Main Cast: Leslie Howard, Merle Oberon, Raymond Massey, Nigel Bruce, O.B. Clarence, Bramwell Fletcher
Release Year: 1934
Country: UK
Run Time: 95 minutes
MPAA Rating: NR
Plot
This film from director Harold Young is the second big-screen adaptation of Baroness Emmuska Orczy's 1905 novel The Scarlet Pimpernel. Leslie Howard stars as Sir Percy Blakeney, a British aristocrat who rescues innocent victims of the French Revolution under the guise of The Scarlet Pimpernel while maintaining the identity of a foppish dandy by day. Even his wife, Lady Marguerite Blakeney (Merle Oberon), is unaware of Percy's heroic alter-ego as he and his band of likeminded masked men save countless people from the guillotine. Perhaps the most famous adaptation of the classic book, The Scarlet Pimpernel would later be lampooned in 1966's Don't Lose Your Head. ~ Matthew Tobey, All Movie Guide
Review
The Scarlet Pimpernel is among the screen's most enduring and frequently filmed action/adventure stories, but it is the 1934 version with Leslie Howard in the title role that stands out for most fully re-creating the setting of the French Revolution. Were it not for his role as Ashley Wilkes in Gone With the Wind this would likely be the performance for which Howard is best remembered. He dominates the film, though not so much that there is not space for several of the supporting actors to shine, most notably Merle Oberon and Raymond Massey. Most of the credit for the film should be given to British producer Alexander Korda, who produced low-budget films with a look and feel that approached the best Hollywood efforts of the 1930s. Of particular note is the cinematography of Harold Rosson and the fast-paced editing of William Hornbeck. During World War II, Howard would direct a current-day remake of sorts, Pimpernel Smith, though it did not approach the popularity or critical acclaim of its predecessor. ~ Richard Gilliam, All Movie Guide
Cast
Leslie Howard - Scarlet Pimpernel/Sir Percy Blakeney
Walter Rilia - Armand St. Just; Joan Gardner - Suzanne de Tournay; Anthony Bushell - Sir Andrew Ffoulkes; Ernest Milton - Robespierre; John Turnbull - Jellyband; Melville Cooper - Romney; Mabel Terry-Lewis - Countess de Tournay; Edmund Breon - Col. Winterbottom; Allan Jeayes - Lord Grenville; Edmund Willard - Bibot; Bruce Belfrage - Pitt; A. Bromley Davenport - French Innkeeper; Derrick de Marney - Members of the Pimpernel League; Hugh Dempster; Hindle P. Edgar - Lord Wilmot; Morland Graham - Treadle; Lawrence Hanray - Burke; Carl Harbord; Gibb McLaughlin - The Barber; Gertrude Musgrove - Jellyband's Daughter; Bill Shine - An Aristocrat; Philip Strange; Harry Terry - "Renad"; Peter Evan Thomas; Brember Wills - Doman; Wiliam Freshman - Lord Hastings; Renee Macready - Lady Q; Arthur Hambling - Captain of the Guard; Kenneth Kove - "Codlin"; Douglas Stewart - "Merieres"
Alexander Korda, a Hungarian, who had been born in a town not far from the Orczy farm, had recently had great success with the actor Charles Laughton in the film The Private Life of Henry VIII, so he understandably asked the famous British actor to play the role of Sir Percy. But when the announcement went out to the press, the reaction from the Pimpernel's many fans was horror — the pug-nosed Laughton to play the suave Sir Percy? Never! Korda was nothing if not pragmatic and he offered the role to Leslie Howard, with Merle Oberon as Marguerite.
Filmed in black and white, Howard set the standard with his portrayal of Sir Percy Blakeney and this version is widely regarded as the best screen adaptation, although Orczy herself believed Oberon was miscast.
Cast
Leslie Howard as Sir Percy Blakeney/The Scarlet Pimpernel
Merle Oberon as Lady Blakeney, née Marguerite St. Just
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1920s
A 111-es ·The Prince and the Pauper ·Herren der Meere ·Die Tragödie eines verschollenen Fürstensohnes ·Samson and Delilah ·Das unbekannte Morgen ·Jedermanns Frau ·Tragödie im Hause Habsburg ·Dance Fever ·Madame Doesn't Want Children ·A Modern Dubarry ·The Stolen Bride ·The Private Life of Helen of Troy ·Yellow Lily ·Night Watch ·Love and the Devil ·The Squall ·Her Private Life
