I (Gunnar) remember this film from my childhood and particularly a scene where Leslie Howard as 'Pimpernel' Smith is hiding in a field, disguised as a scarecrow. In my memory he is shot from a window of a train by a Nazi soldier but in the film the soldier is standing in the fields, shooting.Well, I guess this slip of memory is not to important.
Another thing is however that I often mix this film up with 'The Scarlet Pimpernel' also starring Leslie Howard, where he also is doing a role portraying a person living a double life. In that case a noble who 'under cover' tries to free the French aristocracy from the reign of Robespierre.
Howard plays a Cambridge archaeologist by the name of Horatio (like the Roman poet, and admiral Nelson) Smith (unusual surname), working during the pre WWII-period.
Under the pretext of conducting an excavation in the search of the Aryan origins in German civilisation, his secret agenda consists of freeing inmates in concentration camps. He brings with him some of his students to this pre-Nazi Germany, already displaying what is to come in the future.
During one of his missions - succeeding in releasing a pianist from a work gang - the above mentioned shooting takes place. When his students see that he is wounded and read in the newspapers that a soldier has shot a resister, working under cover, they come to understand Horatio's hidden agenda but join him gladely in his mission.
The German General von Graum (Francis L. Sullivan) is using Ludmilla Koslowski (Mary Morris) to reveal who this 'Pimpernel' is.
When Smith becomes aware of this, he arranges for her and her father - being held prisoner and hostage in order for Ludmilla to cooperate - to be released. This with the help of the students.
Later on she is captured again and Smith returns to give himself up in return for her release.
In the end he distracts the General, disappears in the fog but promises to return.
This is a classic spy- or war film with a lot of humour and on the same time making fun of the Germans - of course. Even though the General is depicted as being somewhat more intelligent than the rest of his collaborators, the British and Americans are of course more intelligent and smarter.
This was one in a row of films used as a form of propaganda against the Nazi regime and also as a mean to raise the moral and will to resist the Nazi threat.
As such it might have worked well as one get the impression that the Germans are people trained to obey orders but not able to think and act on their own, individually. This could of course be a strength during certain circumstances, not least when wanting to rule a people, but also a weakness as it creates people estranged to personal initiative.
In all it's a harmless film with a glimpse in its eyes.
Another thing is however that I often mix this film up with 'The Scarlet Pimpernel' also starring Leslie Howard, where he also is doing a role portraying a person living a double life. In that case a noble who 'under cover' tries to free the French aristocracy from the reign of Robespierre.
Howard plays a Cambridge archaeologist by the name of Horatio (like the Roman poet, and admiral Nelson) Smith (unusual surname), working during the pre WWII-period.
Under the pretext of conducting an excavation in the search of the Aryan origins in German civilisation, his secret agenda consists of freeing inmates in concentration camps. He brings with him some of his students to this pre-Nazi Germany, already displaying what is to come in the future.
During one of his missions - succeeding in releasing a pianist from a work gang - the above mentioned shooting takes place. When his students see that he is wounded and read in the newspapers that a soldier has shot a resister, working under cover, they come to understand Horatio's hidden agenda but join him gladely in his mission.
The German General von Graum (Francis L. Sullivan) is using Ludmilla Koslowski (Mary Morris) to reveal who this 'Pimpernel' is.
When Smith becomes aware of this, he arranges for her and her father - being held prisoner and hostage in order for Ludmilla to cooperate - to be released. This with the help of the students.
Later on she is captured again and Smith returns to give himself up in return for her release.
In the end he distracts the General, disappears in the fog but promises to return.
This is a classic spy- or war film with a lot of humour and on the same time making fun of the Germans - of course. Even though the General is depicted as being somewhat more intelligent than the rest of his collaborators, the British and Americans are of course more intelligent and smarter.
This was one in a row of films used as a form of propaganda against the Nazi regime and also as a mean to raise the moral and will to resist the Nazi threat.
As such it might have worked well as one get the impression that the Germans are people trained to obey orders but not able to think and act on their own, individually. This could of course be a strength during certain circumstances, not least when wanting to rule a people, but also a weakness as it creates people estranged to personal initiative.
In all it's a harmless film with a glimpse in its eyes.
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