The Scarlet Pimpernel (1982 film)

Infobox Film
name = The Scarlet Pimpernel


caption = DVD cover
director = Clive Donner
producer = David Conroy
Mark Shelmerdine
writer = William Bast (teleplay)
Baroness Orczy (novel)
starring = Anthony Andrews
Ian McKellen
Jane Seymour
music = Nick Bicât
cinematography = Denis Lewiston
editing = Peter Tanner
distributor = CBS Television
released = November 9, 1982
runtime = 142 min
country = UK
language = English

"The Scarlet Pimpernel" is a 1982 adventure movie set during the French Revolution. The movie is based on the novels "The Scarlet Pimpernel" and "Eldorado" by Baroness Emmuska Orczy, starring Anthony Andrews as Sir Percy Blakeney/The Scarlet Pimpernel, the protagonist, Jane Seymour as Marguerite St. Just, the love interest, and Ian McKellen as Chauvelin, the antagonist.

Plot

In 1792, during the Reign of Terror of the French Revolution, a mysterious English nobleman known only as The Scarlet Pimpernel (a humble wayside flower), snatches French aristocrats from the jaws of the guillotine, while posing as the foppish Sir Percy Blakeney in society. Percy falls for and marries the beautiful actress Marguerite St. Just, but she is involved with Chauvelin and Robespierre, and Percy's marriage to her may endanger the Pimpernel's plans to save the little Dauphin.

Cast

*Anthony Andrews as Sir Percy Blakeney/The Scarlet Pimpernel: An English aristocrat who plays a foppish dandy in public, but is actually a bold adventurer who, along with his band of followers (mainly other Englishmen who are known as the "League of the Scarlet Pimpernel"), carries out daring missions to rescue French aristocrats doomed to die on the guillotine, using a flower, the scarlet pimpernel, as his alias.
*Jane Seymour as Marguerite Blakeney (née St. Just): A French actress whom Percy Blakeney meets while in France and later marries.
*Ian McKellen as Paul Chauvelin: A Frenchman, suitor of Marguerite St. Just, and chief agent of the Committee of Public Safety, he will stop at nothing to find out the identity of the Scaret Pimpernel.
*James Villiers as the Baron de Batz: An Austrian nobleman who is involved in a covert operation to try to rescue the young Dauphin, the heir to the French throne, who is being held prisoner by the French revolutionaries.
*Malcolm Jamieson as Armand St. Just: Marguerite's brother and later a member of the League of the Scarlet Pimpernel, he works under Chauvelin for the Committee of Public Safety.
*Eleanor David as Louise: A French actress and understudy of Marguerite St. Just's, she is Armand St. Just's lover.
*Richard Morant as Robespierre: A leader of the French Revloution, he commands Chauvelin to find the identity of the Scarlet Pimpernel.
*Dominic Jephcott as Sir Andrew Ffoulkes: A member of the League of the Scarlet Pimpernel.
*Christopher Villiers as Lord Antony Dewhurst: A member of the League of the Scarlet Pimpernel.
*Denis Lill as the Count de Tournay: A French aristocrat and friend of Percy Blakeney.
*Ann Firbank as the Countess de Tournay: The Count de Tournay's wife.
*Tracey Childs as Suzanne de Tournay: The Count and Countess de Tournay's daughter and later fiancée of Sir Andrew Ffoulkes.
*Julian Fellowes as the Prince of Wales: The somewhat foppish heir to the British throne and a friend of Sir Percy Blakeney.
*Mark Drewry as Lord Timothy Hastings: A member of the League of the Scarlet Pimpernel.
*John Quarmby as Ponceau: A Frenchman who works for the Committee of Public Safety.
*David Gant as Fouquet: A Frenchman who works for Robespierre and the Committee of Public Safety.
*Geoffrey Toone as the Marquis de St. Cyr: A French aristocrat who later dies on the guillotine.
*Joannna Dickens as Aunt Lulu: Louise's aunt.
*Richard Charles as the Dauphin: The young heir to the French throne being held prisoner by Robespierre.
*Gordon Gostelow as Duval: The caretaker of the young Dauphin in prison.
*Carol MacReady as Madame Duval: Duval's wife.
*Daphne Anderson as Lady Grenville: An English noblewoman.
*Nick Brimble as Bibot: A French soldier.
*Tony Caunter as Pochard: A French soldier.
*Timothy Carlton as the Count de Beaulieu: A French aristocrat the Scarlet Pimpernel rescues from the guillotine.
*Kate Howard as the Countess de Beaulieu: The Count de Beaulieu's wife.

References

* http://imdb.com/title/tt0084637/
* http://movies.yahoo.com/movie/1800114826/info
* http://www.blakeneymanor.com/m8.html
* http://www.amazon.com/Scarlet-Pimpernel-Anthony-Andrews/dp/B00016XNQQ

External links

*
* [http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=980DE0D81739F93AA35752C1A964948260&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=print "The Scarlet Pimpernel" review] from The New York Times