The Scarlet Pimpernel Review

"The Scarlet Pimpernel. By Sir Percival Blakeney, Baronet."

*thunderous applause*

"No, no, no, that's just the title!"

How do I love this movie? Let me count the ways...

Well, sink me, I really don't know where to begin. Odd's fish, m'dears, this film truly does defy explanation. If you haven't seen it, get thee to the library or video rental store (or YouTube). If you have seen it, sit back and enjoy what I have to say. That is, if you watched the movie AND LIKED IT. Because if you didn't like it, just go away. We don't want you.

Kidding. Everyone's welcome here. (As long as you love the Scarlet Pimpernel.) I do half like people who don't like Sir Percy. But only half, right Melody?

I will warn you that this review probably won't make much sense if you haven't seen the movie (or at least read the book). If you want a clear and concise synopsis of the story, go to IMDB. (Spoilers will abound in this post, just so ya know.)

I suppose I'll begin with the Baronet himself, Sir Percival Blakeney. (Here's hoping I'll get through the review without sounding like a gushy swoony fangirl.)

I can't remember exactly, but I may have mentioned before that I'm a Sir Percy fan.

Anthony Andrews IS Sir Percy. Leslie Howard and whatever-the-dude's-name-is who played Percy in the miniseries just don't cut it. Okay, so I've never actually seen any other version of TSP, but neither do I want to. Anthony Andrews perfectly captures Sir Percy's appearance, manner of speaking, wit, foppishness, valor, et cetera et cetera et cetera. Plus, no one else can say "Sink meeeeh!" the way he does. Or do any of those hilarious facial expressions.

His rapport with Chauvelin is even funnier than in the book. Unfortunately, the movie doesn't include the famous pepper-in-the-snuff scene, much to my disappointment, but The Great Cravat Debate more than makes up for it. "And the disgraceful state of these cuffs! Tsk, tsk, tsk. Oh no no no. Such sleeves would not be tolerated in London for one tiny instant."

Ian McKellen makes an amazing villain as Paul Chauvelin. (He didn't have a first name in the book, btw.) In the book, Chauvelin resembles a weasel. He's rather old, very tiny, speaks in a nasal voice and has greasy hair. In the movie, he's much closer to Marguerite's age and was actually her love interest for a while. I was a bit shocked when I first found out that Chauvelin liked Marguerite, but I got used to it pretty fast. It adds an interesting element to the story. Chauvelin was a lot more likable in the movie--I felt sorry for him on more than one occasion. He seemed to be a man who started out with good intentions, and was quickly sucked into the evil of the Revolution. What began as a dream ended as a nightmare. Some causes can become warped and twisted, like some men....

So anyway, I felt that Chauvelin was made to be a more sympathetic character, but that wasn't a bad thing. Even during the (absolutely epic) sword fighting scene, I kept thinking, "Poor guy, he has NO IDEA what he's up against." I mean, seriously, he was fighting Sir Percy. Winning was not an option. "Oh, the English and their stupid sense of fair play!"

I'm forced to admit that Jane Seymour didn't fit my mental image of Marguerite St. Just, but she grew on me. I actually ended up liking her a little better in the movie than I did in the book. I liked how they changed the whole business with the Count and his family. Marguerite was much more... I don't know... likable, I guess. In the book, Baroness Orczy spent so much time telling us how beautiful Marguerite was, it got a little annoying.

But that's where the magic of the movies step in. Jane Seymour is beautiful and we can see that without having to be whapped over the head with it every other page. (Until TSP, the only movie I'd seen her in was the 1980-something version of Heidi, in which she played mean Miss Rottenmeier. It was interesting to see her as the heroine for a change. :P) Some of her dresses were just a little (okay, a lot) too low-cut for my taste, and her hair at times resembled that of Ms. Frizzle of the Magic School Bus, but on the whole I thought she captured Marguerite's air, if not the way she's supposed to look in the book. (This hat is one of my favorites!)

This brings me to another point in my oh-so-beautifully-structured narrative. TSP, the movie, is at the same time like and unlike TSP, the book. I'm really trying my hardest not to put too many spoilers in this post, but y'all know Sir Percy is the Scarlet Pimpernel, right? (And if you didn't... you do now.) In the book, the audience doesn't know this until about halfway through the novel. In the movie, we know right away. And to tell you the truth, I like it better that way. True, it took away a little of the mystery surrounding the enigma that is the Scarlet Pimpernel, but it also gave the audience a chance to really get to know (and like) Sir Percy. When I read the book for the first time, I was a little perturbed to discover that "that stupid guy I didn't like" was actually the Scarlet Pimpernel himself.

Yes, I, erm, didn't like Sir Percy at first when I read the book. *ducks to avoid rotten tomatoes*

I also liked how Marguerite and Percy's relationship was shown from the beginning. It gave you a real sense of what Marguerite was going through: "I have lost my husband's love and I don't know why."

The book is told entirely from Marguerite's perspective, but the movie gave us a lot of glimpses into Percy's take on things, and I liked that. "Ceased? I will love her to the day I die. That is the tragedy." Oh, and his various disguises were hilarious--my favorite was the old woman with the knitting (reminiscent of Madame Defarge?)

Also, the entire last ten or fifteen minutes of the movie were Absolutely Amazing.

So yes, the movie departed from the book. Especially at the end. But I found out that the ending scene with the fencing and the capture of Sir Percy was actually taken from another book by Baroness O, entitled "El Dorado". So it's all good. Note to self: lay hands on a copy of this book immediately.

In short, I liked that they made the movie a little different. I'm usually a stickler for sticking to the book, but in this case it was a good choice to change a few things. The movie gave us the story while keeping the characters real, and THAT is what makes a good adaptation. In letter, it wasn't all that faithful to the novel, but in spirit it was and that's good enough for me. (This viewer was enchanted, in case you couldn't tell.)

Sir Percy and Marguerite's romance is one of the sweetest in cinema history (if we're not counting anything by Jane Austen, that is.) I'm not really a big fan of the whole "love at first sight" thing that's been made cliche in Disney movies, but in this movie it didn't seem weird. Frankly, I think Percy and Marguerite's relationship didn't really develop fully until the end, when they each finally realized just what the other one was. Marguerite had always heard of this amazing superman who rescued aristocrats and risked his life daily so that other people could be safe--but she never dreamed he might be right there in her drawing room. So few movies show what comes after the wedding, and I liked how this one portrayed the struggles the Blakeneys went through "when the honeymoon was over", so to speak.

What can I say? I'm a hopeless romantic. This movie touched me in a way that only very special films do. Pride and Prejudice was one of those, Anne of Green Gables was another. Yes, it's a 1980's TV flick with not-so-great lighting and so-so costumes. To some, it might seem cheesy. To me, it's amazing.

In Anne's House of Dreams, the fifth book in the Anne of Green Gables series, a character named Miss Cornelia Bryant speaks often of "the race that knows Joseph". If a person sees eye to eye with you and has pretty much the same ideas about things, and the same taste in jokes--why, that person is of the race that knows Joseph. Anne Shirley speaks of people like that as "kindred spirits".

For me, a kindred spirit--one of the race that knows Joseph--is one of the race that knows Sir Percy. That is to say, someone who is in the League of the Scarlet Pimpernel.

So. If you haven't seen this epic-ly outstanding film, do so at once. Perhaps the trailers below will whet your appetite. (Word of warning: there are two brief scenes that you may wish to fast-forward.) If you have seen it, enjoy the trailers and be inspired to watch the movie again.

You know me--I couldn't pick just one trailer! The first one is more exciting, but I love the music in the second one.

Conclusion: The Scarlet Pimpernel is a movie done well. What is it you Frenchies say? Tou-che? You see I'm a poet, and you didn't know it, what? Well, the pretty thing rhymes in two places, don't you see? And if a rhyme rhymes, it makes a poem, if you follow me.