OK, it’s Saturday and you’re geared for some relaxation, at least I hope so. When relaxed, your mind turns to entertainment. My question to you this Saturday is: what is your favorite, possibly not well-known movie and why do you love it?
My favorite movie of this sort is the 1982 version of “The Scarlet Pimpernel.” This version, (the first was in the 1930’s), stars Anthony Andrews, Jane Seymour, and Ian McKellen. The movie is ostensibly based on Baroness Orczy’s book of the same name. I read the book once after seeing the movie and the movie’s not much like the book. The good news is that it’s much, much better.
The Scarlet Pimpernel is a British aristocrat (Andrews) who spirits away aristocrats destined for the guillotine. Seymour is an actress with whom the foppish Sir Percy Blakeney, Andrews ‘real name, falls in love and marries, but her history with Chauvelin (McKellen) and Robespierre threatens not only their marriage but the life of Sir Percy and the band of the Scarlet Pimpernel, a simple flower and also his family’s crest. The sumptuous movie is the perfect blend of action, suspense, love, betrayal, humor, and history. Our entire family loves it and we’ve watched it more times than I can count. It’s a great way to get some idea of what happened during the French Revolution without wallowing in gore. Humor is everywhere in the film and there are many of the lines that go into the family lexicon. The title of my post comes from the little ditty Sir Percy recites when asked about the Scarlet Pimpernel:
They seek him here, they seek him there.
Those Frenchies seek him everywhere.
Is he in heaven or in hell?
That demned, elusive Pimpernel.
You should seek him out immediately!
Now it’s your turn. In your comment, include a movie you think we should see and may not have and tell us why.
This, that and the other thing 
I love the 1930’s version with a very young Raymond Burr playing Chauvelin.
Lindy, we haven’t seen that one, probably because we love this version so much. We’ll have to take a look. Thanks for chiming in this morning and have a great weekend.
janet
You might look for “That Evening Sun”. Hal Holbrook is an aging farmer suffering with dementia who is not welcome when he returns to his home. Dixie Carter, Walton Goggins and Ray McKinnon round out a great cast. Ω
Thanks, Allan. I’ll look for it.
janet
Two come to mind.
Kumaré
http://imdb.com/rg/an_share/title/title/tt1865425/
Jakob the Liar
http://imdb.com/rg/an_share/title/title/tt0120716/
I was hoping you’d chime in, Rich. Thanks.
jnet
Happy to contribute. Rch.
Hi,
What a great question – There are so many great films that l often wonder whether my grand daughter will ever get to see them all – but if l had to recommend one it would be L’été Meurtrier directed by Jean Becker and starring the beautiful Isabelle Adjani 1976
Dan, I’ll look for this. We also love “The Big Night”, a foodie and family movie with a soupçon of betrayal. Although my husband and younger daughter are huge movie lovers (my husband makes the most possible use of Netflix), I tend towards books. Speaking of Netflix, we just watched a movie you, as a bike race lover, would really enjoy: Rising from Ashes. It’s a true and utterly heart-warming story about building a cycling team in Rwanda after the genocide.
janet
I’ll offer an old B&W film dating back to 1953. The Cruel Sea, based on the book by Nicholas Monsarrat. It starred some of Britain’s finest actors – Jack Hawkins, Donald Sinden, Denholm Elliott and Virginia McKenna. I think the opening words spoken by Jack Hawkins sum the film up very well – ‘This is a story of the Battle of the Atlantic, the story of an ocean, two ships, and a handful of men. The men are the heroes; the heroines are the ships. The only villain is the sea, the cruel sea, that man has made more cruel…’ Unlike many modern war films this an understanding of the horrors without resorting to onscreen violence (The director trusts the audience’s imagination to fill in the gaps). As such this is a family film with special significance as we recall WWII 75 years on.
Now, a couple of more modern fllm favourites of mine – though possibly not suitable for a young audience…
The Limey is a Steven Soderbergh film that stands out for its unusual use of flash-backs interspersed with the ongoing storyline. It stars Terence Stamp with Lesley Ann Warren, Luis Guzman, Barry Newman and Peter Fonda. Some good 1960’s music is used in the score to add to the atmosphere. There is some violence and bad language, so it is rated 18 in the UK.
Hot Fuzz is a hilarious comedy starring Simon Pegg and Nick Frost and is based around policing in a Gloucestershire village called Sandford, which seems to have an amazing number of accidental deaths. I’m not sure how well the British humor will translate! There is a lot of bloody slapstick violence that is clearly not intended to be taken seriously and often parodies other ‘serious’ films like Bad boys and Straw Dogs. More of an issue is the foul language, which is why the film gets a 15 rating in the UK. Are you ready to seek out Sandford’s most wanted – a Swan!
Thanks! We do like British films a/o TV. Although not necessarily along the same lines in genre, we love Hugh Laurie and Stephen Fry in “Jeeves and Wooster” and think one of the best shows ever is “Foyle’s War.” We’ve also watched lots of other British TV. One of the things I like is that they use real-looking people; not everyone looks like a perfect beauty.
Thanks again for your suggestions. I’ll see what we can find.
janet
I love a good old British detective TV show… https://2e0mca.wordpress.com/2012/09/04/a-z-story-challenge-i-is-for-inspector/ 😉 I missed one favorite out – Frost starring David Jason.
Foyles War is a good series 🙂
Good Sunday Afternoon Janet,
This is a fun way to get to know films other may have enjoyed and we haven’t seen.
I haven’t seem this one you posted about. I will look for it on Netflix. Thank you for the suggestion and brief summary.
I have 4 I really like.
1. Black and White – it’s a fairly new film with with Kevin Costner. A heartwrenching story of love and loss and a child that is torn between the two worlds of black and white.
2. Steel Magnolias is with Sally Fields. This is a whole tissue box movie. I wouldn’t want to take up your entire comment area to describe this one. It’s outstanding.
3. Moulin Rouge with Ian McKellen and Nicole Kidman. I love this one because of the love story. The story is sung with many, many famous songs including the Beattles.
4. Angela’s Ashes came to mind when I read your title above. Great writing in this one along with a good story.
I hope it was okay to list 4. I enjoy a good movie on a Sunday afternoon.
Happy Movie Watching …
Izzy
p.s. I’ve seen Rising from the Ashes. Great movie.
p.p.s. My hubby makes the most of his Netflix subsrciption too … and he’s a heavy reader. Don’t know where he finds the time. Well, he is an A personality. They do tend to accomplish a lot in a day. 😄
Thanks for the input, Izzy. No limit on suggestions, so you’re good. Hope you’re enjoying your weekend.
janet
Hahaha! We taped Scarlet Pimpernel from TV on VHS years ago. My kids loved that version. Anthony Andrews was so entertaining to watch.
Here’s a few fun ones – The Geisha Boy starring Jerry Lewis, The Court Jester starring Danny Kaye, Mr. Bean’s Holiday starring Rowan Atkinson.
We just watched Millions (2005) which was really cute and quite unexpectedly funny and heartwarming. I noticed that you like Wooster and Jeeves. Millions is set in England.
I’ll add these to my list. Thanks for being part of the fun.
janet