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A TRIBUTE TO THE GROUND-BREAKING FILMS OF THE
20'S
AND 30'S
Hello, fellow movie buffs. This page is our tribute to the ground-breaking work of film makers of the 1920's and 1930's. We will offer our views and reviews of selected films from those eras, and at the same time give you the opportunity to tell us what you think. Take a second to check out our links section.
We are graduate students just about ready to be unleashed upon the world. Since we are in our final year, we have some time to kill. We figured it would be fun to give this home page a try.
First, it should be emphasized that we are aiming for quality, rather than quantity. For any given week, we may review no more than one or two movies, but we will try to make each review as detailed and informative as possible. In addition to our discussion of a particular film's content, we will try to provide our readers with a list of credits, hypertext links to other databases, and some background information about stars, directors, production, etc., where possible. Each of us will give his own review and separately rate the movie, using one to five film clip icons. The rating system will be as follows:
Abysmal.
Completely lacking in merit -- bad acting, writing, cinematography, etc.
Poor.
One or two redeeming qualities, but inferior overall.
Average.
Not outstanding in most respects, but worth a viewing.
Good.
Solid acting, writing, cinematography, etc. Superior in many respects.
Excellent.
A true classic. Superior acting, writing, cinematography, etc. Few, if
any, flaws.
Cast ........................................
.....................................Credits
Leslie
Howard . . .Sir Percy Blakeney............
................Studio
. . . . London Films
Merle Oberon
. . . . Lady Marguerite Blakeney... ...........Director
. . . . Harold
Young
Raymond
Massey. . . . Chauvelin.............. .....................Based
on the novel by Baroness Orczy
Nigel Bruce.
. . . Prince of Wales........... ........................Cinematography
by Harold Rossom
Joan Gardner.
. . . Suzanne de Tournay........................
..Edited by William Hornbeck
Bramwell Fletcher . . . . Priest......................
..................Music by Arthur Benjamin
Anthony Bushell . . . . Sir Andrew Ffoulkes...........
.........Costumes by John Armstrong and
Walter Rilla. . . . Armand St. Just........................
.....................Oliver Messel
Running Time: 95 minutes.
....... Imagine you're a French Noble during the French Revolution--imprisoned without trial, convicted without due process, and waiting to die without hope. What do you do? You somehow gather the spirit and pray that the Scarlet Pimpernel will show up to save you. You've heard that the mysterious fellow breaks nobles out and secrets them back to relative safety in England. You've also heard that Robespierre is desperate to find this meddling English dandy. But, who is the Scarlet Pimpernel?
....... Leslie Howard plays Sir Percy Blakeney. Percy is married to Lady Marguerite Blakeney (Merle Oberon), a beautiful woman for whom he has ambivalent feelings. You see, Percy is the Scarlet Pimpernel, and he can neither forgive his wife for nor forget that she betrayed one of her fellow countrymen. Given his avocation, Percy has com to wonder if he can trust his wife with even his own life. As far as Percy is concerned, it is a good thing that Marguerite doesn't know she is married to the Scarlet Pimpernel...or does she? I don't want to give away too much of the film, so you'll have to watch to see just what exactly I'm referring to.
....... Overall, The Scarlet Pimpernel is an entertaining romp with a fairly good amount of action. In that respect, the film succeeds perfectly. However, I really liked the tension between Percy and Marguerite. Here we have two people who desperately want to love each other, yet there are barriers between them--Marguerite hates that Percy would rather stay away from home for days at a time rather than be with her, and Percy isn't sure if her can trust her. This difficult relationship is played beautifully by Howard and Oberon.
....... The entire cast of The Scarlet Pimpernel deserve kudos for bringing their characters to life. Raymond Massey in particular deserves honorable mention. His Chauvelin is exquisitely nasty. Massey brings an intensity to the character so that the viewer truly understands that the Pimpernel is not dealing with your run of the mill movieland heel. Chauvelin has all the characteristics of a great villain--he's intelligent, persistent, ruthless, and even a touch vulnerable (it's obvious he loves Marguerite). All directors should be so lucky as to get a supporting actor as good as Massey.
....... The direction was absolutely marvelous. Harold Young did not have an easy job with The Scarlet Pimpernel. We have all seen period pieces in which the movie looks like it's taking place in an era long since gone but doesn't feel anything like watching history as it unfolds. Too often the characters look like pewter figuerines dressed in splendid costumes, clumsily moving about the beautiful scenery. However, in The Scarlet Pimpernel, the characters comes to life, and we are absorbed into their world.
....... If there is a problem with the film, it's the story continunity. At one point Chauvelin is to discover who the Scarlet Pimpernel is by waiting for him in the library. When he arrives he sees Percy there, yet he dosn't appear to think anything of it. However, we soon learn that he has gone back to Paris to set a trap for the Pimpernel. It causes a brief moment of awkwardness and leads to a much bigger problem--the break down of all sense of time. At the end, the veiwer cannot really tell just how quickly time is passing and has passed. Once again, this creates awkwardness.
....... Overall, I liked the film. It's
good family entertainment nothwithstanding its shortcomings. My rating
--
.......
