The Scarlet Pimpernel

• The Novel

• Film Adaptations

• Films in Context

• Themes

•Attitudes/Perspectives

• Interest

The Novel

• Baroness

Orczy

• Play 1903

• Novel 1905

• Plot

• Characters

William Bast and Baroness Emmuska Orczy, The Scarlet Pimpernel, DVD, directed by Clive Donner, Columbia Broadcasting System , 1992.

“They seek him here, they seek him there, Those Frenchies seek him everywhere. Is he in heaven? Or is he in hell? That damned elusive Pimpernel!”

Film Versions

1934 1982

Films in Context

What is going on in the World in…

1934? 1982?How might this effect

Britain?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qs-hCL7D7Eo&feature=related

Themes

• Liberty vs. Tyranny

• Life vs. Death

• Paranoia, Conspiracy, Secrets

• Varying visions of the Revolution

Attitudes and Perspectives

• Anglo-centric

• Terror-centric

• Conservative

Why the continuing interest in the

French Revolution in film?

1. Despotic resistance

2. Violence

3. Why an interest in The Scarlet Pimpernel

The End