The Scarlet Pimpernel by Baroness Orczy

[meganbmoore]

I became familiar with The Scarlet Pimpernel by osmosis at about age 5 due to my mother’s being in love with the Leslie Howard movie. I quite possibly have it memorized, despite never actually sitting down to watch it. (Rather similar to how I used to have 90% of the original Star Wars trilogy memorized line for line, but never actually sat down to

Comments

[kirarakim]

I haven't read the actual book but I did see the Leslie Howard movie and they seemed to have removed most of the melodrama. At least I don't recall it being very melodramatic.

[meganbmoore]

It's the writing itself that has the melodramatic flair, not the events.

[meganbmoore]

Yeah, I remember the movie being way more focused on Percy, while the book is very much Marguerite's, as important as Percy still is.

[dangermousie]

What, you mean the whole bit where he kisses the ground where her feet rested a few minutes ago a bit melodramatic? LOL

As someone with unabashed love of melodrama, I used to be obsessed with all the Pimpernel books (I believe I read them all). I still like them. I don't mind Orczy's bias, even if it is not mine, because she chose a noncontroversial channel to demonstrate it through - executing people with so little due process for nebulous crimes is unjust (in fact, I used to be obsessed with the French Revolution, and read a ton on it, and I think the tribunals by the end make a Stalinist court seem OK).

[meganbmoore]

HAHA! Yes! Actually, kissing the ballustrade where her hand was would have been just the right amount of melodrama for the scene, but the step-kissing inspired a fit of giggles. Not a BAD fit, exactly, but...

I agree, in general, about Orczy's bias. She focuses it on the aspect everyone (as far as I know) agrees on, even if she ignores the other aspects.

[estara]

My one and only Percy and Marguerite will ever be Anthony Andrews and Jane Seymour in the 80s miniseries, with Ian McKellen as the arch villain.

[meganbmoore]

I should watch that.

[smillaraaq]

I have somehow never gotten around to reading this one, despite my great love for classic swashbuckling melodramatic adventures...and I've been a little leery of tackling it since hearing talk of it having some anti-Semitic elements. How strong are they, is it the sort of thing where you can just sort of skim past one objectionable chapter and it's OK, or does it pop up a lot in multiple places?

[meganbmoore]

I read it when I was sik last week, so it's possible I missed things, but I think it's more an underlying tone of classism throughout the book that can mostly be worked through, but it rears its head to get attention a few times. I think most of the anti-semitism is concentrated in the very end, though.