Customer Reviews

Scarlet Pimpernel Set

5 star:		(16)
4 star:		(12)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(7)
1 star:		(11)

 

 

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.

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.

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.

The Scarlet Pimpernel is one of those books any child, or teenager should read. It has all the ingredients adventure, a hero in disguise, an evil villain, a great heroine and action and adventure.

I really like this version. I thought that no one could surpass Anthony Andrews , but , as usual I was wrong. Richard E. Grant is utterly perfect. He can be a stupid snob while he is Sir Percy and a great, sensible hero when he is the Pimpernel. His performance is elegant, wit and funny.

Elizabeth Mac Govern plays a real Marguerite. Not a stupid, simple woman as others have done before. She was a great actress before her marriage. She has a past and that is why I like her. A real heroine who matches the heroe, not one who is crying all the time and waiting for him to save her.

Martin Shaw is the best Chauvelin. He is a villain, with that dark secret that makes him more human. But also his wicked sense of humor keeps the high level in the film.

And plus, add a great score. A wonderful music with a catchy melody and you have a great serie. BBC always keeping its standars. Let's hope they will going up.

Initially, I couldn't be more thrilled when I heard that there were three new Pimpernel movies out there. I had worn my Anthony Andrews tape almost completely out, all the while hoping that someday, somewhere, someone would get the idea to bring the Pimpernel back. Well, they did. And this is the result. The casting, for the most part, is questionable. Sir Percy is supposed to be dashing and handsome, witty and absolutely hilarious. Richard E. Grant isn't any of these. He's a good actor when he's cast right. Here, he simply isn't. To be fair, he does have a few good moments, but they would have played so much better had it been someone else in the role. Elizabeth McGovern, as Marguerite, is fair. She's pretty, but a few years too old. She has, at least, some of the charm that the role requires. Perhaps the best casting comes in the form of the two villains. Martin Shaw as Chauvelin and Ronan Vibert as Robespierre are excellent. They convey total believeability in their roles. An added diminishment to the overall production is the choices the screenwriters made in adapting the stories. There's adventure and intrigue in places, but sometimes (as in Book Two, "Mademoiselle Guillotine") the story drags.

The attention paid to reconstructing the period must be commended. In this version, far more than any other version (yes, even the 1982 one, alas) the viewer gets a real sense of what it was like to live back then. There's the decadence of the English aristocracy and then there's the dirty, dangerous life in revolutionary France. Overall, this mini-series should have been much, much better.

I have to confess that I did not finish this movie. I couldn't sit through the thing, it was absolutely painful. I have many problems with the film but I will concentrate on the most glaring error. In all of the Pimpernel books, Sir Percy manages to get the aristocrats out of France in all sorts of witty and devious ways. None of these ways include running into the room in front of the guards and fighting out. Also, in all the books I've read, the people who are helping Percy are never caught. Some are even unaware that they are helping the Scarlet Pimpernel. It would have been nice if the movie sort of followed the books, but it didn't.

I own the scarlet pimpernel boxset and I must say then the third episode is by far the best of the lot, with a strong storyline, searching for the dauphin and the identity of the masked man, great script and a fantastic performances by Richard E Grant and Suzanne bertish with her double identity, I own this episode on video and dvd and would highly recommend it to anyone, the swordfighting scene between them is great.

Fans of the book will find a lot to nitpick, and I certainly have, but Richard E. Grant and Elizabeth McGovern are a of a lot of fun to watch. McGovern gives Marguerite a maturity and intensity that the latest batch of lollipop-actress-models can't even touch, and Grant is always fun. My only beef is their unkindness to some characters that I was rather fond of (killing them off, even when they survived in the books).

Well, that's not my only beef. Another one is that, with these characters dying, it would have been nice to see some gravity in Blakeney, recognizing that his friends were dropping like flies to protect him and further his own heroic aims. Without that maturation, Blakeney seems more like an uncaring airhead than a lighthearted hero.

However, they're fun discs, lots of visual appeal (especially in the first disc, during Mazzarini's birthday party, eh, Lord Dewhurst?), and a great treat for a night in with some hot tea and a purring cat in your lap.

I was intrigued by this movie because I LOVED the excellent A&E version of Pride and Prejudice, and have always been a fan of the book. Apparently, P&P was a fluke, because this movie stunk on nearly every level.

Dialogue, drama, talent, costumes, casting - this adaptation lacks all of these. The acting is almost lackluster and bland. The actors are horribly miscast - I've NEVER seen Elizabeth McGovern look worse (her character is supposed to be the most beautiful woman in Europe, yet she is the least attractive person on screen). The clothing is ill-fitting. The only similarity to the book, are the title and names of the characters. Their personalities have been almost clownishly redrawn.

I could go on, but I'm trying to block it out the experience.

Please, run (don't walk) from this movie - you will never regret the decision. If you're still interested, rent it before buying. If you feel a bad need for a Scarlet Pimpernel fix, buy the Jane Seymour/Anthony Andrews version on VHS.

Grant's Percy is certainly a bite out of Leslie Howard's apple. But, for me, the scenes between him and Martin's Shaw's "Shove Along" are the gems. Shaw brings a smoldering quality to his role I've not seen before.

That kept me interested. Still does.