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Title: A disappointing production of a great novel
Review: This version of the Scarlet Pimpernel is infinitely inferior to the 1982 version starring Anthony Andrews, Jane Seymour, and Ian McKellan. The screenplay is incoherent and confusing; events necessary to the understanding of the story are shown in flashback, usually long after the viewer needs the information. The dialogue runs the gamut from the witty to the banal (the prison scene between Marguerite and Percy exhibits the most offensively trite dialogue). But the worst aspect of this video is the casting of Elizabeth McGovern as Marguerite. Even playing a former actress is a stretch for her. Richard Grant as Percy and Martin Shaw as Chauvelin are quite good, although not nearly as good as Anthony Andrews and Ian McKellan in the same roles.The Scarlet Pimpernel is a wonderfully heroic, romantic story set in the French Revolution. This 1998 A&E production does not do it justice.
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