Mister V

Concerning this film, I can't decide if my soft spot is for the always superb Leslie Howard, or for one of the old heroes of literature, resurrected to fight the nazi menace. This is a clever update of the Scarlet Pimpernel story. I found this re-incarnation of the classic much more enjoyable than the original. It was even more fun than another personal favorite, Basil Rathbone as Sherlock Holmes, who came back in the 1940's to do his bit for king and country against the Third Reich.

Albeit, very light fair, films like this were more to entertain and keep spirits high in not so certain times. The horrors of war can be looked back upon, but to push onward, the propaganda of the day was to show the enemy as almost comical foes, outwitted by the ever sensible Englishman. Leslie Howard plays this role beautifully and it remains one of my favorite performances by him...

World War II brought Leslie Howard the opportunity to bring up to modern times one of his most beloved parts, that of The Scarlet Pimpernel. This time he's Horatio 'Pimpernel' Smith, archaeologists by day and rescuer of some of the finest intellectual minds in Germany who are marked for death by Adolph Hitler.

In The Scarlet Pimpernel Howard is a Georgian fop as his cover for the dashing, unknown, and elusive pimpernel. Substitute fop for tweedy as he's now an Oxford archeology professor and his cover is a beaut.

One of the Nazi Aryan racial vanities was that way back in the day there was an Aryan civilization. Being the archaeologist he is, Howard's cover is that he's in Germany on a dig, looking for evidence of that selfsame civilization. He even brings along several students as part of the cover.

In one scene Howard is wounded when he's disguised as a scarecrow and a Nazi guard shoots at it to make a point. That does lead to him being found out by his students, one of them being David Tomlinson, later the father in Mary Poppins. To a man, they all decide to stay and help him with his work.

Howard's a bachelor here so he doesn't have wife Merle Oberon and her family dirty laundry to compromise him as he did in The Scarlet Pimpernel. Here he's dealing with Mary Morris who is collaborating with the Nazis to keep her musician father, Peter Gawthorne alive.

Taking the place of Howard's relentless foe Chauvelin as played by Raymond Massey is Francis L. Sullivan as General Von Graum of the Gestapo. Sullivan is a favorite character actor of mine and a joy to watch in any film he does whether a good guy or the baddest of bad guys as he is here.

Leslie Howard directed this film himself and it's interesting to speculate had he survived World War II whether he would have done more work behind rather than in front of the camera. In directing Pimpernel Smith, he certainly had the advantage of knowing his character well.

And you shouldn't pass up an opportunity to get to know him too.

Leslie Howard was an actor's actor, the highest form of praise, a man whose skill at his craft would allow him to blend into almost any character, any role. While he left behind for fans of the future many fine performances, it is generally thought that one of his best was the original Scarlet Pimpernel in which he had to play what was arguably one of the screen's first "superheros" complete with a secret identity. In the iconic original he manages to effectively portray the mild-mannered fop (more interested in clothing than fighting); the warrior and man of action known as the Pimpernel; and even the romantic counter-part to his wife (who, in a brilliant sub-plot, was also not what she seemed, but for entirely different reasons). It was an astonishing portrayal. Hollywood being what it is (was?)

Howard was given a second chance to play the same character in a modern setting, as an underground agent working against the Nazis on their own soil. The script, direction, and acting are all superb. The only negative is that this film TAKEN ON ITS OWN might seem contrived and over-written. Unless - THIS IS THE KEY -- you see the original first. Remember that this was the era before 500 cable channels and streaming video. It is a 'given' that the audience for this film was familiar with the first. So if you you follow their footsteps and see the films in proper order, the sheer bravado and outrage within this script will pop, and you will enjoy a tremendously entertaining film by a master at the top of his craft.

In particular, the exchanges between Howard and his nemesis, played by Francis L. Sullivan, and are the stuff of legend.

And the scene where Howard, playing a die-hard bachelor, shows a photo of his lifelong love (the statue Aphrodite) to the character played by Mary Morris and then tears it up in front of her ... remains one of the most romantic scenes ever films. A declaration of love with no words spoken.

The pity is that being B&W this film will have a smaller and smaller audience in years to come. Pity.

((Designated "IMDb Top Reviewer." Please check out my list "167+ Nearly-Perfect Movies (with the occasional Anime or TV miniseries) you can/should see again and again (1932 to the present))

"Pimpernel Smith" is one of the most classic movies you will ever find in the World War II era. It will ever serve as a reminder that in 1941, the world did indeed know of the existence of Concentration Camps. It will further be a testament to the murders committed there with the statement by Dr. Benkendorf (Allen Jeayes, excepting Leslie Howard, the only man to play in both Pimpernel movies) "My business is to cure, not to kill!"

What makes this movie is not the plot, but the little subplots that surround the movie. You cannot watch this movie just once; it takes several times before you catch all the subtilties. Leslie Howard is just full of them in this movie.

But even more interesting is the character development. We watch Professor Smith go from a hardened academic to a gentile, but compassionate man. We watch the students go from being boys to men, and we learn from Ludmilla Koz about what kind of courage a lady can have.

By all means, watch this movie and watch it a lot. It will teach you in many ways.

"Pimpernel Smith" is a superb wartime film about rescuing scientists from Nazi Germany. It's a fictional story that takes its cues from the earlier books and films about "The Scarlet Pimpernel." Leslie Howard plays Professor Horatio Smith. He is an archaeologist from Cambridge University who says he's on a quest to find evidence of the Aryan civilization. But, in reality, he "digs" the Allied cause. The setting for the film is just before September 1939 when Germany invaded Poland to start World War II.

Francis Sullivan is General von Graum, the head of the gestapo. He's not a dumb Nazi, but cunning and committed. The large cast includes college students, scientists, underground characters, German soldiers, gestapo men and others. All of the cast are very good in their roles.

Other reviewers discuss the story and actors. Those who are interested in the background of the film and its significance for the time may like more information. The following is a brief overview.

Baroness Emma Orczy de Orci was still alive in 1941 when Leslie Howard and British National Films made this movie. "Pimpernel Smith" borrows its plot, and part of its name, from de Orci's 1903 play and 1905 book. "The Scarlet Pimpernel" was a big hit. In 1934, Howard played Sir Percy Blakeney in the movie of the same title that set the standard for all film versions to follow. Indeed, all but the 1982 TV film with Anthony Andrews in the role, pale in comparison.

In 1940, De Orci had just written the last of a dozen sequels to her original. In the meantime, Scottish author A.G. Macdonell had written a story, "'Pimpernel' Smith," that brought the famous rescuer up to the time of World War II. One wonders if Macdonell, Howard or others consulted de Orci about the 1941 film. Did Howard correspond with her about it? Would she have approved and been pleased?

Howard was interested in a rescue type film against Nazi Germany as early as 1938. After Macdonell's modern "Pimpernel Smith" came out, Howard made this film his project, from start to finish. He co-produced, directed and starred in it. Besides being a first-rate wartime thriller, "Pimpernel Smith" is one of the best propaganda films ever made. It was highly regarded as such from its opening early in WW II.

The movie was released in Great Britain on July 28, 1941, and around the rest of the U.K. in the days that followed. It wasn't released in the U.S. until February 12, 1942, after America had entered the war. But it was a big success there as well as in the U.K. It was the third most popular movie in England in 1941. In the U.S. it was released under the title, "Mister V."

"Pimpernel Smith" may have inspired Sweden's Raoul Wallenberg, whose efforts in 1944 saved many thousand Hungarian Jews from Nazi death camps. Wallenberg's story has been told in several documentaries and two movies. "Wallenberg: A Hero's Story" was a 1985 Paramount movie made for TV. "Good Morning, Mr. Wallenberg" is a Swedish film from 1990.

When "Pimpernel Smith" reached Sweden in November 1943, it was banned by the Swedish Film Censorship Board. The Swedes feared for their continued neutrality during the war because of the portrayal of the Germans in the movie. But, Wallenberg and his sister saw the film at a private screening. She later said that he was impressed by the movie and said he would like to do something like that. Since 1941, he had been traveling frequently to Hungary as a businessman. By 1944, he would be a special envoy for Sweden to Hungary, as well as a contact for the American OSS. He made it his mission to help save Hungarian Jews.

Wallenberg did save many thousand Austrian Jews by giving them Swedish passports and secured housing. But, his fate is unknown. After the Soviet Army took Budapest in 1944, Wallenberg disappeared. He was summoned to Soviet headquarters and was never heard from again. The later movies, books and articles conjecture about his final end. While no one can be sure, and actual evidence has never surfaced as to when or how he died, there's no doubt that he died or was killed while a prisoner of the Soviet Union.

And, Leslie Howard himself would not survive World War II. Howard was too old for military service - he was 46 at the start of WW II in 1939. But, he worked feverishly in his trade against the Nazis. He made several documentaries and starred in a number of World War II films. His other films included "49th Parallel of 1941, "Spitfire" (aka, "First of the Few") of 1942, and "The Gentle Sex" of 1943.

After his last film in America - "Gone With the Wind" of 1939 (in which he plays Ashley Wilkes), Howard returned to England to help with the war effort. But, he was killed on June 1, 1943. He was one of 17 passengers on KLM Royal Dutch Airlines/BOAC Flight 777. It was enroute from Lisbon, Portugal, to Bristol, England, when German fighters shot down the DC-3 over the Bay of Biscay. The plane was off the coast of France, 500 miles West of Bordeaux.

Leslie Howard is one of the great film and stage actors of all time.