The Scarlet Pimpernel (1982) on Netflix
NR19822h 22mActionDramaRomance
In 1792, a league of Englishmen smuggles aristocrats out of France. Its leader, the Scarlet Pimpernel, hides behind the foppish Sir Percy Blakeney while Robespierre's agent Chauvelin hunts him.
- Netflix3.6/5
- IMDb7.6/105,651 votes
- Rotten TomatoesNot available
Trailer
Plot summary
Under the Reign of Terror, French aristocrats face the guillotine for the slightest offense, and a secret league of Englishmen smuggles them out of the country. The league answers to a nobleman known only as the Scarlet Pimpernel, who leaves a wayside flower as his sign and passes in society as Sir Percy Blakeney, a wealthy and seemingly empty-headed fop. After Count de Beaulieu and his family are rescued, Percy is introduced to Marguerite St. Just, a French actress, by her brother Armand, whom Percy had saved from an attack. Percy is drawn to her, but she is involved with Paul Chauvelin, an agent of Maximilien Robespierre, and Chauvelin has been ordered to learn the Pimpernel's identity and capture him.
Cast
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about The Scarlet Pimpernel (1982)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- Anthony Andrews was cast as Sir Percy Blakeney right after winning the BAFTA for Best Actor for his role in the 1981 serial Brideshead Revisited, and producers London Films hoped his popularity would lead to an American Scarlet Pimpernel television series starring him, a plan that never came together.
- Romantic novelist Lauren Willig has named this 1982 adaptation as the most direct inspiration behind her 2005 novel The Secret History of the Pink Carnation.
- Costume designer Phyllis Dalton won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Costume Design for a Limited Series or a Special for her work on the film.
- Jane Seymour returned to the era of the French Revolution on screen a few years later, playing Marie Antoinette in the 1989 film La Revolution francaise.
