Customer Reviews

The Scarlet Pimpernel / Return of The Scarlet Pimpernel

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4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I've heard about the Scarlet Pimpernel years ago as it is a classic, but this DVD is the first time I ever saw it and its sequel. Leslie Howard, one of the stars of -Gone With the Wind- and Pygmalion, is wonderful as the English Superhero. He gives the character a sneeky humor and charm that sets the character alive. Barry K. Barnes also gives a good performance in the often overlooked sequel, The Return of the Scarlet Pimpernel- which manages to tie up the unresolved elements of the first movie. Look for a young James Mason in it. All in all, good clean entertainment about heroism in post revolution France. Also, there is a nice collection of cartoons and movie trailers on this DVD.

Baroness Orczy's dashing English hero was a precursor to Zorro and the Batman and, for me, part of the appeal has always been that the Scarlet Pimpernel takes his name after a small, unassuming wayside flower. This DVD contains THE SCARLET PIMPERNEL (1934) and its lesser known sequel THE RETURN OF THE SCARLET PIMPERNEL (1937). But I mostly want to talk about THE RETURN OF THE SCARLET PIMPERNEL. Leslie Howard and Merle Oberon are simply wonderful in THE SCARLET PIMPERNEL, a cinematic classic, produced by Alexander Korda, which brings Baroness Orczy's masterpiece to glorious life. If you haven't seen it yet and you're a fan of period romantic adventures, you are really missing out. It's a tale of painfully unrequited love. There's plenty of suspense and bold derring-do, and a fabulous running masquerade as put on by Sir Percy Blakeney, who passes himself off as a wilting fop and clothes horse in the courts of England even as he braves Paris during the French Revolution as the elusive Scarlet Pimpernel, time and again outwitting the froggies and foiling Madame Guillotine, with the aid of nineteen faithful Englishmen ever at his beck and call. Beautiful Merle Oberon as Margueritte St. Just frets and pines and finds herself cornered with a horrible choice: either save her beloved brother or save the courageous Pimpernel. Raymond Massey is quietly menacing as Citizen Andre Chauvelin, but Leslie Howard carries the show with a dazzling performance and a superbly languid voice. Dig the pastoral elegance of the English countryside as contrasted by the mean plebeian grit of the city of Paris. But I mostly want to talk about THE RETURN OF THE SCARLET PIMPERNEL.

THE RETURN OF THE SCARLET PIMPERNEL is set in 1794, two years after the events in THE SCARLET PIMPERNEL, and the nation of France still cowers under the rule of the tyrant Robespierre. Back in England, Sir Percy Blakeney (Barry K. Barnes) has been having a time of it, on the surface, playing the carefree English lord and excelling at cricket and relishing the company of his talented wife Margueritte. But the adventurous side of him chafes and chafes under all the inaction until, at last, the Scarlet Pimpernel is compelled to return to France to fight injustice.

But it is Citizen Chauvelin, under Robespierre's urging, who hatches a cunning plot to draw out Sir Percy (by the way, it's a neat conceit that all of France knows that Sir Percy is the Pimpernel, whereas in England only Margueritte and Sir Percy's nineteen men are aware). Sir Percy Blakeney is notoriously in love with his wife, yes, but Chauvelin knows of a stunning woman (Margaretta Scott) whom he thinks can compete with Margueritte in beauty, charm, and intellect. But the stakes truly escalate when Margueritte is abducted by Chauvelin's men and transported to France, where she is summarily sentenced for execution.

There are several versions of THE RETURN OF THE SCARLET PIMPERNEL with varying running times. This version runs at 76 minutes. But, any which way you cut it, this picture is a lesser effort when compared to the original film, and it doesn't help that Howard, Oberon, and Massey are absent in the sequel. But their counterparts - Barry K Barnes who rolls out his dialogue with mellifluous ease, Sophie Stewart, and Francis Lister - do engagingly well, and it doesn't matter that I've never heard of these actors before or since. Only Anthony Bushell returns as Sir Andrew Ffoulkes, and a young James Mason has a supporting role as revolutionary leader Jean Tallien. This sequel equals and even surpasses the original film in the number of clever disguises and hairbreadth escapes, although, okay, it's very hard to top the first escape sequence in the original. What it boils down to is that RETURN... simply doesn't have that sweeping element of romance and that extra Oomph! as provided by a first rate cast. However, it does have Citizen Chauvelin spouting his own bit of doggerel, although, you must agree, "The Spouse and the Mouse" just doesn't have the bite of "They seek him here, they seek him there, those Frenchies seek him everywhere..."

These are old flicks, folks, and so the video quality is pretty dubious at times, but when you factor in that THE RETURN OF THE SCARLET PIMPERNEL is exceedingly hard to come by, well, I guess you must settle. This DVD also comes with three old cartoons featuring Porky Pig in "Porky's Midnight Matinee," Woody Woodpecker in "Pantry Panic," and Betty Boop in "Snow-White."

AMAZON LEAVES OUT TELLING YOU THAT IT IS A BURNED COPY!!!

I'd have really liked to have known that little detail! I'd have skipped the purchase then.

also for the sequel it's not got any of the original actors returning for their rolls!.....it's a Korda pix yes but not that fantastic lifts a couple of scenes directly out of the original pimpernel. that first execution scene at the guillotine and the flag waving.

Since there was no cast listing in here I was hoping to see Leslie Howard again!

This purchase was a MAJOR LETDOWN!!

and the cover is what you see there with minuscule type really very off center.
I'm no graphic artist but heck Even I could do a better job with my Adobe Home Photo 3 from 2000 than what is done for a cover here

This is a fine double feature from the days of good clean adventure, where the hero always wins. In this case our hero is the mysterious Scarlet Pimpernel who seeks to save the people of France from the guillotine and the tyrannical Robespierre. Both films have the same theme. The first one with Leslie Howard I've seen many times. The Return of The Scarlet Pimpernel is a rare treat with Barry Barnes as the Scarlet Pimpernel and, surprise, a young James Mason as Jean Tallien, another hero of the film. This movie ties up the loose ends of the first movie rather nicely.

This is a bare-bones DVD-R release of Barry K. Barnes "The Return of the Scarlet Pimpernel". The film dates from 1937, so some degradation in film quality is to be expected, but the print on this DVD is pretty sketchy.

That said, the movie itself is quite splendid, the performances and plot are very engaging, and the costumes and set-design are spot-on. The film effectively renders material from the Pimpernel sequels "Eldorado" and "The Elusive Pimpernel".

Recommended for lovers of classic swashbucklers.

I thought the same cast from the first one would be in this movie too. Boy, was I wrong!!! I loved both Leslie Howard and his leading lady in The Scarlet Pimpernel! In the sequel, these are people I never heard of or seen before. What a huge let down! I already own the original, but thought I'd go ahead and buy this one for the sequel. I sent it back! Wasn't going to pay a dime for the sequel! I tried to watch it all the way through and may have, but everything about this movie was inferior to the first one. Don't buy it!!!