The Scarlet Pimpernel (1934)

The Scarlet Pimpernel was released in 1934, starring Merle Oberon and Leslie Howard; it was directed competently by Harold Young, who was never a notable director and as such most of the film was designed like a play stage; nonetheless, the dialogue, in large part lifted from the famous novel of the same name, absolutely carries the film from beginning to end, while Howard's performance made him box office gold for the 1930s.

Being 1934, sound constraints favoured large rooms with vast spaces and a sort of theatrical blocking. Since the play takes place in wealthy drawing rooms of the 18th century, this is not at all noticable. It's rarely acknowledged, but the strength of the staging and the performances can largely be assigned to Alexander Korda, whose instinct was to treat the camera as opportunity. For the time period, the film is outstandingly creative: it features huge outdoor scenes which were next to impossible at the time, with a practical chase scene upon a road that today feels like nothing, but to a 1934 audience would have been jaw dropping. Korda would go on to make other astounding films after this, steadily expanding the practical rules of what a film could be, in a time when the gloves were off; some wouldn't work that well (Things to Come) while yet being notable at the time; others would become timeless (The Four Feathers). Rest assured, if you see Korda's name in the credits, it's not going to be a McFilm.

The Scarlet Pimpernel is based on a novel written by Baroness Orczy, legitimately a baroness of Hungary, whose family lands were harried and challenged as Hungary the nation veered toward liberal constitutionalism following the 1948 revolution (which failed in substance but not in spirit). She took refuge in Britain, where she felt a refugee of noble birth — her decision to invent a character who rescued noble refugees from certain death took advantage of the British fascination with the French Revolution, thereby displacing her experience into one her English audience could appreciate. The result was a fabulously successful novel and the late creation of character that nearly stands alongside King Arthur and Robin Hood as a durable hero. It surprised me as a young man to learn the story first appeared in 1910; I'd always assumed it was a mid-19th century invention.

The film will challenge some; it is old. The sound isn't perfect. Even as black-and-white, it's washed out, because of the durability of that old film stock and the filming itself. Still, Raymond Massey (whom most will remember from Arsenic and Old Lace) plays the villain with his typical style, like only a good Canadian can properly manage. There are rare films where he's not a villain, which I also love (The 49th Parallel).  Few know it now, but his younger brother Vincent Massey would become the first Canadian born Governor General of Canada from 1952 to 1959. I just felt it needed saying.

I think it needs seeing, myself. Whether on not one likes it (I do, quite a lot), historically it's important. I do not feel one cannot legitimately discuss film without this being in one's repertoire.