You’d be forgiven if you don’t quite recognize this shot of the Sheriff of Nottingham. Although any fan will instinctively know where in the film it belongs.

Perhaps the reason it feels slightly different from your memory of ‘Robin Hood’ is that I’m posting the sequence upside down.

And just how fitting is it that one of our favorite villains first appears in an inverted reflection with chaotic waves of distortion from the water ripples generated by our heroes repeatedly hammering away at his illustrious entrance.

Walt Disney’s ‘Robin Hood’ is a treasure trove of excellence and rather oddly this shot stood out when I was reviewing various shots from the film..

It’s a simple shot. The Sheriff just poking his head into the scene.

But it does beg the question: How did the team at Disney approach staging and execution of this shot?

Did they imagine it as upside down from early in development?

Did they animate it as seen here as a simple shot of the Sheriff entering the scene normally but then get the idea to get innovative and invert the shot?

I can almost imagine the animators (Milton Kahl / John Lounsbery) sitting on opposite sides of a table looking at the drawings and one of them saying, “Hey, that looks great even upside down.” That didn’t likely happen but someone was inspired to have it be an inverted reflection.

Regardless, it’s certainly a subtle yet fun way to introduce the Sheriff.