The Scarlet Pimpernel

In post-revolutionary France the guillotine works without pause, while in London the English aristocrat Sir Percy Blakeney appears to be a foppish nobody: preoccupied with his clothes, writing verse, expressing an opinion on nothing. The appearance exists to hide the truth. Under the name the Scarlet Pimpernel, Blakeney runs the organisation smuggling condemned French nobles out. The French agent Chauvelin is in London to find him, and he holds one card: Blakeney's French wife. Harold Young adapted Baroness Orczy's novel, and the result counts as an early example of the secret identity story. The idea of a hero beneath a foppish surface has been repeated many times since. Leslie Howard plays Blakeney, Merle Oberon his wife, and Raymond Massey plays Chauvelin. Howard's double-identity performance is the most cited thing in it. Who it's for: Viewers who like 1930s British adventure, secret identity narratives, and classic costume drama. Who it's not for: The revolution is viewed entirely from the aristocracy's side with no historical complexity. There is also little action by current measure.