The Scarlet Pimpernel – 1934 | 94 mins | Drama | B&W

Plot Synopsis

This lavishly crafted celluloid version of Baroness Orczy’s romantic novel produced by Alexander Korda remains one of the finest adventure films ever made. Leslie Howard would later reprise the role in the 1941 flag-waver Pimpernel Smith.

Set in 1793, a band of British gentlemen led by the outwardly foppish aristocrat Sir Percy Blakeney (Leslie Howard), use a variety of disguises to liberate as many French noblemen as possible from the guillotine during the purges that followed the French Revolution. Sending the French nobles to the relative safety of England, Percy leaves behind only a small red flower at the scene of his rescues – a pimpernel – and is thus given the moniker of The Scarlet Pimpernel. Robespierre (Ernest Milton) is concerned by the series of daring aristocrat rescues, and suspecting English involvement, sends his ambassador, Chauvelin (Raymond Massey), to London to ascertain the true identity of the Pimpernel. Chauvelin blackmails Percy’s unsuspecting wife Lady Marguerite (Merle Oberon) to help him trap the Pimpernel. As well as fooling his wife into believing he is indolent and weak, Percy deftly outmanoeuvres his chief adversary, Chauvelin.