- Actors: Peter Jeffrey, Robert Langdon Lloyd, Julie Cox, Denise Black, Robert Perkins
- Directors: Edward Bennett, Patrick Lau
- Writers: Baroness Emmuska Orczy, Richard Carpenter
- Producers: Delia Fine, Hannah Rothschild, Johan Eliasch, Julian Murphy
- Format: Box set, Closed-captioned, Color, DVD-Video, NTSC
- Subtitles: English
- Region: (US and Canada This DVD will probably NOT be viewable in other countries. Read more about DVD formats.)
- Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
- Number of discs: 3
- MPAA Rating:
- Studio: Sma Distribution
- Release Date: Jun 1 2002
- Run Time: 294 minutes
- Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars See all reviews (50 customer reviews)
- ASIN: 0767026128
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #21,621 in DVD (See Top 100 in DVD)
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Product Description
From Amazon.com
The Scarlet Pimpernel is "the noblest, bravest man alive," if he does say so himself. And he does. But in this second made-for-cable Pimpernel adventure, it will take all of his cunning, wit, and charm to keep his head while all others around him are losing theirs to the dreaded Mademoiselle Guillotine.
Improbably recast as a swashbuckling hero, esteemed character actor Richard E. Grant (of the cult classic Withnail & I) once again rises to the occasion as foppish British aristocrat Sir Percy Blakeney, who leads a secret life as "the damned, elusive" Scarlet Pimpernel. As civil war rages, he is compelled to rescue the Marquis de Rochambeau's daughter Helene before she is found by Gabrielle Damiens (played with diabolical relish by Denise Black), better known as Mademoiselle Guillotine. The Mademoiselle is a formidable villain. "Search this brothel," she orders at a convent. To one trembling victim who won't tell her what she wants to know, she threatens, "In a little while, you'll want to tell me," emphatically adding, "Want to!" Meanwhile, the Pimpernel's adversary, Chauvelin ("It's a long and tedious story," Sir Percy remarks for those who missed Book 1), is in disgrace, but is recruited by Robespierre to also locate Helene.
Some who were otherwise Pimpernel fans found Elizabeth McGovern as Blackeney's wife, Lady Marguerite, to be about as welcome as Jar Jar Binks in Phantom Menace. But in this installment, she knows of her husband's secret identity and accompanies him. She and her "naughty tongue" are good company. Unlike Richard Lester's rollicking Three Musketeers films, there is not the slightest hint of tongue-in-cheek in this handsome production. The Pimpernel will ride again in Book 3. --Donald Liebenson
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Most helpful customer reviews
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
2.0 out of 5 stars
The Scarlet Pimpernel Strikes,
By KKR (Portland) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Scarlet Pimpernel Set (DVD)
Occasionally, I find a DVD set that I cannot finish, and the Scarlet Pimpernel was it. I love the story, adore the book, and liked the old black and white version. I would like to say first, the costumes are terrific, the cinematography is good, but the actors are stuck with questionable lines. That is not to say that the dandies are not dandy and the ladies are not of questionable morrals. I would like nothing more than to recommend this DVD set to friends and strangers alike, but even my Anglophyle friends have not been able to get past the first DVD in this boxset.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars
Pretty Good Adaptations of a Famous Classic,
By
This review is from: Scarlet Pimpernel Set (DVD)
While the movies in this boxed set are not the best Scarlet Pimpernel movies ever made, this is still a very good series of made for TV movies in its own right. Richard E. Grant is well cast as the Pimpernel while Elizabeth McGovern dazzles as Marguerite. The acting and direction is just short of excellent. The problem I have is that the scripts do not have too many good lines and they appear to have been written by hacks. This is a shame since the Pimpernel series was a most well-written series of novels. Still, the movies in this boxed DVD set are better than most of what you will find on TV these days.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
1.0 out of 5 stars
Shame on A&E!,
By A Customer
This review is from: Scarlet Pimpernel Set (VHS Tape)
A disappointing production in every way. A lackluster Richard Grant and a dowdy Elizabeth McGovern are woefully miscast as the clever Sir Percy and the beautiful Lady Blakely--and totally unconvincing as lovers. Good acting and fine direction might have brought Baroness Orczy's characterizations vividly to life, but the production sold out for mediocrity and sleaze. It's too bad A&E had no interest in faithfully translating the book to the screen; the original was a great story. Instead, viewers were dished up a poorly written, disjointed psuedo-swashbuckler that swaps the intricate sexual tensions of the novel for bawdy sex scenes. The noble aim of preventing bloodshed by using one's wits is apparently too subtle for today's audiences, which is the only reasoning that can explain the unnecessay carnage. Shame on A&E, usually a name to trust, for violating its viewership by catering to the base modern tastes for gratuitous sex and violence. Although we will probably never see a faithful rendition of this classic work, don't waste time on this production. Both the Leslie Howard/Merle Oberon and the Anthony Andrews/Jane Seymour versions capture the sexual and political undercurrents of Orczy's novel more accurately than this tasteless travesty.
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