The Scarlet Pimpernel
While it may not be on classic film lists, I love The Scarlet Pimpernel (1934) (affiliate link). It is an adaptation of the novel (affiliate link) by the same name, written by Baroness Orczy. The film concerns an English gentleman, who risks his life to save French aristocrats from the guillotine. Sir Percy Blakeney married Marguerite, a French woman with ties to the revolutionary government.
Leslie Howard portrays Sir Percy Blakeney, and Merle Oberon plays his wife, Lady Blakeney. Lady Blakeney does not know her husband is the Scarlet Pimpernel.
Still from the Scarlet Pimpernel
The film begins with the French revolutionary committee preparing to execute a family of aristocrats. Before the committee can transport the family to the guillotine, the Scarlet Pimpernel and his men spirit the aristocrats out of prison and across the channel to the safety of England.
After this latest escape, the French government sends a spymaster to England, Citizen Chauvelin, portrayed by Raymond Massey, arrives from France to discover the identity of the Pimpernel.
In the past, Chauvelin tricked Lady Blakeney into betraying her friends. Chauvelin tries to force Lady Blakeney into helping him by threatening her brother Armand’s safety.
Eventually, both Chauvelin and Lady Blakeney discover the identity of the Scarlet Pimpernel. Both Chauvelin and Lady Blakeney rush back to France, one to kill Sir Percy and one to save him.
Still from the Scarlet Pimpernel
Born Leslie Howard Steiner in London, England on April 3, 1893, Leslie Howard served in the British Army during World War I. The army demobilized Howard in 1917 due to shell shock.
Howard’s doctor suggested acting to soothe Howard’s nerves. Over the next twenty-five years, Howard achieved film superstardom in the United States in England.
When World War II broke out, Howard stopped acting in commercial films. Howard made films for the army focused on promoting the war effort. A German airplane shot down the commercial plane, which Howard rode in on his way back from Portugal, over the Bay of Biscay. The German Air Force shot the plane down on June 1, 1943. Leslie Howard died at 50 years old.
The Scarlet Pimpernel (affiliate link) runs about 90 minutes of fast-paced entertainment. Let me know what you think of the film.
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