Scarlet Pimpernel The (1934) – full review!
Scarlet Pimpernel The (1934) – full review!
Produced by Alexander Korda and directed by Harold Young with writing credits that include Baroness Emmuska Orczy (her novel) Lajos Biró (The Last Command (1928)) S.N. Behrman Robert Sherwood and Arthur Wimperis this slightly above average adventure comedy features Leslie Howard in the title role aka Sir Percy Blakeney. Merle Oberon (she with the beautiful high forehead) plays Howard’s wife Lady Marguerite Blakeney Raymond Massey plays Citizen Chauvelin and Nigel Bruce plays the Prince of Wales.
The plot is similar to The Mark of Zorro (1940) (or the earlier 1920 version starring Douglas Fairbanks) in that a nobleman pretends to be an effeminate male in order to ‘hide in plain site’ from those who would rightly suspect him of being (his alter ego) the titled hero who is helping Frenchman accused of treason by Robespierre (Ernest Milton) to escape France and the guillotine in their post Revolutionary War period. Twenty others from England assist Sir Blakeney whose also a master of disguise including Sir Andrew Ffoulkes (Anthony Bushell). Once in London the French nobleman are free to associate with the Prince of Wales. Englishman Chauvelin is employed by Robespierre to catch this Scarlet Pimpernel who Lady Blakeney admires from afar without knowing that he and her foppish ‘poet’ husband are one in the same. Sir Percy whose favorite expression is "sink me" keeps the secret from his wife because much earlier she’d betrayed others (to Chauvelin) an act he doesn’t fully understand until late in the story. Chauvelin uses the Lady and her desire to see her brother Armand St. Just (Walter Rilla) freed again to learn the identity of the Scarlet Pimpernel who marks his correspondence with a (pink?) flower. When she realizes what she’s done and who her husband really is (per his ring which bears the flower) she asks Sir Andrew to help her to rescue Sir Percy before Chauvelin closes in. A tantalizing game of cat and mouse mostly achieved through clever banter that keeps the audience from guessing who really has the upper hand is played out between the two nemeses (Howard and Massey are perfectly cast for their respective roles).
Others in the cast include (among others): Bramwell Fletcher who plays a priest; Joan Gardner Mabel Terry-Lewis and O.B. Clarence who play a French family to be rescued named de Tournay; Melville Cooper who plays the artist Romney; and Bromley Davenport who plays an innkeeper.
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