Comments on: The Scarlet Pimpernel by Baroness Orczy

By: The Scarlet Pimpernel « an unfinished person (in this unfinished universe)

The Scarlet Pimpernel « an unfinished person (in this unfinished universe) — Sat, 15 May 2010 14:35:14 +0000

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By: Clever Crow

Clever Crow — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 00:54:33 +0000

Hi,
Thanks for a great review. I was happy to read it. I have been a BIG fan of the Scarlet Pimpernel from when I was in grade seven and I must have read the book dozens of times. I also have read all the sequels and prequels, written by Baroness Orczy. Two of them, the immediate ones are as brilliant as the original I strongly recommend all fans to read them. They are available in Gutenberg.

And yeah I also bought the DVD of the 1982 movie and though the plot is not entirely original, the characters, settings and costumes fit the story (of my mind from the book) and it is the best version as far as I can see.

By: Allison Burns

Allison Burns — Sat, 15 Nov 2008 17:02:07 +0000

I am one of those French teachers who uses the Anthony Andrews\Jane Seymour version of the film with my French I students. It’s great to see some of them suddenly begin to understand bits about persecution during the Fr. Revolution. I also show brief scenes of the Richard Grant version for comparison/contrast of the sylishly perfect Andrews versus the grittier (and more darkly realistic) tone of the Revolution.
As a kid, also read more of Orczy’s serial which takes the Pimpernel to fight Nazi’s during WWII !!

By: unfinishedperson

unfinishedperson — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 03:38:26 +0000

I put a link to your review in my own review, which can be found here.

Sorry, it took me so long to get to you. I had your post starred back a couple of weeks ago, but only am getting to it now.

I guess I’m the only one who didn’t remember who The Scarlet Pimpernel was. My wife was like: “Oh, yeah, I saw that coming.” I must not have a woman’s intuition or something.

By: Kathleen

Kathleen — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 20:34:43 +0000

I very much enjoyed this book, and it was a treat to watch a movie version in frech class (although I totally understand re the ‘mental version’ of characters). If you ever do bite the bullet, I recommend the Anthony Andrews version— although I may have particularly enjoyed that simply because I love Ian McKellen

By: Nan

Nan — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 01:23:05 +0000

All I can hear is the Kinks’ Dedicated Follower of Fashion – they seek him here, they seek him there. :<)

By: Margaret

Margaret — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 08:33:09 +0000

Danielle, it was fun reading it knowing who the Scarlet Pimpernel is and I think it’s pretty obvious from the start. I’d forgotten how it ended so I read that part as if for the first time – but I guessed where the Pimpernel was as Chauvelin chased after him!

Cath, I think the cover picture does look a bit like Richard E. Grant, which is surprising as this picture must predate the BBC series by at least 40 years! And the Scarlet Pimpernel actually has fair hair in the book. I can’t imagine Martin Shaw as Chauvelin – he’s supposed to be thin and weasely – the opposite of Judge John Deed.

By: Cath

Cath — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 23:32:56 +0000

I read this and several more in the series when I was about 15, I think. I know I loved the romance aspect of them and I think they might have been what led me on to Jane Austen, bizarre as it might seem. I’ve actually seen the 1999 BBC series starring Richard E. Grant and enjoyed them a lot – my favourite performance being that of Martin Shaw as Chauvelin. Lastly… I do love the cover of your book and he does actually look a bit like Richard E. Grant!

By: Danielle

Danielle — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 17:57:42 +0000

It wasn’t too hard to figure out who the Scarlet Pimpernel was, but for some reason I was expecting things to turn out differently in the end (a not so happy ending). I really enjoyed it, but I think I will forego the films, as I like having my own visuals in mind, too.