Movie Cosmos - 'Pimpernel' Smith

Description:

Eccentric Cambridge archaeologist Horatio Smith takes a group of British and American archaeology students to pre-war Nazi Germany to help in his excavations. His research is supported by the Nazis, since he professes to be looking for evidence of the Aryan origins of German civilisation. However, he has a secret agenda: to free inmates of the concentration camps.

Top Cast >

Leslie Howard

As Professor Horatio Smith

Francis L. Sullivan

As General von Graum

Mary Morris

As Ludmilla Koslowski

Hugh McDermott

As David Maxwell

Raymond Huntley

As Marx

Manning Whiley

As Bertie Gregson

Peter Gawthorne

As Sidimir Koslowski

Allan Jeayes

As Dr Benckendorf

Dennis Arundell

As Hoffman

Joan Kemp-Welch

As School-Teacher

Philip Friend

As Spencer

Laurence Kitchin

As Clarence Elstead

David Tomlinson

As Steve

Basil Appleby

As Jock MacIntyre

Percy Walsh

As Dvorak

Suzanne Clair

As Salesgirl

Roland Pertwee

As Embassy Official - Sir George Smith

Charles Paton

As Steinhof

Aubrey Mallalieu

As Dean

George Street

As Schmidt

Oriel Ross

As Lady Willoughby

Bryan Herbert

As Jaromir

Arthur Hambling

As Jordan

Ben Williams

As Graubitz

Ernest Butcher

As Weber

Mary Brown

As Girl Student

W. Phillip

As Innkeeper

Ilse Bard

As Gretchen

Ernest Verne

As German Officer

Hector Abbas

As Karl Meyer

Neal Arden

As Second Prisoner

Richard George

As Prison Guard

Roddy Hughes

As Zigor

Hugh Pryse

As Wagner

Michael Brennan

As Camp Guard with Lantern

Elwyn Brook-Jones

As Bit Part

Sebastian Cabot

As Bit Role

Peter Cozens

As Man

Arthur Denton

As Gestapo Man Following Smith

Irene Handl

As Bit Part

Vincent Holman

As Doctor at Diggings

Ronald Howard

As Minor Role

Stuart Latham

As Telephone Operator

Michael Rennie

As Prison Camp Officer

Charles Rolfe

As German Officer at Customs

John Slater

As Reporter

Harry Terry

As Camp Guard

A.E. Matthews

As Earl of Meadowbrook

Top Crew >

Leslie Howard

Director, Producer

Anatole de Grunwald

Screenplay, Scenario Writer

John Dennis

Sound Recordist

Wolfgang Wilhelm

Original Story

Muir Mathieson

Music Director

A.W. Watkins

Recording Supervision

Mutz Greenbaum

Director of Photography, Technical Supervisor

John Greenwood

Original Music Composer

Sidney Cole

Editorial Manager

Roland Pertwee

Scenario Writer

Harold Huth

Associate Producer

Duncan Sutherland

Settings

Jack Hildyard

Camera Operator

George Pollock

Assistant Director

A. G. MacDonell

Original Story

Douglas Myers

Editor

Phil C. Samuel

Production Manager

Baroness Emmuska Orczy

Novel

Reviews:

CinemaSerf (7/10)

Leslie Howard is on good form here as the outwardly fastidious academic with a secret to keep. He decides to offer some of his students an holiday trip to Germany (just the boys!) so they can try to establish once and for all whether there was an "Aryan" race there. Quickly we discover he also has an hand in rescuing many creative and scientifically minded for the evil clutch of the Nazis and their chocolate eating boss "General von Graum" (Francis L. Sullivan). As the students get in on the act, it's the American "David" (Hugh McDermott) who is most itching for action and it's also him who falls for the charms of "Ludmilla" (Mary Morris) who is treading a very dangerous path trying to save her imprisoned father whilst not betraying this updated iteration of Howard's "Scarlet Pimpernel". There's some lovely writing here - especially from the swastika wearing propagandists who insist that their nation is the ideal place to live and work. As the story progresses, there becomes something effectively sinister about the denouement and the battle of wills between Howard and a very much on form Sullivan that delivers one of the more memorable wartime thrillers.

2022-06-25