The Scarlet Pimpernel
"That damned elusive Pimpernel" finds a dashing embodiment in Leslie Howard, who has the steel to be an action hero and the wit to hide behind his alter ego: a British fop. Based on Baroness Orczy's novel, the story focuses on the efforts of this British dandy to aid members of the French aristocracy in escaping the guillotines of the French revolution. He also romances Merle Oberon, a beauty forgotten by recent generations, and engages in a wonderfully wicked duel of wits with the humorless enforcer for the French Republicans (Raymond Massey). If somewhat short on swashbuckling, it's long on the kind of costume drama that Hollywood seems to have forgotten how to do. Remade in 1982 for television, in an equally engaging version starring Anthony Andrews.--Marshall Fine