I caught this movie the other day on Film Four and was pleasantly surprised I was expecting a rather dated swashbuckler but it comes across as more of a character piece. In fact there's not a great deal of action through out the movie apart from a chase at the beginning and a small burst of action at the end. The film chooses to focus instead on the intrigue aspect of the Scarlet Pimpernel, his relationship with his friends, the masquerade he must maintain and how he deals with the possibility his wife may be a traitor.
Both Leslie Howard and Merle Oberon are superb as is Nigel Bruce (who you may remember as Watson from the Basil Rathbone Sherlock Solmes B-movies of the 40's). The badies fare equally as well Raymon Massey's Citizen Chauvlin comes across as a despicable and unscrupulous adversary for Sir Percy Blakney to match wits with. The period settings are well realised, costumes and backgrounds are sumptuous. Although it has to be said depending on your point of view the politics of the film could be viewed as morally dubious (after all should we be siding with the aristocracy who were living in luxury while the common people starved?). There is also a little overacting in places for my liking but this was the style of the time and the plot does drag in places in the middle section of the film.
Overall I enjoyed the film and would recommend it to most people not adverse to the older style of film making. 7/10
Both Leslie Howard and Merle Oberon are superb as is Nigel Bruce (who you may remember as Watson from the Basil Rathbone Sherlock Solmes B-movies of the 40's). The badies fare equally as well Raymon Massey's Citizen Chauvlin comes across as a despicable and unscrupulous adversary for Sir Percy Blakney to match wits with. The period settings are well realised, costumes and backgrounds are sumptuous. Although it has to be said depending on your point of view the politics of the film could be viewed as morally dubious (after all should we be siding with the aristocracy who were living in luxury while the common people starved?). There is also a little overacting in places for my liking but this was the style of the time and the plot does drag in places in the middle section of the film.
Overall I enjoyed the film and would recommend it to most people not adverse to the older style of film making. 7/10