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The Elusive Pimpernel
(The Fighting Pimpernel)
The Elusive Pimpernel; (The Fighting Pimpernel)
	Theatrical poster
Directed by	Michael Powell; Emeric Pressburger
Written by	Baroness Orczy (novels); Michael Powell; Emeric Pressburger
Produced by	Michael Powell; Emeric Pressburger
Starring	David Niven; Margaret Leighton; Jack Hawkins; Cyril Cusack; Robert Coote
Cinematography	Christopher Challis
Edited by	Reginald Mills
Music by	Brian Easdale
Production; company	London Films
Distributed by	British Lion Films
Release dates	6 February 1950 (UK); 17 April 1954 (NYC); 1955 (US general);
Running time	109 minutes
Country	United Kingdom
Language	English
Budget	£477,000
Box office	£133,354 (UK)

The Elusive Pimpernel is a 1950 British period adventure film by the British-based director-writer team of Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger, based on the novel The Scarlet Pimpernel (1905) by Baroness Emmuska Orczy. It was released in the United States under the title The Fighting Pimpernel. The picture stars David Niven as Sir Percy Blakeney (a.k.a. The Scarlet Pimpernel), Margaret Leighton as Marguerite Blakeney and features Jack Hawkins, Cyril Cusack and Robert Coote. Originally intended to be a musical, the film was re-worked as a light-hearted drama.

Plot

During the French Revolution, the Scarlet Pimpernel, who is really Sir Percy Blakeney in disguise, risks his life to rescue French aristocrats from the guillotine and take them across the English Channel to safety. As cover, Sir Percy poses as a fop at Court, and curries favour with the Prince of Wales by providing advice about fashion, but secretly he leads The League, a group of noblemen with similar views.

Chauvelin, the French ambassador to England, wants to find out who the Pimpernel is, so he can be brought to French justice. He blackmails Blakeney's French wife Marguerite into helping him by threatening to have her brother Armand (an associate of the Pimpernel) arrested and tortured. She intercepts a letter intended for the Pimpernel and gives it to Chauvelin, unaware that she has betrayed her husband. When she discovers the truth, she sets out to warn him of his great peril.

Cast

David Niven as Sir Percy Blakeney/ The Scarlet Pimpernel
Margaret Leighton as Marguerite Blakeney
Jack Hawkins as Prince of Wales/Footpad attacking Lord Anthony
Cyril Cusack as Chauvelin
Robert Coote as Sir Andrew Ffoulkes
Arlette Marchal as Comtesse de Tournai
Gérard Nery as Philippe de Tournai
Danielle Godet as Suzanne de Tournai
Edmond Audran as Armand St. Juste
Charles Victor as Colonel Winterbotham
Eugene Deckers as Captain Merieres
David Oxley as Captain Duroc
Raymond Rollett as Bibot
Philip Stainton as Jellyband
John Longden as The Abbot
Robert Griffiths as Trubshaw^[4]
Patrick Macnee as the Hon. John Bristow

Production

The Elusive Pimpernel was financed by Samuel Goldwyn and Alexander Korda. Neither director Michael Powell nor star David Niven was very interested in doing the film, but had their minds changed by threats of contract suspension. (Rex Harrison had been originally announced as the star.)^[5] Powell wanted to make the film as a musical, but was not allowed to, and Margaret Leighton was cast despite his objection. Goldwyn forced numerous additions and changes to the film but when Powell delivered the final cut, Goldwyn refused to make the final payment, which caused Korda to sue him.^[6]

The film was shot in 1949^[7] at various British film studios in Boreham Wood, Elstree and Shepperton, Surrey. Location shooting took place in Bath, Dover, in Savernake Forest, on the Marlborough Downs, and in the stables of Carlton House Terrace, St. James's, London. In France, filming took place in the chateaux of the Loire Valley and on Mont Saint-Michel.^[6]^[8]

Release

The Elusive Pimpernel was released in the UK in 1950, but because of the falling out between Korda and Goldwyn, did not gain an American distributor until July 1953 when Carroll Pictures acquired the rights. The film then premiered in New York City on 17 April 1954.^[6]

Niven's unhappiness at being forced to make the film later led to him severing his contract with Samuel Goldwyn.^[9]

References

Notes

^ Karol Kulik, Alexander Korda: The Man Who Could Work Miracles, Virgin 1990 p. 319
^ Kevin Macdonald (1994). Emeric Pressburger: The Life and Death of a Screenwriter. Faber and Faber. p. 316. ISBN 978-0-571-16853-8.
^ Vincent Porter, 'The Robert Clark Account', Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television, Vol 20 No 4, 2000 p. 492
^ "Trubshaw" was a name often given to minor characters in Niven's films (at his insistence) – it was a back-handed tribute on Niven's part to his old army friend, Michael Trubshawe.
^ "BIG LINE-UP FOR ENGLAND". The Daily News. Perth: National Library of Australia. 19 April 1947. p. 20 Edition: FIRST EDITION. Retrieved 6 July 2012.
^ ^a ^b ^c TCM Notes
^ TCM Overview
^ IMDB Filming locations
^ "DAVID NIVEN'S OWN STORY". The Australian Women's Weekly. National Library of Australia. 15 September 1971. p. 15. Retrieved 7 July 2012.

Bibliography

Christie, Ian. Arrows of Desire: the films of Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger. London: Faber & Faber, 1994. ISBN 0-571-16271-1. 163pp (illus. filmog. bibliog. index)
Orczy, Baroness. The Scarlet Pimpernel. London: Hutchinson & Co, 1905.
Orczy, Baroness. The Elusive Pimpernel. London: Hutchinson & Co, 1908.
Powell, Michael. A Life in Movies: An Autobiography. London: Heinemann, 1986. ISBN 0-434-59945-X.
Powell, Michael. Million Dollar Movie. London: Heinemann, 1992. ISBN 0-434-59947-6.