Product Details

• Actors: Leslie Howard, Francis L. Sullivan, Allan Jeayes, Peter Gawthorne, Ernest Butcher
• Directors: Leslie Howard
• Writers: A.G. Macdonell, Anatole de Grunwald, Baroness Emmuska Orczy, Ian Dalrymple, Roland Pertwee
• Producers: Harold Huth
• Format: Black & White, NTSC
• Language: English
• Rated: NR (Not Rated)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: Timeless Multimedia
• VHS Release Date: August 21, 1997
• Run Time: 120 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 6304628153
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #191,655 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

This 1941 update of The Scarlet Pimpernel finds British actor Leslie Howard reinventing one of his most popular characters as an absent-minded archaeology professor ingeniously smuggling victims of Nazi oppression out of Germany. Howard (Gone with the Wind), who left Hollywood to return to his native country during World War II, also directed this taut, entertaining adventure in a patriotic vein, including scenes in which his charismatic hero scientifically debunks the myth of Aryan superiority. Directed with a deft touch and edited for maximum excitement, Pimpernel Smith is at the very least an equal to Howard's 1935 version of The Scarlet Pimpernel (directed by Harold Young), and in some ways it is technically superior. An offbeat, unlikely piece of morale boosting during a terrible time, Pimpernel Smith is a pure pleasure. --Tom Keogh

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

23 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Leslie Howard, Auteur, August 16, 2000

By 

Sharon Lynn Farley "sharlyfarley" (Colton's Point, Maryland United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Pimpernel Smith [VHS] (VHS Tape)

We're used to thinking of "personal films" as something modern; this one is sixty years old, and it's very personal. In 1939, fresh from Gone with the Wind, LH could have done anything he wanted -- but Hitler was bombing his country, and he went home to fight the war. It's safe to say he had the final word on the screenplay: an update of one of his most famous characters, the Scarlet Pimpernel. He is now smuggling intellectuals out of Germany, under cover of being an archeology professor too absent-minded to be taken seriously. Except, of course by Francis Sullivan of the Gestapo, and Mary Morris (daughter of a freedom-fighting publisher). Howard the Director keeps the tone light, the pace swift and the dialogue delightful. You may not even notice the absence of violence...but you will remember his final speech. It's almost the last film he made. Howard went into acting in the first place because he was shell-shocked in the first world war, and acting was therapy. By the time this film was made, acting was a cover; because he was also gathering intelligence for England when his plane was shot down. This film was made in 1940, before a great deal was known about how virulent the nazis were. It was a fusillade from a man who hated war...This gentle Englishman, with a great gift for comedy, knew what was important. In the place of the trademark pimpernel, there is a quote: "The mind of man is bounded only by the universe." See it.

17 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Leslie Howard's Tribute to English Values, December 30, 1999

By 

Terry Knapp (Santa Rosa, CA United States) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Pimpernel Smith [VHS] (VHS Tape)

Sink me! This is a deucedly entertaining play on the 1934 original. A heroic archeologist battling Nazis? Sounds vaguely familiar - I can't help but wonder whether George Lucas may have seen this film as a child. This is a wonderful, heartfelt wartime propaganda film.

Howard strikes just the right light note as the English academic whose true calling is the rescue of politically oppressed individuals. Howard, that most English of actors, was (believe it or not) Hungarian by birth, and he delivers a stirring tribute to the values of his adopted homeland, Britain. Francis L. Sullivan (best known as Lawyer Jaggers in both the 1934 and 1945 versions of GREAT EXPECTATIONS) obviously had a great time playing this update's counterpart to the original's Chauvelin. Look for early appearances by Michael Rennie (Klaatu in THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL) and David Tomlinson (Mr. Banks in MARY POPPINS).

Short of a major digital restoration, this is probably the best quality copy you will find of this film, which is a nearly sixty-year-old independent production. The master material is old, but it has been carefully cleaned and duplicated. I do wish that the soundtrack had been duplicated in Hi-Fi, but that is a minor quibble.

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars profoundly moving film, October 26, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Pimpernel Smith [VHS] (VHS Tape)

This very simple film is profoundly moving. The Nazis are almost too stupid and banal, but the portrayal of the Resistance of ordinary people is outstanding. The scene with the scarecrow, where you see his eyes move,,,then the blood slowly soaking the sleeve..incredible..anyone who loves films about the fight for right and justice will love this one...