The Scarlet Pimpernel

Director: Harold Young Harold Young

Overview

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.

Product Details

Release Date:	07/09/2015
UPC:	0644827105526
Original Release:	1934
Source:	Reel Vault
Language:	English
Sales rank:	16,193

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

Leslie Howard	Sir Percy Blakeney
Merle Oberon	Lady Marguerite Blakeney
Raymond Massey	Chauvelin
Nigel Bruce	Prince of Wales
Bramwell Fletcher	Priest
Anthony Bushell	Sir Andrew Ffoulkes
Joan Gardner	Suzanne de Tournay
Walter Rilla	Armand St. Just
Mabel Terry-Lewis	Countess de Tournay
O.B. Clarence	Count de Tournay
Ernest Milton	Robespierre
Edmund Breon	Col. Winterbottom
Melville Cooper	Romney
Gibb McLaughlin	The Barber
Morland Graham	Treadle
John Turnbull	Jellyband
Gertrude Musgrove	Jellyband's Daughter
Allan Jeayes	Lord Grenville
A. Bromley Davenport	French Innkeeper
Hindle Edgar	Lord Wilmot
William Freshman	Lord Hastings,Lord Hastings
Lawrence Hanray	Burke
Bruce Belfrage	Pitt
Edmund Willard	Bibot
Roy Meredith	Viscount de Tournay
Bill Shine	An Aristocrat
Brember Wills	Doman
Kenneth Kove	Codlin
Renee Macready	Lady Q
Harry Terry	Renad
Douglas Stewart	Merieres
Arthur Hambling	Captain of the Guard
Walter Rilia	Armand St. Just
Derrick De Marney	Members of the Pimpernel League
Hugh Dempster	Actor
Carl Harbord	Actor
Philip Strange	Actor
Peter Thomas	Actor
Arthur Benjamin	Composer

Technical Credits

Lajos Biró

S.N. Behrman

Robert E. Sherwood

Arthur Wimperis

S.N. Behrmann

Harold Young	Director
Lajos Biró	Screenwriter
S.N. Behrman	Screenwriter
Robert E. Sherwood	Screenwriter
Arthur Wimperis	Screenwriter
Alexander Korda	Producer
Ned Mann	Special Effects
S.N. Behrmann	Screenwriter

Editorial Reviews

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.

All Movie Guide - Richard Gilliam