The Scarlet Pimpernel Box Set [VHS]

The Scarlet Pimpernel Box Set [VHS]
by Edward Bennett, Patrick Lau

The Scarlet Pimpernel Box Set [VHS]

List Price: ~~$49.95~~
Category: VHS Video
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Product details

Actor: Anthony Green, Elizabeth McGovern, Gerard Murphy, Richard E. Grant, Ronan Vibert
Director: Edward Bennett, Patrick Lau
Producer: Delia Fine
Producer: Hannah Rothschild
Producer: Johan Eliasch
Producer: Julian Murphy
Writer: Baroness Emmuska Orczy
Writer: Richard Carpenter
Edition: VHS Tape
Audio: English (Original Language)
Format: Box set, Closed-captioned, Color, NTSC
Running Time: 300 minutes
Release Date: 1999-12-28
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Publisher: A&E Home Video
Studio: A&E Home Video

VHS Movie Reviews of The Scarlet Pimpernel Box Set [VHS]

Movie Review: Pretty darn good!
Summary: 4 Stars

Between the Horatio Hornblower movies and the Pride and Prejudice set that A&E has released, one has come to expect great things from their classics productions. The Scarlet Pimpernel set is by no means bad but it doesn't quite stand up to their really excellent standards. The directors, I think, are the issue here. The cast is marvelous, Chauvelin in particular! Sir Percy is played by Richard E. Grant who does a very good job. At first, I found him irking and not up to the part. After all, Sir Percy is a man of great depth playing a lazy fool and Grant has simply too much energy. Granted, that this is his greatest drawback is telling. He did end up growing on me quite a bit...perhaps mirroring Marguerite's experience. Fitting, is it not? As to the production as a whole, there was much content added to the first movie which was totally unnecessary (regarding the others, I cannot tell - I've only read the first book). The additions are not disturbing the way unnecessary additions often are, only that there was some rather inappropriate sex which brought down the quality of the films. As far as the direction is concerned, it's the main flaw of the movies. A terrible truth, but there it is. There was too much going on (much unnecessary additions) and thus there wasn't enough time to flesh out all the little conflicts and conversations which made the book so engaging. On the bright side, Chauvelin is amazing, Marguerite is well played, Percy is delightfully devilish, and the costumes are simply gorgeous! Lord, Percy has truly impeccable style. Absolutely wonderful greatcoats! All in all, it was somewhat disappointing but was worth the purchase. I'll be watching these time and again, with greater joy every time no doubt.
A note on the disc features: the only features the discs offer is English subtitles.

Movie Review: Moderately Entertaining but Lacking Perfection
Summary: 4 Stars

The Scarlet Pimpernel Box Set contains:

Disk 1 The Scarlet Pimpernel
Disk 2 Mademoiselle Guillotine
Disk 3 The Kidnapped King

I enjoyed watching disk 2 Mademoiselle Guillotine the most. It had a relatively easy-to-follow plot-line as well as interesting characters (and decent acting).

The other two episodes were too compacted in my opinion. They combined too much too quickly, leaving the viewer a bit confused (especially if the viewer is not familiar with the novels). Furthermore, while a film should not necessarily be the novel in action, this A&E production takes incredibly liberties with characters and plot.

Now, I purchased "The Scarlet Pimpernal" as part of the A&E romance collection volume 1 from Barnes and Noble during a sale for $49.00. The romance collection volume 1 contained many other A&E romances such as "Pride and Prejudice," "Emma," "Jane Eyre," "Victoria and Albert," and "Ivanhoe." If "The Scarlet Pimpernal" was not part of the collection, I would never have watched A&E's version of "The Scarlet Pimpernal."

As it is, I appreciate the effort, the "Indiana Jones" effect of Richard Grant's acting, and the increased emphasis given to Chauvelin's character. It makes for great action (but maybe not-so-great romance).

Summary: Certainly tolerable, but not nearly so memorable a romance as A&E's "Pride and Prejudice."

Movie Review: Books any child should read?
Summary: 3 Stars

One reviewer here comments that the Pimpernel books are ones any child should read.

Well, not in the original perhaps: the Barnoness' original "Scarlet Pimpernel" book is blatently anti-Semitic in the very "best" English uppercrust tradition of the sixteenth-twentieth centuries. In order to appear harmless and keep the villain at arms length, the hero disguises himself as a typical old dirty grasping servile cowering cowardly Jew. Let the kiddies watch the videos instead.

Movie Review: Wonderful escapism...great story
Summary: 5 Stars

Perfect when you want to watch something that takes you to a different time and place...romantic, exciting, idealistic, arch and classic.

Movie Review: I Loved This Production. WONDERFUL!!!!!
Summary: 5 Stars

I realize that this adaptation is not exactly authentic to Orczy's novel, however I LOVED IT. I feel that A&E/BBC productions are brilliant. This version of Pimpernel is decadent, spicy, fun and hilarious. Watch with an open mind and enjoy.

Write your own review

Summary of The Scarlet Pimpernel Box Set [VHS]

It is the height of the French Revolution's reign of terror and Sir Percy Blakeney has a secret. By day, he is just another foppish British aristocrat. By night, he becomes the legendary SCARLET PIMPERNEL, a "caped crusader" for the 18th Century, who with sparkling wit and brilliant disguises, forms a secret league of followers to fight against the tyrants of the French Revolution.

"They seek him here, they seek him there, they seek that scoundrel everywhere." Baroness Orczy's oft-filmed adventure gets a shot of theatrical verve in the form of Richard E.?Grant, who delivers a 17th-century superhero of dashing gallantry under the cover of a tart-tongued wit and court clown. British aristocrat Percy Blakeney (a.k.a. the Scarlet Pimpernel) and his loyal network of British comrades and French spies rescue the condemned from the guillotine. Elizabeth McGovern costars as his French-born wife, Marguerite, who becomes his most valued ally, and Martin Shaw is Republican agent Chauvelin, Percy's deadly enemy and Marguerite's former lover. This handsome British-American coproduction, filmed in the picturesque Czech Republic, re-creates the madness of the French Revolution's Reign of Terror with the elegance of British period productions and the energy of a classic swashbuckling adventure. In Book?1, the Pimpernel walks into a trap to rescue Marguerite's brother while she risks her life to warn him. Book?2 is shaded in an altogether darker vein as they attempt to rescue a nobleman's daughter and become caught between a bloodthirsty Republican guerrilla and a rebel army led by a reckless young soldier. Book 3 has Percy and Marguerite racing the Republican government in the search for the dauphin, who has been kidnapped from Republican "safekeeping." Each episode stands on its own, but taken together they become like a modern serial, and the open-ended conclusion of Book?3 leaves the door open for more sequels. --Sean Axmaker

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