The Scarlet Pimpernel

[lesbiassparrow]

I just got this and so far it is cheesy good fun (though you can see *exactly* where Blackadder got its French Revolution episode ideas)* but...I know I'm not supposed to think this and the French Revolution ended with the Reign of Terror and lots of terrible things but I can't help but think how amazing it must have been to overthrow the Ancienne Regime and think you were forging a new world with new ideas about equality and rights. And tossing things at your former masters (I rarely feel much sympathy for the aristocrats. And non for the King and Queen. They were total twats).

ETA: Wow! They must have paid actresses well in France! Jane Seymour sure has a nice house. And Gandalf is her boyfriend! Well, before her taking up with Blakeney.

ETA 2: Gandalf is sort of hot. And Anthony Andrews is hilarious in all his disguises and as Blakeney. I also love the assembled crowd of cheering citizens at the guillotine. They really put their hearts into hating the aristocrats.

ETA 3: I love the little, blond dauphin. He is so grubby and oppressed and winsome. Quite delightful.


*Not helped by the fact that Le Pimpernel Scarlette's side-kick is the castaway from Top Secret.

Comments

[ulkis.livejournal.com]

Butting in to say that they DID have that on Tuesday night, so unfortunately you must have missed it. I'm just ticked off that TCM isn't showing Saraband for Dead Lovers, even though Granger named it as the one movie he was proud of.

I really liked the Robert Grant version of Pimpernel but then I didn't really like the book that much. I just read it this year and it didn't have enough swashbuckling for my taste. I'll probably check out this Gandalf version, but I have an irrational aversion for Jane Seymour.

However I did recently read a book (Vive La Revolution by Mark Steel, hilarious and an especially good read if you're sympathetic for the revolution) and it had this to say regarding "The Scarlet Pimpernel": "for such a ruthless regime, the Jacobins are surprisingly careless. In the jails they seem to allow tradesmen to wander in and out with body-sized boxes, as long as they shout something like 'just taking these out the back guv'nor'."

[lesbiassparrow.livejournal.com]

Oooh, thanks for the book suggestion. It seems very hard to get anything that is supportive of the revolution these days (I guess the aristocrats are far too winsome or something). And, yes, the Scarlet Pimpernel's success depends upon the trusting nature of the revolutionaries - luckily for him they really don't learn from their mistakes.