page_title: The Scarlet Pimpernel
section_title: Films
hierarchical_section_title: The Scarlet Pimpernel / Adaptations / Films
caption_attribution_description: English: Still from the American adventure film The Scarlet Pimpernel (1917) with an unidentified actor and Dustin Farnum, on page 28 of the November 17, 1917 Exhibitors Herald.
context_page_description: The Scarlet Pimpernel is the first novel in a series of historical fiction by Baroness Orczy, published in 1905. It was written after her stage play of the same title enjoyed a long run in London, having opened in Nottingham in 1903.
  The novel is set during the Reign of Terror following the start of the French Revolution. The title is the nom de guerre of its hero and protagonist, a chivalrous Englishman who rescues aristocrats before they are sent to the guillotine. Sir Percy Blakeney leads a double life: apparently nothing more than a wealthy fop, but in reality a formidable swordsman and a quick-thinking escape artist. The band of gentlemen who assist him are the only ones who know of his secret identity. He is known by his symbol, a simple flower, the scarlet pimpernel. Marguerite Blakeney, his French wife, does not share his secret. She is approached by the new French envoy to England, Chauvelin, with a threat to her brother's life if she does not aid in the search for the Pimpernel. She aids him, and then discovers that the Pimpernel is also very dear to her. She sails to France to stop the envoy.
context_section_description: In 1923, Fred Terry and Julia Nelson bought the sole performance right to a stageplay based on The Scarlet Pimpernel. Orczy sued the two in an attempt to claim a separate right of performance for films, but was unsuccessful. As a result of the case, people who controlled a stage performance right under the English Copyright Act were entitled to create films with the same right.
  The Scarlet Pimpernel (1917; silent) starring Dustin Farnum, Winifred Kingston and William Burress
  The Laughing Cavalier (1917; silent)
  The Elusive Pimpernel (1919; silent) starring Cecil Humphreys, Maire Blanche and Norman Page
  The Triumph of the Scarlet Pimpernel (1928) starring Matheson Lang
  The Scarlet Pimpernel (1934) starring Leslie Howard, Merle Oberon and Raymond Massey
  The Return of the Scarlet Pimpernel (1937) starring Barry K. Barnes, Sophie Stewart and Francis Lister
  "Pimpernel" Smith (1941), (aka Mister V in the US) starring Leslie Howard, Mary Morris and Francis L. Sullivan
  Pimpernel Svensson (1950) starring Edvard Persson, Aurore Palmgren and Ivar Wahlgren
  The Elusive Pimpernel (1950), aka The Fighting Pimpernel in the US, starring David Niven, Margaret Leighton and Cyril Cusack
  Don't Lose Your Head (1966) (aka Carry On Pimpernel—US) starring Sid James, Kenneth Williams and Jim Dale
  The Elusive Pimpernel (1969) starring Anton Rodgers, Diane Fletcher and Bernard Hepton
caption: Dustin Farnum (right) in The Scarlet Pimpernel (1917)
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