"SCARLET PIMPERNEL"

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXII, Issue 22030, 9 February 1935, Page 11 (Supplement)

"SCARLET PIMPERNEL"

ALEXANDER KORDA'S SUCCESS

With " The Scarlet Pimpernel," Alexander Korda should repeat the world-wide success he had with "Henry VIII." an English critic wrote. Indeed, I should not be surprised if " The Scarlet Pimpernel '' does even better he adds. What it lacks in the way of spice and sex is amply atoned for by the qualities —a good love story, quixotic bravery and exciting melodrama played out against a background of gay -Regency England and Revolutionary France —that made Baroness Orczy's book one of the world's best sellers.

All the familiar ingredients have been preserved, and some new ones added. Tumbrels carrying the condemned to execution, the knife thudding down to screams of laughter and applause from women methodically knitting, aristocrats snatched away by a Scarlet Pimpernel in disguise—it is all here, made more credible by some beautifully photographed shots of bareknuckle fighting, routs and other amusements of contemporary England. The adaptation (by Lajos Biro, Robert E. Sherwood, Sam Derman and Arthur Wimperis) has been admirably done, and some of the dialogue, developing a humour that was not a strong point in the original, is quite brilliant.

Harold Young has directed, with the lightest of touches, and the acting is first-rate. As Sir Percy Blakenev, Leslie Howard scores the greatest sucess of his screen career. His amiable aristocrat i»he embodiment of modish vacuity, is played with a distinction and style that make the portrait really memorable.