One of my favorite scenes...I LOVE the look on Percy's face through that scene...and the end is awesome. "It looks like a flower of some sort." "Correct. It is a Scarlet Pimpernel."
Same here. Loved this as a kid, and still - so many quotes from this movie I try to sneak in here and there. Partly hoping someone will understand the reference.
The Scarlet Pimpernel pre-dated Superman by several decades. He's my favorite superhero of all time, period--probably BECAUSE he was so human and always in such danger. This is still my favorite version... all these years later. And try to find PIMPERNEL SMITH, Leslie Howard's WWII version of the same story. It's amazing!
In a way, the Scarlet Pimpernel is considered the first of such. His double-life of being a ridiculous, empty-headed dandy as a mask for the fact that he's a master swordsman, disguise and strategist, making him a "masked superhero" in a certain point of view. :)
Part of me wonders if Anthony Andrews drew inspiration for his demeanor of exalted pomposity from Basil Rathbone in A Tale of Two Cities. It reminds me so much of him.
Anthony Andrews' eyes are the most amazing aspect of his performance by far, somehow he modulates them in such a way that when he switches between being Percy the fop and Percy the Pimpernel you can so clearly see it in his eyes. It's utterly incredible, what an actor.
oh yes, he doesn't even need the monocle (or whatever that thing he uses is called) to show the difference, that's really amazing. The eyes and the voice, too
I love how he loses his line there a bit but just fixes it. "that isn't trivial" cannot have been the script. He does an amazing job of portraying someone who just had his entire world turned upside down. That cross between complete disbelief and "hang on, that means that..." I also love the romantic notion that, as soon as he does accept to swear on it, all is fine.
Thumbs-UP #44 I am, Monday’s early afternoon 26 November 2018! Because I do not view this fanTASTIC FILM all that often anymore, when I see this scene I think (sometimes shout aloud) “WAKE UP YOU FOOL, YOU’RE TALKIN’ TO THE SCARLET PIMPERNEL HIMSELF!”. By the behavior of Margaret’s brother, you find out what he REALLY thinks of Sir Percy, which is disappointing, considering Percy saved him from possible death that night! His arrogance is “simply intolerable!” Anthony Andrews is a British National Treasure!
Armand is ready to jump headlong into a rash suicidal act that is almost guaranteed to fail and he is standing in the presence of the one man who actually can and will pull off the rescue.
