The Return of the Scarlet Pimpernel

Now we are talking! This 1937 output offers considerably more action and is what one might expect from the adventures of a daring hero such as the Scarlet Pimpernel. This time round it’s Barry K. Barnes taking over the lead from his predecessor Leslie Howard and a fine job he does too! Austrian émigré Hanns Schwartz directs and successfully combines dramatic action with wit and suaveness.

The year is now 1794, and Sir Percy has promised his wife Marguerite (Sophie Stewart) to give his noble and admittedly dangerous efforts to save French aristos from the guillotine a rest. Well, at least for one year or something like that. However, an increasingly paranoid Robespierre (Henry Oscar) sees intrigue and suspicion in every direction he looks, he even accuses his fellow committee member Jean Tallien (James Mason) of wrongdoing. Now, that nasty Citizen Chauvelin (Francis Lister) is also still about and conducts a devilish plan to kidnap Marguerite and bring her to France… But first he has to blackmail Tallien’s girlfriend, the glamorous singer Theresa Cabarrus (Margaretta Scott), to help him with his evil plans and sends her to England to ‘infiltrate’ the Blakeney household and befriend the couple. When the plan is carried out and the kidnapped Marguerite ends up in Paris, Theresa is riddled with guilt. Sir Percy, whose head must be amongst the most wanted by now, is forced to take a trip across the channel… which is exactly what Chauvelin wants!

Cue for another cat-and-mouse game, though rescuing his damsel in distress proves to be much more difficult for Sir Percy than he had assumed! Chauvelin and Percy soon engage in a battle of wits and of deeds – their interaction is much more lively and entertaining than the pairing of Howard and Massey in the previous film, in fact, in The Return of… Chauvelin amuses us (and Sir Percy!) with a delivery of one of his own acerbic poems: “The spouse and the mouse” (a reaction to Sir Percy’s poem “The Scarlet Pimpernel” which is a successful party piece at glittering social affairs). On another occasion, Sir Percy makes a complete fool of Chauvelin by sitting (in disguise!) next to a table in a café and overhearing vital information, he even has the cheek to borrow a pen from Chauvelin to complete a letter. When he leaves, he asks the waiter to hand that very letter to Chauvelin… scribbled on the paper is another poem signed by the Pimpernel! He even has the audacity to include his bill for drinks etc. with the letter! When an enraged Chauvelin realises that he’s been made a fool all hell breaks loose, but you can bet your ass (or your head) that in the end Sir Percy manages to rescue his beloved Marguerite while certain other individuals get their come-uppance.

Despite a considerably more ‘low-key’ cast (and I am using low-key carefully here) The Return of the Scarlet Pimpernel is everything a gung-ho period adventure should be. The pace never lets up and although the script was written ‘only’ by two writers (as opposed to the five which worked on the 1934 version), it’s all a ripping yarn with inspired dialogue. Barry K. Barnes clearly does not attempt to copy Leslie Howard but does his own thing, and it works a treat. His leading lady Sophie Stewart (‘Maria Marten’ from the famous Tod Slaughter potboiler ‘Maria Marten or The Murder in the Red Barn’) is given a wider scope of acting than Merle Oberon’s part required. Francis Lister’s ‘Chauvelin’ delivers his lines with much panache and it’s fun.
Same DVD bonus features as on the original The Scarlet Pimpernel disc!