The Scarlet Pimpernel:
United Artists,
February 7, 1935
New York Times, February 8, 1935
Leslie Howard as the Scarlet
Pimpernel in a Fine British Screen Version of the
Famous Novel.
By ANDRE SENNWALD
The gorgeously colored adventure film which
Alexander Korda has carved from the pages of the
Baroness Orczy's novel permits the English to
recover some of their recent losses in cinema
prestige and the Radio City Music Hall to resume its
reputation for showing superior motion pictures.
"The Scarlet Pimpernel" is stirring to the pulse and
beautiful to the eye, and it weaves the richly
textured background of those tingling months of the
French Revolution into an enormously satisfying
photoplay. Once more the Scarlet Pimpernel defies
the bloody tribunals of the Revolution and snatches
the doomed aristocrats from Dame Guillotine. The
tumbrils clatter over the cobblestones and the
populace cries for heads. In England Sir Percy
Blakeney, Bart., minces so expertly, plays the fool
so well, that not even Chauvelin, the deadliest of
the Pimpernel's foes, suspects this simpering dandy
to be the bravest and shrewdest gentleman in all the
world. 'Sblood! a toothsome picture.
It is a temptation to say that Leslie Howard's
newest performance is also his best. This time the
need is overbearing. For Mr. Howard is the Pimpernel
himself, gallant and resourceful on his perilous
missions across the Channel, downright superb when
he is playing the simpering poseur in the English
drawing rooms. He is an infinite delight even in a
cast which is correct down to the smallest rôles and
includes Raymond Massey and Merle Oberon among its
principals. Robert Sherwood and Arthur Wimperis have
struck off a witty, romantic and adventurous screen
play, which has been costumed, photographed and set
aflowing with the best possible taste. Did the
narrative seem a trifle leisurely in places? No
matter. It was a leisurely age and here is a
succulent and captivating entertainment.
Since a comparatively small number of millions are
familiar with the book, perhaps it is time to
explain that the mysterious Pimpernel borrowed the
wayside flower for his mark, and with it signed his
tantalizing messages. He was an aristocrat in an age
when only the wellborn were esteemed to possess an
immortal soul, and he hated the ugly slaughter of
the French nobility. So he organized a secret band
of vigilantes and directed its operations so
successfully that he proved a great nuisance to the
busy Paris tribunals. Robespierre demanded his head
and the great Chauvelin was assigned to unmask him.
The Pimpernel led the French ferret a merry chase.
The Pimpernel's wife, who never suspected her nitwit
husband to be the gallant adventurer who was the
toast of England, even joined the search herself
when Chauvelin threatened to execute her imprisoned
brother unless she helped him. It is a dashing,
romantic adventure, and it leads finally to a dingy
French inn, where the Pimpernel and his relentless
foe confront each other at last.
Somehow, Mr. Korda succeeds as miraculously as he
did in "The Private Life of Henry VIII" in evoking
not only charm and humor and beauty out of what
might have been a rather stuffy costume piece, but
also an air of reality and conviction. Perhaps we
should reserve some of the applause for Harold
Young, who is credited with the direction. It is a
splendid cast, headed by the slant-eyed and quite
breathlessly lovely Miss Oberon as the Pimpernel's
wife, Raymond Massey as the prowling French
Ambassador, and Nigel Bruce as the slightly halfwit
Prince Regent. 'Struth, "The Scarlet Pimpernel"
provides a rare and satisfying experience in the
cinema. . . . "The Last Minute," a Leon Leonidoff
extravaganza, is the feature of the stage program at
the Music Hall.
The Scarlet Pimpernel:
United Artists,
February 7, 1935 |