Review – The Scarlet Pimpernel

As near as I can tell, this movie’s influence on subsequent productions is seen primarily in only two places: Daffy Duck and Bunny Wigglesworth. Otherwise this is a swashbuckler with almost no action sequences, an exceptionally dull creature to say the least. Further, even the underlying plot is hard to take. One wants to sympathize with efforts to save anyone from imminent death, but the fact that they’re French aristocrats fleeing justice during the French Revolution makes them hard to root for. Indeed, at one point one of the “victims” sagely observes that at least to an extent they’ve got it coming. Nonetheless, Leslie Howard (as the dashing Scarlet Pimpernel and his foppish alter-ego) does his best for them. Hooray. Whatever. See if desperate