source: Mister V

'Pimpernel' Smith

Great film, highly recommended, a great mixture of comedy, wit , drama and tension rolled into one, not to mention some action as well. A classic that should be seen by everyone. Leslie Howard is fantastic, it keeps you on the edge of your seat, as well as making you chuckle. It's uplifting and has it's turns as well. If you do watch one film this month, make it this one. The acting is superb and the casting first class. Story line may confuse you at first, but after 20 minutes or so, your questions are answered, but this does not ruin the movie at all, in fact is keeps it going, keeping it a mystery,

Unlike some films made during WWII, Pimpernel Smith has not dated. It is still an entertaining film, with an excellent performance by Leslie Howard and the supporting cast. My favourite part of the film is the well delivered script, and the professional camera work during the film's finale.

Pimpernel Smith is – together with Chaplin's The Great Dictator – one of the most effective anti-Nazi films ever made. OK, the concentration camp seems rather idyllic compared to what we now know about those places, but the unique mix of comedy and suspense is masterful (it reminds me somewhat of the now forgotten thrillers by Manning Coles, light-years from the nitty-gritty tone of today's blockbusters. Just to set the record straight: Howard's last lines, spoken from the mist at the frontier railway station are first "I'll be back." Sullivan fires a couple of shots into the dark before the voice comes back: "We'll ALL be back." Spoken in 1941, at the height of the Battle of Britain and years before the invasion, those word are nicely prophetic...

This film was created to drum up morale among the British people and to portray their cause as just to the Americans (who were not yet in the war). And, in this endeavor, it does a wonderful job. The Nazis are really bad and the British people plucky and decent--exactly the message they were trying to get across. This story is a reworking of THE SCARLET PIMPERNELL--being updated to the the then present time instead of during the French Reign of Terror. Leslie Howard does a fine job playing the lead and the film is a better record of his acting talents than most of his movies. The direction and writing, as well, were excellent. No complaints at all about this film. Give it a try--it's a great time passer.