The New York Times Review, February 8, 1935

From the The New York Times review by Andre Sennwald:

"It is a temptation to say that Leslie Howard's newest performance is also his best. This time the need is overbearing. For Mr. Howard is the Pimpernel himself, gallant and resourceful on his perilous missions across the Channel, downright superb when he is playing the simpering poseur in the English drawing rooms. He is an infinite delight even in a cast which is correct down to the smallest rôles and includes Raymond Massey and Merle Oberon among its principals. Robert Sherwood and Arthur Wimperis have struck off a witty, romantic and adventurous screen play, which has been costumed, photographed and set aflowing with the best possible taste. Did the narrative seem a trifle leisurely in places? No matter. It was a leisurely age and here is a succulent and captivating entertainment."

The New York Times Review of The Scarlet Pimpernel, 1935

[Leslie Howard in a colorized photo as
Sir Percy Blakeney in
The Scarlet Pimpernel, 1935]

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A Very Hungarian Affair

Baroness Emmuska Magdalena Rosalie Maria Josefa Barbara Orczy, born in 1865, was the daughter of aristocrat Baron Felix Orczy, a Hungarian-Jewish musician and composer, who left his homeland in 1868 with his young family after their home was vandalized by peasants. They eventually settled in London. Baron Orczy wanted his daughter to study music but she opted for art school instead. This is where she met her husband, Montagu Barstow. Orczy wrote The Scarlet Pimpernel herself in just five weeks but could not find a publisher for the book. So, together with her husband, she wrote a play based on the book which was produced for the stage in 1903. The novel was then published in 1905.

Enter Alexander Korda who was born in 1893 in what is now Hungary and who had formed his own production company, London Films. It was Korda who originally put The Scarlet Pimpernel on film. Korda had actually wanted Charles Laughton for the title role, but by that time the public already had an idea of what Sir Percy Blakeney looked like and it wasn't Charles Laughton.

And this leads us to our star, Leslie Howard. Howard was born Leslie Howard Steiner to a British mother, Lilian (née Blumberg), and a Hungarian-Jewish father, Ferdinand Steiner. Although born in England, Howard did live for a time in Vienna, Austria, where his father wanted the family to experience the richness of the cultural innovation and intellectual brilliance happening there. That experience is said to have influenced Howard for the rest of his life.

Leslie Howard and Walter Rilla
in The Scarlet Pimpernel, 1935

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The Scarlet Pimpernel

Leslie Howard and Merle Oberon in The Scarlet Pimpernel. Produced by Alexander Korda and London Films. Distributed by United Artists. Released in the UK December 23, 1934 and in the US February 7, 1935.

[Leslie Howard and Merle Oberon
in The Scarlet Pimpernel, 1935]

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