For all the hype it got I was expecting a lot more!

Excellent but underrated film

Blistering performances.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

A London Film Production. Filmed at Denham Studios, England. (Available on a poor quality Network DVD). Copyright 27 January 1938 by London Film Productions, Ltd. Released worldwide through United Artists. New York opening at the Rivoli: 10 April 1938. U.S. release: 29 April 1938. U.K. release: 20 December 1937. Australian release: 28 April 1938. Running times: 94 minutes (UK), 88 minutes (USA), 79 minutes (American TV).SYNOPSIS: Paris, 1794: Robespierre's assistant at tempts to trap the Scarlet Pimpernel by luring his wife to France.NOTES: A sequel to The Scarlet Pimpernel (1935), this seems to be the last film directed by Hanns Schwarz (another of those guys who don't know how to spell their own names. How do idiot computers handle bozos like this I wonder!) who died in Hollywood about seven years later. He has a long list of German films to his credit, with stars of the first rank like Emil Jannings, Lillian Harvey, Brigitte Helm, Dita Parlo, Anna Sten, Hans Albers and Willy Fritsch. His only previous English-language film seems to have been The Prince of Arcadia (1933) starring Carl Brisson, Margot Grahame and Ida Lupino.COMMENT: To judge from the American version broadcast on TV in May, 1994 (a nice print, but running only around 75 minutes, with deletions and jump cuts all over the place), this was an entertaining enough sequel. True, Barry K. Barnes has an enviable task in trying to fill the shoes of Leslie Howard, but he does quite well on his own account, even managing a couple of clever impersonations. In fact with the exceptions of Francis Lister's Chauvelin and Henry Oscar's equally villainous Robespierre, he tends to over-shadow the rest of the players. James Mason gives a muted performance and Sophie Stewart makes little impression, though Margaretta Scott has a few fiery moments.True to the spirit and flavor of Orczy's novels (which were exceptionally popular in the 1940s and 1950s), the script makes it as hard as possible for the hero, piling an impossible situation, a hair's breadth escape, and a one against-all-odds dilemma on top of another, all coming to an exciting conclusion.Pictorially, the film looks great. Wonderful costumes and sets, lots of extras milling around — and no doubt a bit of stock footage or perhaps out-takes from Korda's original Pimpernel. In the U.S.A. print under review, the pace is rapid, the direction showing plenty of drive and style. Greenbaum's camera-work as usual is first-class.ANOTHER VIEW: Sequels are invariably down graded by critics. Part of the appeal of the original novel lies in its novelty. On the other hand, the general public is often more comfortable (and forgiving) than the critics with familiar characters and situations. And of course there is always an audience for a sequel to whom the picture is new anyway, as they haven't seen the original. This sequel offers more of the same — and does it handsomely. The problems are mainly that although the plot has dash, it lacks freshness, and that though Barnes may even be a more convincing actor than Howard, he lacks Howard's charisma.

A rather tame yet amusing sequel to the Howard/Oberon movie. Sophie Stewart plays Marguerite Blakeney without a vestige of a French accent. Barry Barnes is passable as the eponymous hero. Anthony Bushell repeats his role as Sir Andrew Ffoulkes, and a youthful James Mason plays a minor role with his normal suavity. Raymond Massey is sorely missed as Chauvelin. His place is taken by a somewhat hammy Francis Lister.The whole piece is not so much swash and buckle as tosh and truckle. However it's still enjoyable. What amused me most of all was the casting of the role of Robespierre. A 46 year old Henry Oscar was made up to look an older 56 or so, when he should have been made to look younger. Robespierre was only 36 years old when he went to the guillotine.

This time around, Sir Percy Blakeney (Barry K. Barnes), aka the Scarlet Pimpernel, has left off rescuing the French nobility from the guillotine, having promised his wife never to return to Paris. But the villainous Robespierre and his henchman are determined to get hold of Blakeney any way they can and lop off his head from crimes against France. They lure him to France by kidnapping his wife, a French aristocrat, and sentencing her to death, knowing that Blakeney and his gang will be forced to come to her rescue. He does. And he succeeds too, not only in rescuing his wife but, with the help of an honest citizen, Tallion (James Mason), he manages to bring down Robespierre and seemingly end the Reign of Terror.Well, Barry K. Barnes isn't Leslie Howard, the original Scarlet Pimpernel, and this is, after all, a sequel, so many of the incidents we see have a familiar ring. Most missed -- the "latent status" of Sir Percy Blakeney as the intriguing master of disguise, the brave and adventurous hero. Barnes still has his disguises, by Guy "Frankenstein" Pearce, and he's still stalwart and noble, but he no longer has any reason to play the effete pouf. Everyone in both England and France knows that Blakeney is the Scarlet Pimpernel. I missed that effete poser. Only for a few minutes, and for no discernible reason, does Blakeney hold that triangular lorgnette up to his nose and exclaim, "Sink me!", in the sort of inflection that would feel entirely at home in Julius's in Greenwich Village. Part of the thrill of these masquerades is knowing that the harmless fop is actually a deadly swordsman like Zorro, or in this case a clever manipulator of circumstance.Still, if you liked "The Scarlet Pimpernel", you'll certainly like this one because of its close family resemblance to the original. I only wish that there were more of Howard's pouf persona present, and that it had an enjoyable and witty set piece like Howard's snoozing on the library couch and putting one over on Raymond Massey's Chauvelin.Sir Percy is a fictional character, of course, and no one actually ended the Reign of Terror, a case of yet another revolution bringing about too much of a good thing. Robespierre, the rabid revolutionary, was himself beheaded. Even M. Guillotine, who invented the demonic machine, met Mme. Guillotine. The result was chaos until order was restored by Napolean, who didn't take long to proclaim himself Emporer.

While I think the original, 1934 version is much better with better actors, I really enjoyed seeing this movie. The actor who plays Sir Andrew in the first one comes back and had a larger part and in my opinion Sir Andrew is allowed to shine in this one. Marguerite is just played differently, she is kidnapped and perhaps a bit over dramatic, but so was the one in the book on occasion. She is also a perhaps more innocent version than was played by Merle Oberon and later Jane Seymour. Chauvelin doesn't have the air of evil that Raymond Massey is able to portray, you almost feel sorry for him in fact, rather than thinking him a evil villain. Overall, I believe it is worth seeing and I liked it. You have the chance to meet some of the other League members, which is an improvement over the original where Dewhurst is seen and not heard or credited and the others, except Andrew and maybe Hastings, are virtually non existent.