Robin Hood is released

Robin Hood is an animated feature produced by the Walt Disney Studios, first released in the United States on November 8, 1973.

The 21st animated feature in the Walt Disney Animated Classics series, the film is based on the legend of Robin Hood, but uses anthropomorphic animals instead of people.

As the film allotted a small budget, the artists referenced footage from previous animated features. A dance sequence in the film was traced from a sequence originally produced for Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. This is most noticeable during the song-and-dance number, "The Phony King of England"; the characters' movements strongly resemble those from The Jungle Book, The Aristocats, and Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. A notable example is that the section where Little John and Lady Cluck dance together mirrors part of the song "I Wanna Be Like You" from The Jungle Book with Baloo and King Louie respectively. Other examples include Robin Hood and Maid Marian mirroring the dancing movements of Thomas O'Malley and Duchess during the song "Everybody Wants to Be a Cat" from The Aristocats and Maid Marian mirroring the dancing movements of Snow White during the song "The Silly Song" from Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. The animation of Little John, the bear in Robin Hood, is nearly identical to that of Baloo in The Jungle Book. However, Little John more closely resembles a Brown Bear or Grizzly Bear, and Baloo was based on an Indian Sloth Bear. Both characters were voiced by actor Phil Harris, and have similar personalities, though Little John seems a far more responsible character than the "jungle bum" Baloo. Because Maid Marian dances the same moves that Snow White does, she was animated to wear a petticoat instead of bloomers. The robe that Prince John wears, and the crown worn by the puppet version of himself, are the same robe and crown the king wears in Bedknobs and Broomsticks. In addition, Robin Hood's costume (green tunic and feathered cap) is similar to that of 1953's Peter Pan, sometimes leading to confusion between the two characters. At the end of the movie, a sound clip of the church bells ringing in Cinderella was used for the wedding church bells. During the beginning of the film, Sir Hiss mesmerizes Prince John with his eyes. This was the same type of ability Kaa the Indian Python had in Disney's 1967 film, The Jungle Book. This short scene may be another re-use of older animation; Hiss looks similar to Kaa.