The Scarlet Pimpernel (1935)

Leslie Howard portrays the Englishman, Sir Percy Blakeney, and Merle Oberon plays his wife, Lady Blakeney, who does not know her husband is the Scarlet Pimpernel. Citizen Chauvelin, portrayed by Raymond Massey, arrives from France to discover the identity of the Pimpernel. Chauvelin memperdaya Lady Blakeney supaya mengkhianati rakan-rakannya pada masa lalu dan cuba mendapatkan cengkamannya semula dengan mengancam keselamatan abangnya Armand. I enjoy this movie for a number of reasons.

1) What you see is not what you get. The Pimpernel must use deception to successfully rescue the aristocrats so nothing is really as it seems. You are led to believe one thing but find out another at the end of the film.

2) The acting is superb. In one exchange between Sir Percy and Chauvelin, Sir Percy, who acts like a fop through much of the film, reads a poem that he has written about the Pimpernel with Chauvelin. One of the lines is “those Frenchies seek him every where.” Chauvelin placidly responds, “I like it, Sir Percy. Particularly that those ‘Frenchies seek him every where’ bahagian.”

3) It is brains over brawn. Although Sir Percy is capable of physically defending himself, tetapi Sir Percy berjaya kerana kebolehannya untuk mengalahkan musuh. In one scene, his followers want to storm the French garrison but Sir Percy tells them such action will render them useless. They could win one battle and lose the war.

Ia adalah filem hebat yang ditayangkan 90 minit. Many of the DVDs leave out the scene between Sir Percy and his brother-in-law Armand, yang merupakan salah satu kunci untuk memahami Sir Percy dan motivasinya.

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