A foppish English dandy leads a double life as the elusive hero, rescuing aristocrats from the guillotine during the French revolution. Even his unsuspecting half-French wife is unaware of his secret, but gets drawn into his adventures when her brother is threatened with execution. Period adventure, starring Leslie Howard, Merle Oberon, Raymond Massey and Nigel Bruce
In this period adventure, Leslie Howard stars as Sir Percy Blakeney, master of disguise, outwitting Raymond Massey's evil Chauvelin during the French Revolution and fooling his wife, Merle Oberon, who thinks he's just a boorish fop. Produced by Alexander Korda and aimed firmly in mid-Atlantic, its chief virtues are Howard's portrait of strength masquerading as haughtiness (he's a sort of 18th-century Clark Kent) and some lavish production design. But it seems rather creaky nowadays, mainly because of the stagey direction from Harold Young and the servants who speak with Mayfair accents. It was a big success in its day, though, and Howard played the role again in the updated 1941 sequel, Pimpernel Smith.
| role | name |
|---|---|
| Sir Percy Blakeney / The Scarlet Pimpernel | Leslie Howard |
| Lady Marguerite Blakeney, formerly Marguerite St Just | Merle Oberon |
| Chauvelin | Raymond Massey |
| Prince of Wales (HRH the Prince Regent) | Nigel Bruce |
| Priest | Bramwell Fletcher |
| Sir Andrew Ffoulkes | Anthony Bushell |
| Suzanne de Tournay | Joan Gardner |
| Armand St Just | Walter Rilla |
| Countess de Tournay | Mabel Terry-Lewis |
| Count de Tournay | O B Clarence |
| Robespierre | Ernest Milton |
| Colonel Winterbottom | Edmund Breon |
| Romney | Melville Cooper |
| role | name |
|---|---|
| Director | Harold Young |
| Director | Rowland Brown |
| Director | Alexander Korda |
