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Pimpernel Smith

Leslie Howard (Actor, Director), Francis L. Sullivan (Actor) Rated:

Format: DVD

4.5 254 ratings

IMDb7.2/10.0

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Genre	Military & War/World War II, Military & War/Drama
Format	NTSC, Subtitled
Contributor	Arthur Hamblin, Leslie Howard, Mary Morris, Francis L. Sullivan, Peter Gawthorne, Allan Jeayes
Language	English
Runtime	2 hours and 1 minute

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Product Description

Inspired by Baroness Emmuska Orczy's The Scarlet Pimpernel, Pimpernel Smith stays true to the source material while allowing director and star Leslie Howard to present a thought-provoking and entertaining dramatic work. Horatio Smith (Leslie Howard, Gone with the Wind), a Cambridge Professor of Archaeology, persuades several of his students to accompany him to pre-war Germany on a dig. Smith easily wins the support of the Nazis who believe the excavation will unearth the Aryan history of Germany. However, Smith's true objective is to free those held in nearby concentration camps. The façade of a meek and mild-mannered professor by day will give way to the daring and heroic "Pimpernel" by night as Smith and his students, deducing who their teacher really is, set forth on their mission.

Product details

Is Discontinued By Manufacturer ‏ : ‎ No
MPAA rating ‏ : ‎ NR (Not Rated)
Product Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 0.7 x 7.5 x 5.4 inches; 2.72 Ounces
Director ‏ : ‎ Leslie Howard
Media Format ‏ : ‎ NTSC, Subtitled
Run time ‏ : ‎ 2 hours and 1 minute
Release date ‏ : ‎ November 15, 2016
Actors ‏ : ‎ Leslie Howard, Francis L. Sullivan, Mary Morris, Allan Jeayes, Peter Gawthorne
Subtitles: ‏ : ‎ English
Studio ‏ : ‎ Olive
ASIN ‏ : ‎ B01LAW5EPM
Country of Origin ‏ : ‎ USA
Number of discs ‏ : ‎ 1

Best Sellers Rank: #47,511 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)
- #8,099 in Drama DVDs

Customer Reviews:
4.5 254 ratings

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4.5 out of 5

254 global ratings

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M. Hughes

Loved this movie for years...

Reviewed in the United States on October 15, 2023

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Saw this movie for the first time back in the 1970s when I was a kid. Had wanted to see it ever since. Problem: now I needed to see it with subtitles. This version has good picture quality and SUBTITLES, and the film itself is just as enjoyable as it was when I saw it 40 years ago. Storyline: The Scarlet Pimpernel meets Hitler. Hitler loses. :)

Seriously, this kind of like the Basil Rathbone Sherlock movies that had Holmes fighting Nazis rather than the Victorian criminals of Doyle's writing period. This movie has Baroness Orczy's Scarlet Pimpernel updated to, instead of the silly and foppish Sir Percy Blakeney and his alter ego, the brilliant Scarlet Pimpernel fighting the guillotine, "Pimpernel Smith," an absent-minded archaeology professor, fights the Nazis. And it's a real treat to have Leslie Howard, who played the Pimpernel only seven years before with Merle Oberon, redoing the role with a handful of young college students and Mary Morris.

Highly recommended.

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Dumb Ox

Excellent WWII-Era Retelling of The Scarlet Pimpernel

Reviewed in the United States on July 6, 2005

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A&E used to show this old movie every so often; the print was in awful condition and yet, despite its technical difficulties, Pimpernel Smith was a compelling film. It was Leslie Howard's final film, his own personal project, an anti-Nazi propaganda piece designed to shore up his battered country's courage and offer hope to his beloved nation. That it no doubt did, and yet Pimpernel Smith succeeds as a stand-alone movie and is in some ways superior to Howard's earlier turn as The Scarlet Pimpernel.

The film opens with a scientist doing important medical research being arrested and hauled away by the Nazis. Rescue comes in the form of a mysterious man who whisks the researcher away from under his captors' noses. The scene switches to an English college campus, where resides the eccentric Professor Horatio Smith, an archaeologist who fusses over his prized statue of Venus, is absent-minded, and dislikes social engagements. His students think he's a few bricks light of a load and his superior is confused by him, and the only female he adores is his aforementioned statue. In short, he's so harmless he's virtually a laughingstock.

However, Smith is in reality a man who uses his position as an archaelogy researcher to travel throughout Europe, and beneath the absent-minded veneer is someone with quiet nerves of steel. Nobody realizes this, of course, not his unsuspecting students when he invites them to accompany him on a jaunt to search for traces of Aryan civilization, nor the Nazis, who view him with contempt as an annoying little English pest. Only one person believes Smith to be the elusive rescuer of potential Nazi prisoners: the beautiful yet dangerous Ludmilla Koslowski. She has entered into a deal with the devil, for the Nazis are holding her outspoken journalist father prisoner, and promise to treat him well only if she spies for them, so they can catch the stranger who is saving so many from their clutches. The sole glitch in this scheme is Ludmilla finds what her intended prey is doing to thwart the Nazis heroic and admirable, and she realizes upon meeting Horatio Smith that he must be the man she's after. The Nazi general and his staff sneer at her choice, refusing to believe her, then finally come around and try to force her to entrap the professor. How it all concludes is a tribute to Smith's ingenuity and almost suicidal courage as he faces down the enemies of the free world.

Pimpernel Smith is a close copy of its older cousin The Scarlet Pimprnel, but with a few important differences. First, the setting of World War II and the Nazis as the main antangonists were near and dear to Leslie Howard's heart. This movie is evidently a labor of his love; he is writer, director, producer and star, and no doubt hand-picked his cast. Second, this is a simpler film, not lavishly produced like The Scarlet Pimpernel, and so has a less dated flavor. And third, Smith's enemies are not so much people as an ideology, the twisted and contemptible ideology that destroyed so many lives and brought so much terror to Europe during Hitler's reign of madness. Finally, the acting shines with almost startling brilliance. Mary Morris as the lovely Ludmilla sizzles onscreen, and though she and Howard exchange only a brief kiss, their passion is almost tangible. All of the other actors do an excellent job on their roles, whether serious, villainous or humorous. As a piece of propaganda used for good, Pimpernel Smith is an invaluable contribution to cinema. Try to see it, poor print quality and all, and it will treat the viewer to a glimpse into a dark past when brave people tried to keep the flame of liberty from being quenched by tyranny.

27 people found this helpful

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Peace Now

Amazing quality

Reviewed in the United States on July 9, 2023

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The blu ray Olive release is of amazingly great video/audio quality. It's a strikingly huge upgrade from a bootleg dvd I have. The film and its story is one of the best Leslie Howard films made. Olive films are the best, next to Criterion for rescuing and improving the quality of films, a worthy job that is well appreciated in this case. Highly recommended! Thanks Olive!

One person found this helpful

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Jack C.

Pimpernel Smith

Reviewed in the United States on June 7, 2023

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I have seen several presentations of this classic film in both VHS and digital formats going back to the 1980’s. They were all terrible. It was with some trepidation that I purchased this version by Olive Films. To my surprise it is fantastic! The picture is as clear as it must have been in the 1940’s. The audio is crisp and clean. I couldn’t be more pleased.

One person found this helpful

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Alfred R. Gray

Social Historic Weather's Effect on Reaction to Film

Reviewed in the United States on June 29, 2015

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I understand that, in 1941, the Nazis were waving their sabers at Great Britain. Everybody was nervous, hoping without hope for some peaceful way of warding off the impending danger. There was thus need to alert the world, not to terrify the world public into paralysis. Thus Leslie Howard produced, directed and starred in an update of a film he had made a decade earlier THE SCARLET PIMPERNEL, the update entitled PIMPERNEL SMITH. While THE SCARLET PIMPERNEL, based on a play and novel by Baroness Emmuska Orczy came out more than a less threatening century after its historical setting, The Reign of Terror, she could be more pointed in her depiction of its barbarism, terror and menace. Because of the more current conditions of Howard's PIMPERNEL SMITH, he had to push his story more in the direction of a kind of semi-light comedy about an archeology summer school trip to Germany while helping prisoners escape to freedom on the eve of World War II. This film, by the way, was the inspiration for Raoul Wallenberg and what he did helping prisoners escape the Third Reich during the war. What Professor Horatio Smith did while wearing the guise of a fumbling absent-minded professor paralleled what the fop Sir Percy Blakeney did for the aristocrats escaping Robespierre and Madame Guillotine. Both beautifully written, directed and acted. Why then did the more modern version, though of this time, fail to attain the menace, the earlier version? I think I have to point my finger at an actor I consider one of the truly great in modern theatre and film--Francis L. Sullivan. In fact, I felt more menace from his parallel in THE SCARLET PIMPERNEL--Raymond Massey. I have seen Francis L. Sullivan be more menacing in other films. Why not in this film, as General Von Graum? It seemed to me that he evoked more fear from members of his staff who seemed more like Keystone Kops versions of the Gestapo. :Perhaps I should fault the character he was given to play. In fact, the only menace I got from PIMPERNEL SMITH was from Leslie Howard himself in his final scene when he so eloquently and clearly said to Francis, "You are doomed." I had the eerie feeling some Nazi Intelligence officer had sneaked across the Channel and written that scene for his side and the Allies' side. Even on the eve of the war, many General officers were fully aware that Hitler was leading them down a very dangerous path. Plus, with the excellent lighting on Howard's face, the use of shadows half covering his piercing eyes, it was the best scene of the film

One person found this helpful

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Snorri

Propaganda mit Humor - wunderbarer Film von und mit Leslie Howard

Reviewed in Germany on November 7, 2014

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"Pimpernel Smith" ist ein in die Gegenwart verlegtes Remake des Klassikers "The Scarlet Pimpernel" - natürlich in die Gegenwart des Jahres 1941, in dem der Film entstand. Die Widersacher des Helden sind also diesmal nicht die Schergen der französischen Revolution, sondern die Agenten des Nazi-Regimes.

Der Held wird, wie in der berühmten Verfilmung von "The Scarlet Pimpernel" aus dem Jahr 1934, von Leslie Howard gespielt, der diesmal auch Regie führte und den Film produzierte, "Pimpernel Smith" also ganz und gar den Stempel seiner Persönlichkeit aufdrückte. Das Ergebnis stellt dem Schauspieler, Regisseur und Produzenten Howard das denkbar beste Zeugnis aus: "Pimpernel Smith" ist ein wunderbarer Film, in dem sich Spannung und feinsinniger Humor perfekt die Waage halten. Obwohl der Film (schon im Titel) keinen Hehl daraus macht, dass er sowohl in der Grundidee als auch in zahllosen Details durch den sieben Jahre älteren Vorgänger inspiriert wurde, findet er seinen ganz eigenen Stil und gibt vor allem seinem Helden ein ganz eigenes Gepräge.

Horatio Smith (Howard) ist Professor für Archäologie und erscheint als das Musterbeispiel eines versponnenen, weltfremden Gelehrten, der schon mal die Wochentage durcheinanderbringt und ganz in seinem Fach aufgeht. Die einzige Frau in seinem Leben ist eine Marmorstatue der Aphrodite Kallipygos (googeln Sie übrigens ruhig einmal nach, was dieser Beiname der Liebesgöttin bedeutet ...). Für seine Studenten ist er eher eine Witzfigur, bis sie während einer archäologischen Exkursion nach Deutschland, wenige Monate vor Kriegsausbruch, entdecken, dass ihr skurriler Hochschullehrer tatsächlich der mysteriöse "Retter" ist, der schon einer ganzen Reihe von Verfolgten des Nazi-Regimes die Flucht aus dem Reich ermöglicht hat. Sofort wird der belächelte Sonderling zum verehrten Helden der Studenten, und mit Feuereifer unterstützen sie ihn fortan bei seiner heroischen Mission. Doch der deutsche Sicherheitsapparat in Gestalt des Generals von Graum (von Francis L. Sullivan als unverblümte Göring-Kopie angelegt) und seiner Mannen lässt nichts unversucht, den geheimnisvollen Retter zu enttarnen, und zwingt Ludmilla Koslowski (Mary Morris), die Tochter eines inhaftierten Zeitungsverlegers (Peter Gawthorne), als Lockvogel zu arbeiten. Ludmilla kommt Smith tatsächlich auf die Spur, ist aber von dessen Kühnheit und Selbstlosigkeit beeindruckt; und auch Smith kommt nach und nach dahinter, dass eine Frau aus Fleisch und Blut auch ihren Reiz haben kann. Das Geschehen spitzt sich zu und wird zum aufreibenden Nervenkrieg ...

Am Ende geht natürlich alles gut aus. Smith und seine Getreuen triumphieren nicht nur auf ganzer Linie, sie tun es auch mit Stil und vor allem mit jener Geheimwaffe, der von Braun vergeblich nachspürt: dem englischen Humor, dem er trotz intensiver Studien solcher Leuchten der literarischen Komik wie Carroll, Lear und Wodehouse nicht auf den Grund kommen kann. Vom Graum erscheint (hierin dem historischen Göring jedoch nicht unähnlich) als recht operettenhafter Bösewicht und seine Leute durchweg als inkompetente, leicht ins Bockshorn zu jagende Tölpel, während Smith, vergnügt pfeifend und "Jabberwocky" zitierend, weder die Übersicht noch seine gute Laune verliert. Daher kann gar kein Zweifel entstehen, wer das Duell der Gehirne für sich entscheiden wird, und dies wiederum erscheint als Omen für den Ausgang des größeren Kampfes, also des Krieges selbst, der 1941 noch am Anfang stand. Nazi-Deutschland, das spricht Smith am Ende des Films prophetisch aus, ist dem Untergang geweiht. Der Gang der Geschichte sollte ihm, gottlob, Recht geben.

"Pimpernel Smith" ist also - selbstverständlich für einen während des Krieges gedrehten britischen Film mit einem solchen Thema - Propaganda, und als solche um so wirksamer, als sie nicht grimmig und eifernd daherkommt, sondern mit feinem Humor. Als Winston Churchill im August 1941 zu seinem historischen Treffen mit Präsident Roosevelt über den Atlantik reiste, ließ er während der Überfahrt den Offizieren des Schiffs und anderen Gästen diesen Film zeigen. Und der schwedische Diplomat Raoul Wallenberg wurde, wie seine Halbschwester Nina Lagergren berichtet, durch diesen Film zu seinen ganz realen Rettungstaten inspiriert, durch die Tausende von Juden vor dem Tod im Konzentrationslager bewahrt wurden. Welcher Propagandafilm kann sich einer solchen Wirkung rühmen?

Doch auch von dieser Wirkung abgesehen ist "Pimpernel Smith", wie eingangs schon gesagt, einfach ein wunderbarer Film, den man sich nicht entgehen lassen sollte. Die Titelrolle ist Howard (natürlich) auf den Leib geschneidert, aber auch die übrigen Darsteller wissen zu überzeugen. Die (Schwarzweiß-) Bildqualität dieser italienischen DVD ist eher mäßig (die Tonqualität dagegen recht gut), was aber niemanden von der Anschaffung abhalten sollte.

3 people found this helpful

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Moneybags

It works on a UK DVD player

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on December 15, 2022

Verified Purchase

Wasn’t convinced when I purchased this that it would work or be in English as when I’ve bought obscure films for my father they usually get sent back for the above reasons. Arrived in decent time from the USA in great condition and it does work. Dad is so happy

A. W. Wilson

PIMPERNEL SMITH Region One from OLIVE FILMS DVD

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on April 20, 2018

Verified Purchase

So many reviews for what must be different DVDs. This review is for the OLIVE DVD issued 2016. Region One. A very good transfer. 4.3 ratio, clear B/W picture, good sound and easy to read optional English subtitles. No extras. As everyone will know this is a "propaganda" film in the true sense of the word, but none the worse for that. Leslie Howard played the "Pimpernel" as if it was the role he was born to play. He also directs skilfully, even if I felt the film sagged a bit in the middle (it is 2 hours long and maybe could have benefitted from losing 15 minutes...maybe). He is ably supported by a fine cast of British character actors as both his archaeological team and the ghastly Germans (principally The wonderful Francis Sullivan (sic) and Raymond "Crash" Huntley (that's me calling him "Crash"!!). David Tomlinson and Phillip Friend and Canadian Hugh McDermot are 3 of Leslie's team. Michael Rennie can be a spotted unbilled in a very small role as a German Officer in a POW camp. The love interest is surprisingly well played by Mary Morris. Suspense, light humour, no nasty violence. Just a vintage film of the period showing how to make a propaganda film entertaining.

4 people found this helpful

Putney

War Drama

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on April 25, 2021

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Saw this films years ago, and loved it. Leslie Howard gives a very good performance and among the other actors is a very young David Tomlinson.
The move is about a professor who smuggles scientists out of Nazi Germany.

D. A. Sheppard

An absolute classic.

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on October 15, 2014

Verified Purchase

Excellent All Round AAAAAAAAAAA+++++++++++.
This is by far my favourite propaganda film. Leslie Howard is great as usual with a sterling supporting cast. I especially like the part where Howards character gives "the captain of murderers" a warning about the path the Nazis are going down. Howards character is shy of the limelight and likes to blend into the background which helps in his quest to free captured men of science & other great minds. Really superb film.

Dave Sheppard.

5 people found this helpful

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