The Elusive Pimpernel

Co-director Michael Powell considered his and Emeric Pressburger's lavish retelling of Baroness Orczy's adventure classic a "disastrous film," and there is good reason to concur. Conceived originally as a musical, and then shifted to a light drama, the movie stars David Niven as Sir Percy Blakeney, who has fun in the dual role of British dandy and Scarlet Pimpernel. When he's not counseling aristocrats on the lengths of their shirt cuffs, he's off to France rescuing members of the French aristocracy from the guillotine. His nemesis, Chauvelin, heading up the Reign of Terror, is played by the wonderful Cyril Cusack, who adopts an unintentionally humorous "heavy" French accent. Some very nice early Technicolor work can't quite compensate for the inherent confusion that seems to hang over the entire film, and modern audiences are not likely to stay with the film through its entire length. Which is unfortunate, since the most unusual aspect of the film comes near the end: throughout, the Pimpernel and Chauvelin have been continually dipping into their snuff boxes for what looks like a quick lift; during the final encounter between the pair, Blakeney pours out Chauvelin's snuff box and replaces its contents with white salt--which leads to the suspicion that we've been watching dueling cokeheads all along. Not a necessary purchase. (R. Pitman)