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 heeft Lady Blakeney in het verleden misleid om haar vrienden te verraden en probeert haar weer in zijn greep te krijgen door de veiligheid van haar broer Armand te bedreigen.. 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’ deel.”

3) It is brains over brawn. Although Sir Percy is capable of physically defending himself, maar Sir Percy is succesvol vanwege zijn vermogen om de vijand te slim af te zijn. 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.

Het is een geweldige film die zo ongeveer draait 90 notulen. Many of the DVDs leave out the scene between Sir Percy and his brother-in-law Armand, wat een van de sleutels is om Sir Percy en zijn motivatie te begrijpen.

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