The Scarlet Pimpernel

I have watched a lot of the BBC's excellent costume dramas, and of course was not disappointed in The Scarlet Pimpernel. The acting is first rate, with Richard E Grant making a very handsome and witty Sir Percy, and dashing and sexy Scarlet Pimpernel. The locations are beautiful, the costumes breath-taking, and the sword fights amazing! I hope there is another series, otherwise I shall be ringing up the Beeb crying for more!

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!!!

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!

... this film would be a turkey. Whoever cast Elizabeth McGovern as Lady Blakeney in this film needs to have their eyes, ears, and brain checked by a competent physician. She is TERRIBLE. Also the studio needs to withhold whatever they paid the hair, makeup, and costuming people from their next paychecks because they only made the situation worse. She LOOKS as bad as she ACTS.

McGovern is not the only problem here, but she is a major one as her bad performance detracts from the overall film. It doesn't help that the the script is boring and slow in some places and some of the extras look like they have no clue. Only really good supporting player in this film is Emilia Fox.

The only thing that makes this thing watchable at all is the performances of Richard E. Grant and Martin Shaw (ALTHOUGH the British HAVE to start using REAL French people to play French people!). Both are fantastic in this. Especially Grant who gives new depth to the Pimpernel character. Something of a rough edge.

I would still go rent the classic with Leslie Howard anyway.

I'll confess, I've never read the books. I have however seen several productions of the play onstage and I prefer this beautiful miniseries by far. All of the productions I've seen before cast elderly men with cute lines but no charisma. The choice of Richard E. Grant for the Scarlet Pimpernel surprised me, but he did a wonderful job with it. I was very surprised by his performance, as I'd only ever known him as a supporting/character actor (like Twelfth Night and Gosford Park).

As a life-long Elizabeth McGovern fan, I can't help but love her. She's a fantastic actress, but whoever did her hair should be guillotined. For a really beautiful woman, they hid it well under ten pounds of brown wig. It sadly resulted in her looking much older than she actually is, but fortunately this isn't the case for the entire movie (at least at the end she gets a haircut!) But her striking features still shine through and her beautiful performance far outweighs that hairstyle. She also manages her accent very well (she's originally from Illinois) But, well, I watched the whole miniseries just for her, so I can't help but think she's the real star.

Ronan Vibert is another actor I've liked for a long time, and he did a fantastic job as Robespierre. Martin Shaw's Chauvelin got on my nerves a bit, but he's fine. The big surprise was sweet little Emilia Fox in the role of Minette. I'd never seen her play a villain before, and was pretty impressed by it. All in all, I really enjoyed this miniseries, and highly recommend it.