They seek him here, they seek him there...

I must confess that I have had a bit of a Scarlet Pimpernel obsession lately. I reread it, and so reminded myself how much I love it. My Mother went to the library and checked out the 1982 tv version of the tale with Anthony Andrews, Jane Seymour, and Ian Mckellen as Sir Percy Blakeney, Lady Marguerite Blakeney, and Chauvelin, respectively.

Anthony Andrews was good, but a little over the top as Sir Percy. But he was funny, and did well with the material he was given. Jane Seymour was pretty, but too made up and the wigs were dreadful (it was the 80s after all). She couldn't act either. Ian Mckellen was good and creepy. So overall it was a nice movie, but it definitely wasn't the Scarlet Pimpernel. Definitely not.
So then Father insists that we watch the 1934 version with Leslie Howard and Merle Oberon. Five minutes into it I am in love.
Leslie Howard is THE Scarlet Pimpernel. He is Sir Percy Blakeney. The movie overall is wonderful, and while it doesn't follow the book completely (though it does a good bit), it gets the spirit and soul of it, which is most important. Film adaptations, in my mind, rarely do this. Though I do wish they had put a little bit more danger into the movie, because the end of the book is so exciting. Merle Oberon as Lady Blakeney was good, but didn't quite capture the role. I don't think she displayed enough emotion and love at the end, and she didn't seem nearly tortured enough when Chauvelin made her choose between her brother and the Scarlet Pimpernel. Chauvelin, played by Raymond Massey, was excellent. Quite creepy. The whole movie was superb, and there wasn't that element of ridiculousness and the playtime feel in it, as in the other version. Movies aren't good in that way anymore. And there aren't actors like that anymore. There just simply aren't. Unless they are older, and from a different generation.

Since I was so enamored of Leslie Howard, I went and watched Pygmalion (1938). Ah the acting. So very, very good. He is delightful as Henry Higgins. I am now officially in love with him. It's too bad he's dead. If he wasn't I'd marry him. I would marry Sir Laurence Olivier too if he were alive. I've been in love with him for simply years.

Both of them were amazing actors, incredibly handsome men, and, dare I say it? Absolutely adorable.

And I do love it when Sir Percy says, "odds fish" or "sink me".



For fellow fans: www.blakeneymanor.com/