Das scharlachrote Siegel

I absolutely loved this movie! The first time I saw it I was totally on the edge of my seat. It's not a movie where you can predict what happens next. Anthony Andrews, Jane Seymour, and Ian McKlellan are wonderful! I would recommend The Scarlet Pimpernel to anyone and everyone. It has suspense, romance, adventure, it's absolutely incredible! I could watch it everyday and never get sick of it!

This is my favorite movie of all-time. The film is set during the French Revolution and makes the horror of the guillotine, along with the triumph of the secret band of the Scarlet Pimpernel very believable. The key strength I feel the film has is an excellent storyline and developing plot. The viewer is always kept on edge wondering what will happen next in the adventure. There are beautiful yet modest romance scenes. The orchestral score fits the mood of each scene perfectly. The acting is excellent, especially on the part of the three leading actors, Anthony Andrews, Jane Seymor, and Ian McKellen.

The movie also has excellent replay value--it seems almost every time you watch it you pick up on something new about the plot.

I highly recommend this movie to anyone who appreciates a full plot, a great story, and interesting twists that prove in the end good triumphs over evil.

I first saw this when it debuted. Although I was 17 at the time and a guy (FYI--I'm still a guy but I'm aged a bit since), I LOVED the movie/miniseries. It was way beyond a simple "chick flick" or costume drama. Instead, exceptional acting, music and direction took this far beyond my expectations. In fact, I think it was better than Leslie Howard's movie overall--and that's saying a lot because his is also an excellent film. I was so impressed, I then showed a tape I'd made of the series to my best friend and my girlfriend (now she is my lovely wife) and they both fell in love with the series. And why not? It was exciting, engaging, historically accurate with an interesting guess as to what REALLY happened to Louis XVII and just plain fun! FYI--It's also fun to watch the performance of Ian McKellen--he is so slimy and awful as the bad guy!

The Scarlet Pimpernel hardly needs a description, but this particular version is my favourite by some distance. Anthony Andrews steals the show brilliantly as Sir Percy Blakeney, the dandy-ish fop from England who devotes all his time and energy to rescuing hapless French nobility from Madame Guillotine, even when that appears to be furthest from his mind. Underneath the camp act is a man of steely determination and strategic genius. He's rather good with a rapier as well. Anthony Andrews is well supported by a fine cast, including Ian McKellen (long before he found cinematic fame with X-Men and the Lord of the Rings trilogy) and Jane Seymour as Sir Percy's love interest, who has never been better than she is in this role. Although it is a TV movie, it never feels cheap or under-funded. The film rattles along at a good pace and ticks all the right boxes for a true swashbuckler - the hero wins the day, wins the lady, humiliates the enemy and does it all in real style.

I have loved this movie since I was a child, but even more so now having re-watched it after reading the two books it is based upon. Anthony Andrews perfectly captures the dual nature of Sir Percy - the lazy eyelids, drawly voice, and then the flashes of passion when alone with Marguerite. His appearance is always impeccable, and his disguises are always extremely good but still true to what he would have been able to accomplish at that time.

The script manages to flawlessly interweave the plot of "The Scarlet Pimpernel" and "Eldorado", the two Orczy books on which it is based (both revolving around the Scarlet Pimpernel). The resulting story allows for wonderful character development, especially between the three main characters. Ian McKellan wonderfully captures Chauvelin's zeal and nervousness, with the added bonus of seeing more of his background with Marguerite and Sir Percy.

I have never seen any of the other version of The Scarlet Pimpernel, but as this one is so good I feel I do not need to even bother. Even without knowing the story or reading the two books, it stands on its own merit as a wonderfully entertaining film, which might just as easily have been made for the big screen as for TV.