Tells a fascinating and unsettling true story, and does so well, without pretending to have all the answers.

This is a must-see and one of the best documentaries - and films - of this year.

The film may be flawed, but its message is not.

It really made me laugh, but for some moments I was tearing up because I could relate so much.

Most Americans know Leslie Howard as Ashley Wilkes in Gone With the Wind, but he was an accomplished actor long before that. A stage actor, and a British film actor, before coming to America.Here he plays a foppish dandy, much like Zorro, as he tries to spirit away French Aristocrats before they are guillotined.While he is doing that, he has trouble at home with his wife, the lovely Merle Oberon, who testified and sent a family to that same guillotine.You won't find a great amount of action here, unlike the familiar Zorro films with a similar theme. It is a play more than anything, and an excellently written one at that. We can thank Oscar winner Robert E. Sherwood (The Best Years of Our Lives, Rebecca) for that.Seeing Raymond Massey (Dr. Leonard Gillespie in "Dr. Kildare"), and Nigel Bruce (Dr. Watson in the Sherlock Holmes films with Basil Rathbone), only added to the pleasure.Excellent film.

120: The Scarlet Pimpernel (1934) - released 12/23/34, viewed 9/25/08.DOUG: From the makers of 'The Private Life of Henry VIII,' our next entry is 'The Scarlet Pimpernel.' Leslie Howard (from 'Of Human Bondage' previously and 'Gone With the Wind' eventually) plays Sir Percy Blakely, a seemingly empty-headed aristocrat who secretly works the underground as the Scarlet Pimpernel, helping innocents out of France during the revolution. Pimpernel is kind of a super-hero identity, although he has no costumed persona, but he does have a logo (the titular flower), and many disguises. He's something of a French version of Zorro, minus the sword. About that: Call me ignorant, but I always thought Orczy's original story for Pimpernel was a swashbuckler; I'm pretty sure other versions have actual swordplay. But there is not a sword to be seen here; Blakely's weapon of choice appears to be the eyeglass. The movie yields a good performance from Howard, who works Blakeny's act nicely between underground vigilante and witless fop. Oberon is especially good as Marguerite, the wife who can't stand her seemingly clueless husband but admires the courage of the mysterious Pimpernel. Even without the action, this is a capable suspense yarn set in the backdrop of revolutionary France, with some very good performances and compelling twists and turns.KEVIN: I am happy to see that Leslie Howard is not always as bland as he was in 'Of Human Bondage.' In many ways, 'The Scarlet Pimpernel' is a superhero story, which is probably why it's one of my favorites of the year, up there with 'The Count of Monte Cristo.' The Pimpernel may not have a costume, but he does have a superhero symbol and a host of disguises. Characters like Batman and Iron Man stole the idea of a wealthy aristocrat who utilizes his wealth and resources to aid those in need. But in a totally not-made-up twist, it turns out to be the aristocracy rather than the peasantry that is persecuted under the Reign of Terror. There's also the old crime-fighter trope of the hero assuming the boorish fop persona to throw off suspicion, which in a way gives the hero the chance to be as memorably crazy as the villains. Although it makes for some of the best scenes in the film, I wondered if it was really necessary for Blakeney to maintain his foppishness around the woman he married. Which brings us to the awesome Merle Oberon as Lady Blakeney. She has nearly as much screen time as Howard. It's her story just as much as his, if not more so. Raymond Massey, looking like Paul Muni by way of Boris Karloff, chews memorable amounts of scenery as the dastardly Chauvelin, tasked with uncovering the Pimpernel's true identity. Although the film restoration leaves much to be desired, I would highly recommend this to fans of the book, of lavish adventures in general, and of both Howard and Oberon.Last film: Bright Eyes (1934). Next film viewed: The Crowd (1928). Next film chronologically: Bride of Frankenstein (1935).

Sir Percy Blakeney is leading a secret double life. Pretending to everyone in the public eye, including his own wife, that he is a silly British fop, he is in reality the dashing Scarlet Pimpernel, a man devoted, despite the threat to his own head, to helping free the innocence condemned to the guillotine during the French Terror! Overall this is very well done and features a very capable cast particularly lead Leslie Howard in the challenging dual role and Raymond Massey, who has a great turn as lead villain/spy for the French Republic Citizen Chauvelin for which he seems perfectly cast. Merle Oberon too does quite well and looks quite fetching as Blakeney's befuddled wife.The problem with this is it feels a bit too static, a bit too talky as was often the case with many early sound pictures. There's just a bit more exposition at times than really seems necessary. This slows the action down a bit to the point things actually get a little dull on occasion. That said, there's enough fun to be found in this one that makes it well worth watching especially those scenes featuring Howard's Blakeney, particularly when he uses some means of disguise or another to fool those pursuing him or uses his foppish charm to throw Chauvelin off his trail.

If I had never seen the 1982 mini-series version (shown on successive nights) of THE SCARLET PIMPERNEL (with Anthony Andrews and Jane Seymour), I probably would have really loved this Leslie Howard/Merle Oberon picture a lot more. However, the 1982 version was so perfect in every way that when I later saw the 1934 film, I was a bit let down. This isn't because the 1934 film is bad--on the contrary, it's excellent. But the story is simply too much for a conventional movie lasting only 97 minutes. As a result, many of the plot elements are a bit vague or have been removed altogether. Plus, the wonderful romance of the 1982 film is mostly gone because the production had to be rushed and the romance wasn't allowed to be explored in such a beautiful fashion. The extra 47 minutes of the later film REALLY made the film a wonderful experience that the earlier film just couldn't match. Plus, this is one costume drama that really was helped by filming it in color.Now as for the 1934 film, the acting was very good. In particular, Leslie Howard did a great job as the lead, Merle Oberon was fine and Raymond Massey was fine as the villain. They had nothing to be ashamed of in their performances (though I also think that the remake DID have slightly better acting--mostly due to the characters being more complex). The direction was fine and the cinematography was fine as well--no complaints. It's a good film that I do recommend--just not as highly as the later version. And, this IS saying something as I usually prefer the original versions of most films.