The Scarlet Pimpernel

... 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 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.

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!!!

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'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.