The Scarlet Pimpernel

As all too common on Amazon, the reviews for the various versions of a classic get mixed up. I like the 1935 version about a secret hero-agent who saves French aristocrats from the guillotine the best of the various versions because I like old movies. By this I mean that there's a lot droll comments in the face of danger, reasonably intricate plotting, and a classic love story. The villain is a human being, perhaps not the best of the villains in the role, but still, fine. The heroine is attractive and I bonded with her. There is a caveat and a warning. The caveat is that the Amazon Video has terrible sound and video quality. The negative was badly deteriorated from which the video was taken.The warning is for those who prefer more modern style superheroes. You won't find them here or much "action" at all. The reasons are many, but boil down to the fact that old movies had to rely on more character development, suggestion-atmosphere, and style because of limited technology if nothing else. That can be a positive or a negative depending on your taste. I happen to like both.

This is the review section for the great classic Leslie Howard/Merle Oberon version of The Scarlet Pimpernel, not the fatuous 1980s remake, Leslie Howard is at his absolute foppish best in one of the all time great adaptations of a piece of literature to the screen. Is there a bit of overacting? So I should be predisposed to imagine, but anyone who has ever seen this can never have it another way. For those who have yet to see it, I envy you. You can only see something the first time once. An absolute classic!

First, this film is a classic for its time, with perfect timing and delivery by Leslie Howard, the excellent talent and luminous beauty of Merle Oberon and a fine supporting cast.Prime's presentation, however, is marred by generally poor print quality and sound and arguably the worst subtitling I have ever seen in an English-speaking film. The people who did the subs must have had a potent beer or two, a reefer perhaps, and a loud stereo going while they worked.Many of the French words and names, while quite clearly audible, are hilariously mis-rendered: in one example, "Bologne" (the French city, which can be clearly heard) is rendered as "Bel Oiseau" (which is, incidentally, in Switzerland). Many other clearly-recognizable French names and words are either hopelessly wrong or are simply rendered as [FRENCH}.English words are mangled with the same inventive ruthlessness; in one place, a man says, quite clearly, "Beer and beef, tha's the stuff that makes soldiers." This is translated as "Vigour and [INAUDIBLE], that's what makes soldiers." In fact, there are a lot of other [INAUDIBLE]s in this print where a viewer can easily make out what is said..Again, this is an excellent movie; a classic, even. But be prepared for less-than-wonderful print and sound quality and, for heaven's sake, do not watch the subs unless you want to be both distracted and misinformed while watching this gem of a film.

The DVD version of the Scarlet Pimpernel I am reviewing is the All Regions DVD-R version from Synergy Entertainment. My 3 star rating is for the quality of that DVD. The movie itself is a classic, and rates 4 to 5 stars. At a 97 minute run time, The Synergy Entertainment DVD appears to have the complete, uncut version of the movie. The picture quality is quite good for a movie of this age that has not been digitally re-mastered. The picture has good clarity and sharpness given its age. The picture does wobble a bit, but not to the point where it becomes a distraction. The sound quality is adequate. It was recorded a bit too hot, so at a low volume setting it is louder than the typical DVD. As long as you listen at a moderate listening level, it will sound pretty good, and the dialog will be fairly clear. But at higher volumes you will get distortion, and the sound quality will become hard and irritating. Overall, if you are looking for a complete, watchable and listenable version of this public domain movie, the Synergy Entertainment disc will probably do just fine. But its really too bad that no company has put an effort into restoring this classic.

I have been a fan of both the book and this film version of it for what seems to be my entire life, and it also feels like I've spent my entire life looking for a decent DVD release of it. Even the American film channel Turner Classic Movies doesn't have a decent copy for broadcast, so I had really given up hope. When I saw it had been released by Network as part of its series "The British Film," I decided to take a chance, as I have several other films in this series, and they are all of good quality. I live in the US, so I knew that even if it were terrible I wouldn't bother to return it, which made me consider for a bit before buying it (also, I can only play it in my all region Blu-ray player, because it is PAL and for UK release). I'm so happy that I took the plunge, because this remastered copy is the best I've ever seen this film look, and I'm playing it on an 80 inch TV screen! If you are a fan, you have to get this DVD--BUT ONLY THIS VERSION, produced by Network, as all other releases are awful. If you are an American fan, like me, you do need to have an all region DVD or Blu-ray player, because the UK region coding and PAL (rather than NTSC) presentation will prevent the disc from playing in a standard US player--but I think this is good enough for the die-hard fan to buy a special player just to watch this film!

I liked the movie the Scarlet Pimpernel, how the pimpernel got away with saving the prisoners from their death.Leslie Howard makes the movie have humour , with his disguises, right under the noses of the Chauvelin.The movie may be old and made in 1939 but once you start to watch this movie of cat and mouse, you start to cheer on the pimpernel .The movie ,is the kind of movie i would watch during a rainy or wintery afternoon.

Thanks to several other Amazon.co.uk reviewers, I purchased the Network release of The Scarlet Pimpernel, and am very pleased with it.My experience has been similar to others: the other DVD transfers of the film have been very poor -- so poor, that I've hung onto my 20-something year old laserdisc of the film, which was made from a pretty good print of the film. The Network will be a satisfactory replacement for the old, aging LD.It's not a miracle remaster: I think there's sometimes a bit too much grain, particularly in lighter-shaded objects. On the other hand, the outside crowd scenes (e.g., the guillotine scenes at the beginning) are much sharper and clearer.Probably the best transfer we'll see for a good long time. Recommended.

Great old Hollywood film starring Leslie Howard & Merle Oberon and Raymond Massey - in black & white (1935) The Dvd plays well with good quality picture and sound. This slim case Dvd is made by NETWORK (2016) under licence of ITV Studios Global Entertainment.The re-make in 1982 (in colour) starring Anthony Andrews and Jane Seymour was good too. As with Tyrone Power's The Mark of Zorro (1940 and now nicely colourised) and Errol Flynn's The Adventures of Robin Hood, these early versions were very good.

I enjoyed this film the first time I saw it many years ago it gets on with the story which makes it enjoyable, in my opinion it is still better than the remakes and of course when you have actors like Leslie Howard, Merle Oberon and Raymond Massey you can't really miss, I give it a five out of five.