previous grooms.
35* YouHaveFailedMe: When the bowman returns to Sir Fitz-Alwin and reports that the assassination failed and Sir Allan is still alive, Fitz-Alwin orders him taken outside and hanged as a warning to others.

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