The Scarlet Pimpernel (1934)
Country: GB
Technical: bw 98m
Director: Harold Young
Cast: Leslie Howard, Merle Oberon, Raymond Massey
Synopsis:
A French noblewoman is oblivious of the fact that her husband, a noted London fop, is in fact smuggling aristos out of France. Then the Directoire puts pressure on her by arresting her brother.
Review:
Instead of swashbuckling action everything rests here on the brilliance of the repartee between the two rivals, a reliance which is well-placed for seldom has so much delicate fun been afforded by such masterly actors in a genre piece of this kind. It is not a romp: it retains a respect for its characters and plot, and a belief in them, and yet sobriety and jingoism are constantly, effortlessly avoided.
Country: GB
Technical: bw 98m
Director: Harold Young
Cast: Leslie Howard, Merle Oberon, Raymond Massey
Synopsis:
A French noblewoman is oblivious of the fact that her husband, a noted London fop, is in fact smuggling aristos out of France. Then the Directoire puts pressure on her by arresting her brother.
Review:
Instead of swashbuckling action everything rests here on the brilliance of the repartee between the two rivals, a reliance which is well-placed for seldom has so much delicate fun been afforded by such masterly actors in a genre piece of this kind. It is not a romp: it retains a respect for its characters and plot, and a belief in them, and yet sobriety and jingoism are constantly, effortlessly avoided.
Country: GB
Technical: bw 98m
Director: Harold Young
Cast: Leslie Howard, Merle Oberon, Raymond Massey
Synopsis:
A French noblewoman is oblivious of the fact that her husband, a noted London fop, is in fact smuggling aristos out of France. Then the Directoire puts pressure on her by arresting her brother.
Review:
Instead of swashbuckling action everything rests here on the brilliance of the repartee between the two rivals, a reliance which is well-placed for seldom has so much delicate fun been afforded by such masterly actors in a genre piece of this kind. It is not a romp: it retains a respect for its characters and plot, and a belief in them, and yet sobriety and jingoism are constantly, effortlessly avoided.