The Return of the Scarlet Pimpernel
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| Original title | The Return of the Scarlet Pimpernel |
| Country of production | United Kingdom |
| original language | English |
| Publishing year | 1937 |
| length | 84, 88, 92 minutes |
| Rod | |
| Director | Hanns Schwarz |
| script |
Lajos Biró Arthur Wimperis Adrian Brunel |
| production | Arnold Pressburger |
| music | Arthur Benjamin |
| camera | Mutz Greenbaum |
| cut |
William Hornbeck (Editing Supervisor) Philip Charlot |
| occupation | |
| |
The Return of the Scarlet Pimpernel is a British costume and adventure film from 1937 directed by Hanns Schwarz . It is the sequel to the 1934 film classic Die Scharlachrote Blume . The story is based on a novel by Baroness Emma Orczy .
action
France in 1794. The French Revolution is still in full swing, and the British nobleman Sir Percy Blakeney, the mysterious “Scarlet Pimpernel”, was only able to save the threatened lives of many French aristocrats with hardship, a little trickery and a lot of luck , escaped his captors under the leadership of the fanatical revolutionary Citizen Chauvelin and escaped to England to safety. After a while he decides not to return to France, having made a firm promise to his beloved wife, Lady Marguerite, a native French noblewoman. But on the other side of the English Channel, the hateful Chauvelin, who was badly duped by Percy's escape, gives no rest. He plans nothing less than the kidnapping of Lady Marguerite Blakeney. To do this, he sends the actress Theresa Cobarrus to Brighton, where the snobbish nobility plays cricket and loses himself in the pavilions while on the continent of France drowns in a sea of blood.
Theresa provides Percy's diversion by asking Scarlet Pimpernel to help her rescue her imprisoned lover, Jean Tallien, while Chauvelin's men grab Marguerite and escape across the canal with her. Chauvelin is firmly convinced that Sir Percy will definitely follow to France to save his wife. And it is here, according to the plan of the devious revolutionary, that the trap should snap shut. Chauvelin wants nothing less than that The Scarlet Pimpernel finally put his neck under the guillotine ax. But Sir Percy is, as once before, a very shrewd opponent who is always one step ahead of his opponent. He and his colleagues travel secretly to France again and track down Marguerite. There are disguises, arrests and, as a result, outbreaks. They almost freed Percy's wife when Chauvelin promptly intervened again. Only the second attempt at liberation works, and after having initiated the fall of the worst blood drunkard Robespierre , the British can finally sail back home.
Production notes
The Return of the Scarlet Pimpernel was made in the Denham film studios in mid-1937 and was first presented to a (business) audience in October 1937 as part of a seduction of interested parties. The world premiere took place on December 20, 1937. The film was not shown in Germany.
Alexander Korda , who appeared here as production manager, made it possible for the former UFA star director Schwarz, who had remained unemployed since his emigration in 1933, to direct this as a kind of friendship. Although Schwarz did a decent job, the film was unsuccessful, probably due to the largely unknown cast, and Schwarz remained without any further directorial assignment until his death in 1945.
Lazare Meerson created the film structures, the costumes René Hubert . Muir Mathieson took over the musical direction.
useful information
"Pimpernel" is Sir Percy's distinctive mark; a type of plant called Roter Gauchheil in German .
Reviews
“It's all a respectable character, with wonderful costumes, beautifully staged and photographed. The story itself is implausible, and only Francis Lister's urbane play saves the Chauvelin from being a complete idiot who allows Pimpernel to escape again and again with his impossible disguises. Barry K. Barnes is appropriate in the title role, Sophie Stewart as his wife is pretty and charming, but Henry Oscar steals the show with a Robespierre that belongs in something more realistic than a charade. "
"Well below the remarkable original with lower production quality and a cast that is anything but outstanding ..."
"Predictable, elegant revolutionary romance, much thinner in terms of content and art of presentation than its predecessor."
Individual evidence
- ↑ Kay Wenigers In life, more is taken from you than given ... Lexicon of filmmakers who emigrated from Germany and Austria from 1933 to 1945. A general overview. ACABUS Verlag, p. 457, Hamburg 2011 speaks of a "courtesy of Korda".
Web links
- The Return of the Scarlet Pimpernel in the Internet Movie Database (English)