BBB.5
(out of 5)
David Niven is a riot as the famous Scarlet Pimpernel, a sort of reverse Robin Hood who saves his fellow aristocrats from the evils of revolution. Margaret Leighton is terrific as his confused wife, a heroic woman who has no idea what her husband gets up to at night when he leaves the house; but wait until she finds out! Cyril Cusack makes a great villain in this gorgeously photographed adventure film that tries to be everything that Michael Curtiz and William Keighley’s The Adventures of Robin Hood ever was but never quite makes it. Considering it has the team of Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger behind it, you’d expect a lot more grit to the action, but alas there is none. That said, I like it more than Scaramouche.
Directed by Michael Powell, Emeric Pressburger
Screenplay by Michael Powell, Emeric Pressburger, based on the romance by Baroness Emmuska Orczy
Cinematography by Christopher Challis
Produced by Michael Powell, Emeric Pressburger
Music by Brian Easdale
Production Design by Hein Heckroth
Costume Design by Ivy Baker, Nandi Heckroth, Bernard Sarron
Film Editing by Reginald Mills
Film Festivals: Venice 1949
Cast Tags: Arlette Marchal, Arthur Wontner, Charles Victor, Cherry Cottrell, Cyril Cusack, Danielle Godet, David Hutcheson, David Niven, David Oxley, Edmond Audran, Eugene Deckers, Gérard Nery, George De Warfaz, Hugh Kelly, Jack Hawkins, Jane Gill-Davis, John Fitchen, John Fitzgerald, John Longden, Jon Hewitt, Margaret Leighton, Patrick Macnee, Philip Stainton, Raymond Rollett, Richard George, Richmond Nairne, Robert Coote, Robert Griffiths, Terence Alexander, Tommy Duggan
