The Scarlet Pimpernel

The Scarlet Pimpernel was a wonderful movies!! It's got love, action, and most importantly, plenty of humor. What more can you ask! Richard E. Grant was great as Sir Percy Blakeney (aka the Scarlet Pimpernel). The rest of the cast was wonderful as well! I have never read the book nor heard of it until i saw this movie. Therefore, I don't know what close the movie was to it. However, I trust that the book is as wonderful as the movie! The only thing that I thought wasn't so great was Sir Blakeney's coolness toward Lady Blakeney (Elizabeth McGovern). He seemed too cool and aloof towards her and seems to be constantly trying to embarrass her in public. It was as if he barely knew her. However, the movie was still great and I still give it 10 stars! In fact, I would give it 11 stars if I could!

Well I knew this wasn't going to be faithful to the book -- and it definitely wasn't! -- but who cares, movies rarely are anyway, and I was expecting it to be unfaithful to the book. I thought it was hilarious!!! It's just a fun movie, so I suggest that you shouldn't take it seriously and condemn it as sacrilege just because it's a different take on the legendary Scarlet Pimpernel. Richard E. Grant is just hilarious as Percy -- he plays him as a foppish dandy, and it is the funniest thing. I didn't see what was so bad about Elizabeth McGovern. I loved the great one-liners between Percy and his wife. "I know he loves me!" LOL!!!

I love the story, but barely recognized it under the laborious plot derivations and bad dialogue. What were they thinking? These poor actors did a fine job with the terrible material that they had. A nine year old would do a better writing job. I was saddled with this horrid thing when I purchased a DVD collection of period pieces. Why on earth did Percy never get into disguise? That was a significant part of setting up the story. They put him in some stupid kind of Zorro face mask. WHAT?!?! I was sorely disappointed after my delight at anticipating a new version of this lovely story. The characters engaged in behaviors that were, frankly, beneath them. Percy's character was written so poorly - he is supposed to come across as a consistently ridiculous character to everyone, except when he is functioning as the Pimpernel. This is an essential element of his disguise! They completely missed the mark here. Also, the marriage between Percy and Marguerite is so poorly written. You don't have a clue about their animosity for each other. You just see that they seem to despise each other from the get go and there is no HINT whatsoever as to what brought them together in marriage in the first place. A well-written Pimpernel story will show you the prior evolution of the marriage through dialogue. These actors had no opportunity to tell you about their relationship - you are left thinking they hated each other from "I Do." Frankly, "The Matrix" had a better love story!" Don't waste a minute on this - watch any other version.

Just so you're not put out as so many who _have_ read the book seem to be. Sir Percy was wonderfully cast (Richard E. Graves! Can you believe he was Bob Cratchit in TNT's "A Christmas Carol"?) I started giggling helplessly every time he gave that I'm-no-fop grin, and he really was a lot of fun to watch. As for McGovern, well, she's all right, but some of the dialogue she has to say! Especially in the company of Chauvelin! What happened to Lord Tony made me want to spit nails, though Ffoulkes was quite nice....What was this Minette supposed to be? (Emilia Fox looks quite different from her bit part as Georgiana Darcy in A&E's Pride and Prejudice.) It had its moments, for sure, but-- where are all those disguises that the Pimpernel does so well? It wouldn't have been too hard to do. Oh, well.

I have always been interested in the time of The French Revolution and have always found the story of The Scarlet Pimpernel to be awfully dramatic and romantic. T

he first episode aired in Australia in 2000 and I remember being glued to the television, something which was quite unusual for me at that time.

Richard E. Grant is amazing in the Role of the dashing Scarlet Pimpernel and of course as the arrogant upper class Sir Percy Blakeney. His charm is very endearing indeed. He is exactly the right actor for the role!

Give this mini-series a chance to charm the pants off you! I have been unhappy with the other comments on this page!

GREAT MINI-SERIES!!!