The Scarlet Pimpernel

Plot synopsis:
In 1792, at the bloody height of the French Revolution's Reign of Terror, vengeful French mobs are outraged when again and again French aristocrats are saved from death by the audacious "Band of the Scarlet Pimpernel", a secret society of 20 English noblemen, "one to command, and nineteen to obey". Among the latest scheduled for execution are the Count de Tournay, former ambassador to Great Britain, and his family. However, one of the Scarlet Pimpernel's men visits them in prison disguised as a priest and gives them a message of hope. As the prisoners are being escorted to the cart to be taken to the guillotine, the guards take the count away; French leader Maximilien Robespierre wishes to question him further. The countess and her daughter are rescued and spirited away to England.
Back in Paris, Robespierre meets with Chauvelin, the republic's new ambassador to Britain, to discuss the problem of the Scarlet Pimpernel. Summoning the Count de Tournay, they offer him his life in return for information from his English contacts as to the Pimpernel's true identity. The Scarlet Pimpernel is Sir Percy Blakeney, a wealthy English baronet and friend of the Prince of Wales. Sir Percy cultivates the image of a fop in order to throw off suspicion. His pose is so successful that not even his French wife Marguerite suspects the truth. Though the two are in love, Sir Percy no longer trusts his wife because of her past denunciation of the Marquis de St. Cyr, which led to the execution of the marquis and his family.
Through his network of spies, Chauvelin discovers that Armand St. Just, Marguerite's brother is one of the Scarlet Pimpernel's agents. Chauvelin orders Armand's arrest, then uses the threat of his execution to force Marguerite into helping him discover the identity of the Pimpernel, who he knows will be at an upcoming ball. At the ball, Marguerite intercepts a message given to Sir Andrew Ffoulkes, a member of the Pimpernel's band, stating that the Pimpernel will be in the library at midnight. She passes the information along to Chauvelin, who goes to the library to find only Percy, apparently asleep. While waiting, Chauvelin falls asleep; when he wakes up, he finds a message from the Pimpernel mocking him.
The next morning, Percy and Marguerite travel to their house in the country. There, Marguerite breaks down and tells her husband of Armand's arrest and her deal with Chauvelin. Confronting her, Percy learns the truth behind the denunciation of the marquis; he had her imprisoned for consorting with his son. After the revolution freed her, she told her friend Chauvelin, who was the one who denounced them. Promising to use his influence at court on Armand's behalf, Percy leaves for London. Afterward, Marguerite notices a detail on a portrait of the 1st baronet hanging in the library – on his finger is a ring decorated by a pimpernel. Realizing that she has inadvertently betrayed her own husband, she rushes out of the room, only to be presented a letter from Chauvelin announcing that he had discovered the Pimpernel's true identity as well. Racing back to London, she warns Ffoulkes that Percy's life is in danger. Ffoulkes agrees to mobilise the band to warn Percy.
To lure Percy into his trap, Chauvelin has both Armand and the Count de Tournay transferred to Boulogne-sur-Mer. Despite the vigilance of Chauvelin's men, the Pimpernel frees the two men from prison through bribery. However, one of the prison guards tells Chauvelin that the Pimpernel will be at a certain tavern (the Lion d'Or) that evening. Marguerite goes there to warn Percy, only to be arrested by Chauvelin and his troops. Percy arrives at the appointed time and is met by a gloating Chauvelin. Percy distracts him long enough for Armand and the count to board the ship, but as he prepares to leave, Chauvelin announces that he has Marguerite in custody. Percy surrenders on the condition that she be freed. He is led away by soldiers to be shot by a waiting firing squad. Chauvelin exults at the sound of gunfire, but Percy returns to the tavern very much alive, revealing that the men in uniform are in fact his. After securing Chauvelin in the basement, Percy joins his wife on the ship back to England.

Tags: action, historical fiction

Review:
Three years ago, when I reviewed Powell & Pressburger's "Elusive Pimpernel", I dismissed its predecessor as a 'dated period piece' remarkable only for Leslie Howard's performance; watching it again now I'd hedge no bets in saying that it excels above its successor in almost every way.From the very beginning, long before the hero appears, it's evident that we are in for a treat.
A vein of wry humour runs through almost every scene, from the Prince's opening conviction that all the excesses of the Terror can be explained away by Johnny Foreigner's lack of sporting spirit -- "why, if it weren't for fox-hunting and pheasant-shooting, we might be cruel too!" -- to Sir Percy's sleepy quip when his wife implores him to rise above trivialities for once ("Can't rise above anything longer than three syllables, m'dear -- never could") and the cheerful double meaning of his disguised assurances to a Frenchman reviling 'perfidious Albion': ''It won't take *us* long to cross the Channel, eh boys?'' But wordplay is also used to poignant effect, as when he tells Marguerite, estranged from her husband but bedazzled by the romantic image of the unknown Scarlet Pimpernel, "For all you know, he's a married man deeply in love with his wife..."If the script is witty, humane and on occasion impassioned, it owes a great deal also to the nuanced delivery of the cast.
Nigel Bruce far outshines his bumbling Watson of later years in the pat of the pompous and preening but not entirely stupid Prince-Regent-to-be; Raymond Massey's Chauvelin is intelligent as well as menacing, despite an accent that strays periodically and disconcertingly across the Atlantic from France, plus the necessary abridgement of the plot for cinematic purposes; Merle Oberon, no raving beauty to today's taste, provides all the resourcefulness and heartbreak one could ask for, playing proud, neglected Marguerite -- one can easily credit her as Orczy's 'cleverest woman in Europe'.But casting Leslie Howard in the dual title role was a simple stroke of genius.
His scenes with Merle Oberon as Marguerite are joint masterpieces of brittle drawing-room comedy with an undertow of unhappiness that convinces us of the former passion between them, alluded to but never shown.Blakeney, of course, gets all the best lines, and Leslie Howard makes the most of them, mocking with exquisite insolence in his guise as licensed fool.
The bulk of the story is actually a melodrama enacted principally by a trio of characters: an English husband who believes his Parisian wife has betrayed the Gallic nobility he so loves, she frets that he has lost every scintilla of masculinity, and the French serpent in their midst plots to destroy their entire Eden.The reason the film clicks is because it is so very well written (celebrated American playwright Robert Sherwood worked on the script) and acted.
Sensitive Leslie Howard is perfectly cast as courageous Sir Percy Blakeney, who must wear a double disguise, that of the Pimpernel to fool the French, and as a complete aristocratic ass to dupe his wife, Marguerite.
Raymond Massey is properly wicked as the sneering Chauvelin, Revolutionary ambassador and master spy, who desperately desires to capture the Pimpernel.In the large cast it's often a mite difficult to sort out who's who, but a few fine character actors particularly stand out: Nigel Bruce as a stout & pompous Prince of Wales, Bramwell Fletcher as a French priest aiding the Pimpernel, and Melville Cooper as George Romney, the celebrated portraitist, who has to endure a silly critique from Sir Percy.The Baroness Emmuska Magdalena Rosalia Marie Josepha Barbara Orczy (1865-1947) was a most prolific author with a list of books almost as lengthy as her name.
It's also a moving love story.Central in all of this is Sir Percy Blakeney (Leslie Howard in his finest screen role).
he even uses this obsession in one of the film's wittiest lines, "A man who can't tie his own cravat isn't likely to put a noose around the Pimpernel's neck, is he?"   But, the paradox of course is that Sir Percy, his wife not even knowing, is the bane of the French Revolutionists, the Scarlet Pimpernel.
This aged take on the popular novel of a foppish English hero saving aristocrats from the guillotine during the French Revolution is an absorbing British movie; benefiting in particular from the excellent performance of Leslie Howard (one of England's greatest screen actors, despite his Hungarian ancestry), who gives the character of Percy Blakeney a humour and charm lacking from other actors who have attempted the part.Merle Oberon also does well as his French expat wife - perhaps her best acting, even surpassing her later work opposite Olivier in 'Wuthering Heights'.
There's a nonchalant, flippant air about him that masks a deep, genuine concern he harbours for saving innocent lives from the dreaded guillotine of revolutionary France.Merle Oberon, as the beautiful wife of Sir Percy, is continually in distress over the disillusioned position she finds herself in, of having lost all respect for her husband's apparent shallow character, until she learns otherwise.
All this leads to the villainous presence of Chauvelin, played by Raymond Massey, who is up to his evil ways to say the least.Nigel Bruce, as the Prince of Wales, has quite the knack of presenting real foppish royalty of the times; it's one of his better roles, being true to type you might say.It would have been nice to see a stage rendition if possible since it has all the right ingredients for a great play.
He's declared his own private war on the French Revolution and while not prancing about Regency society, he's over in France rescuing as many aristocrats as he can from Madame Guillotine.Like Zorro in order to throw off suspicion, Sir Percy Blakeney affects the guise of a fop so that no one will think him capable of anything bold.
"They seek him here, they seek him there, those Frenchies seek him everywhere..." He's the cunning English spy code-named Pimpernel: master of disguises, savior to guillotine-bound aristocrats during the French Revolution, and most likely to be found in London making as big an ass of himself as credulity will allow.
No one (not even his wife) would ever suspect the idiotic Sir Percy Blakeney of being the leader of an underground network of anti-Republic rebels, and it's still a joy to watch Leslie Howard, in the title role, successfully negotiating the ruse under the disdainful noses of his enemies.
It makes it easy for the fine cast to bring their characters to life, and it gives most of the main characters some good opportunities.Besides Howard, Raymond Massey does very well with a villainous character well-suited to him, Nigel Bruce is entertaining as the prince, and Merle Oberon does well enough in handling her character's dilemmas.
Although he might be better remembered for some of his roles in movies that are even more well-known, this might be his own best performance.The story itself is one of the well-remembered classics for its very interesting setting as well as the combination of exciting action and memorable characters.
A stage actor, and a British film actor, before coming to America.Here he plays a foppish dandy, much like Zorro, as he tries to spirit away French Aristocrats before they are guillotined.While he is doing that, he has trouble at home with his wife, the lovely Merle Oberon, who testified and sent a family to that same guillotine.You won't find a great amount of action here, unlike the familiar Zorro films with a similar theme.
LESLIE HOWARD and MERLE OBERON both shine in this thoroughly entertaining film classic about the man who was an effete British gentleman by day (Sir Percy) and a noble avenger who saved many of his countrymen from the guillotine.
And Merle Oberon is a vision of loveliness as his wife who almost gives his identity away before she realizes who he actually is.It's photographed in crisp B&W splendor with elegant costumes and settings and given a rich supporting cast of players including RAYMOND MASSEY as the Frenchman anxious to trap The Scarlet Pimpernell, NIGEL BRUCE, MELVILLE COOPER and many others.The brilliant script has many memorable lines, most of them given to Leslie Howard's character when he's playing the dandy seemingly oblivious to the hunt for the disguised Pimpernell.
Adventures based on Baroness Orczy's famous novels with screenplay by the usual Lajos Biró about wealthy Chamaleon man , an 18th century English aristocrat who leads a double life , Leslie Howard plays perfectly Sir Percy Blakeney , as he is not the fool he seems and confounds the French revolutionaries ; indeed , he masquerades as the daring adventurer , the soldier of fortune and rescuer of those persecuted by the French Revolution and the guillotines and only one man who is seemingly able to save them .
Exciting exploits set on the Reign of Terror with Sir Percy Blackeney , a humble wayside flower , who married the lovely stage actress Marguerite , Leslie Caron , and appears to be merely the effete aristocrat against a sinister Chauvelin , Raymond Massey , while the French Republicans seek him , there and everywhere .
This is one of the innumerable versions of the much-filmed adventure classic with the immortal hero named Scarlet pimpernel whose true identity is known only to a very few, and again the English aristocrat engaged in the underground effort to snatch out from under the blade of the guillotine Frenchmen caught in the Reign of Terror (1792) .
His ruse may throw off the French authorities but the elusive Pimpernel is also attempting to free his wife , though he is suddenly caught by Chauvelin.Leslie Howard plays it to perfection , fitting the role like elegant glove , he does a dashing hero leading several characters and posing as an officer , pauper old woman or revolutionary .
This one being stunningly directed by Harold Young and lavishly produced by Alexander Korda and his London Film Productions .Other versions about the supposed dandy of the English court who assumes the identity of foppish Sir Percy in order to outwit the French republicans and aid innocent aristocrats and based on classic novels by Baroness Orczy are the following : First silent version (1923) titled I Will Repay by Henry Kolker ; The Elusive Pimpernel (1950) by Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger with David Niven , Cryl Cusack and Margaret Leighton and TV series (1999) by Patrick Lau with Richard E Grant and Elizabeth McGovern and another series (1955) starred by Marius Goring as Sir Percy , and Scarlet Pimpernel (1982) (TV) is almost as good as the classic rendition , being made by Clive Donner with Anthony Andrews , Jane Seymour and Ian McKellen as his nemesis Chauvelin, the head of state security..
This early Black and White film is called " The Scarlet Pimpernal " and has Leslie Howard (supurb casting) playing the foppish, yet secretly dashing Sir Percy Blakeney.
Leslie Howard is superb as the English fop, Sir Percy, who is in reality the dreaded Scarlet Pimpernel.....
Merle Oberon is also excellent (and beautiful) as his unknowing wife.Raymond Massey is memorable as the evil French goon, who tries everything to discover the identity of the pimpernel.
Leslie Howard is the foppish Sir Percy Blakeney and "The Scarlet Pimpernel" in this 1934 version of the play and novel by the Baroness Orczy.
Merle Oberon plays his unhappy wife, Marguerite, and Raymond Massey is the cruel Chauvelin, the Pimpernel's arch enemy.The famous story is about a London lord who saves people from the French guillotine, wearing a variety of disguises.
The chronicles of the battle of wits between The Pimpernel and Chauvelin were the subject of many sequels written by the Baroness, the last one written in 1940.In black and white, and not the best quality film you'll ever see, "The Scarlet Pimpernel" is nevertheless a wonderful adventure, with a fine script by Robert Sherwood and excellent acting by everyone involved.
Based on a popular novel and play by Baroness Orczy, "The Scarlet Pimpernel" concerns a secret organization led by Sir Percy Blakeney during the Reign of Terror to aide victims to escape the guillotine in France to find sanctuary in England.
After all, Sir Percy Blakeney, aka The Scarlet Pimpernel, dashing hero of Baroness Orczy's classic adventure tale, is motivated by nothing so much as his loyalty to King George III and his sympathy for kindred royalists across the channel.
But neither Sir Percy or the movie really are what they appear to be.This cleverly made ironic film seems to undermine the cause of aristocrats by the very means that the Pimpernel uses to rescue them.
In order to avoid detection, for most of the movie, Sir Percy openly affects the effeminate mannerisms of a dandy much more interested in the cut of a male friend's coat than the cause of French aristocrats, which helps keep his swashbuckling Pimpernel identity a secret.
As brilliantly played by British actor Leslie Howard, Sir Percy, when he is not the Pimpernel, seems like no hero but the epitome of a parasitical member of the idle class, the perfect stereotype of an aristocratic fool.
Leslie Howard is so enjoyable in the title role.Other standout performances include Merle Oberon as Lady Blakeney, his wife, for her portrayal of the wife who struggles to hang on to her love for her husband despite every indication that he is no longer the man she married; Nigel Bruce as the irrelevant Prince of Wales; and Raymond Massey as the villainous Chauvin.Set against the French Revolution, the story views the conflict with a fresh eye that recognizes the excesses and atrocities on both sides--the aristocracy and the revolutionaries.I would give this film a "10", but I must admit the beginning is slow.
If I had never seen the 1982 mini-series version (shown on successive nights) of THE SCARLET PIMPERNEL (with Anthony Andrews and Jane Seymour), I probably would have really loved this Leslie Howard/Merle Oberon picture a lot more.
Leslie Howard isn't my ideal Sir Percy/Scarlet Pimpernel - he's too slight and fey (Orczy described her lead character as some strapping brick wall of a handsome hero), but I must admit that his 'fop' act was subtler, and therefore less irritating.
Howard lives a double life as a ridiculous fop, Sir Percy Blakeney, in the court of England's Prince of Wales (Nigel Bruce) AND as the heroic Scarlet Pimpernel.
The famous story, which has been put onto film more than half a dozen times, featured Leslie Howard as an Englishman who risks his life rescuing condemned French aristocrats from the guillotine of the berserk Revolutionaries of France, Merle Oberon as his misguided and confused wife, Raymond Massey as his chief opponent, and Walter Rilla as her brother.
Among the cast, Leslie Howard is very foppish as Sir Percy and very adequate as The Pimpernel.
120: The Scarlet Pimpernel (1934) - released 12/23/34, viewed 9/25/08.DOUG: From the makers of 'The Private Life of Henry VIII,' our next entry is 'The Scarlet Pimpernel.' Leslie Howard (from 'Of Human Bondage' previously and 'Gone With the Wind' eventually) plays Sir Percy Blakely, a seemingly empty-headed aristocrat who secretly works the underground as the Scarlet Pimpernel, helping innocents out of France during the revolution.
Even without the action, this is a capable suspense yarn set in the backdrop of revolutionary France, with some very good performances and compelling twists and turns.KEVIN: I am happy to see that Leslie Howard is not always as bland as he was in 'Of Human Bondage.' In many ways, 'The Scarlet Pimpernel' is a superhero story, which is probably why it's one of my favorites of the year, up there with 'The Count of Monte Cristo.' The Pimpernel may not have a costume, but he does have a superhero symbol and a host of disguises.
The film chooses to focus instead on the intrigue aspect of the Scarlet Pimpernel, his relationship with his friends, the masquerade he must maintain and how he deals with the possibility his wife may be a traitor.Both Leslie Howard and Merle Oberon are superb as is Nigel Bruce (who you may remember as Watson from the Basil Rathbone Sherlock Solmes B-movies of the 40's).
It is the story of Sir Percy Blakeney, an English aristocrat that rescues condemned French aristocrats from the guillotine under the secret identity of "The Scarlet Pimpernel".
The film features nice sets, scenes and costumes that fit the period.Leslie Howard leads the cast as Sir Percy Blakeney.
Seen a good half of all the versions of the Pimpernel, and read about half of the novels, and all these years later Leslie Howard and Merle Oberon star in the best telling of the classic tale.
The Scarlet Pimpernel is the story of an English nobleman who secretly rescues French aristocrats from execution during the French Revolution.This is one of the best "spy" films I've ever seen.
Sink me, a dammed good movie about the Reign of Terror and the dangerous efforts of an Englishman known as the Scarlet Pimpernel, aka Sir Percy Blakeney, aka Leslie Howard, and his small band of colleagues to rescue at least a few aristocrats from the French guillotine.The film has three themes going on at the same time: (1) Howard's constant trips to France to smuggle out the aristos; (2) the measures taken by the French ambassador to England (Raymond Massey, the one with the ineradicable sneer) to discover the hidden identity of the Pimpernel; and (3) the fact that Howard's wife is being blackmailed to pass that secret identity over to the French so they can capture him and lop off his head.It's an unpleasant situation altogether.
Leslie Howard as Sir Percy Blakeney, Merle Oberon as Marguerite (Lady Blakeney) and Raymond Massey as Citizen Chauvelin shine in their roles.
It takes most of the movie to understand the intertwined relationships between Marguerite St Juste (Merle Oberon), her brother Armand (Walter Rilla), her English nobleman husband Percy Blakeney aka the Pimpernel (Leslie Howard), and Citizen Chauvelin of the French Secret Police (Raymond Massey).