This lavish production results to be a nice adaptation with spectacular production design , 18th Century costumes , evocative score by Georges Auric and glimmer cinematography by Geoffrey Unsworth . Along with luxurious scenarios , beautiful gowns , and good acting from main and secondary cast . During the French Revolution, a French nobleman , Duke Philippe de Beauvais (Luis Jourdan) saves the 10-year-old son (Richard O'Sullivan) of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette from the guillotine with the help of an English woman , Virginia Traill (gorgeous Belinda Lee who unfortunately died early by car crash) . It is set in ¨The Reign Of Terror" (1792) which has resulted in the executions of thousands of citizens by means of guillotine , including King Louis XVI and Marie Antoniette , as during French revolution Robespierre is confronting other leaders to create a ruthless dictatorship for himself . Then an astute Republican agent (Keith Michell) travels towards England to carry out a deadly mission . Along the way Duke of Bauvais attempts to save the son of the king from the clutches of the traitors . As Duke Philippe de Beauvais's goal is to save the young Dauphin , heir to the French throne to continue the Valois Dynasty . Swashbuckling adventure ¡ . A rogue saved a King from the guillotine. Woven on the silken thread of intrigue...! . The most fabulous intrigue ever filmed!
Exciting exploits set on the Reign of Terro , in which the heir of the French throne escapes , while Robespierre's agents seek him , there and everywhere . Adventures inspired by Baroness Orczy's famous novel , Scarlet pimpernel , about a wealthy aristocrat who confounds the French revolutionaries and he becomes a rescuer of those persecuted by the French Revolution and the guillotines and mainly saving the heir of the beheaded king Louis XVI , his child Louis XVII . In fact, the plot is similar to subsequent ¨The Scarlet Pimpernel¨ (1982) by Clive Donner . This is one of the innumerable versions of the much-filmed adventures about unfortunate aristocrats and heir being mercilessly chased by the revengeful revolutionaries while brave patriots engaged in the underground effort to snatch out from under the blade of the guillotine , executing risked rescues of the Frenchmen caught in the Reign of Terror (1792 ) . Spectacular costumer with historical intrigue , suspense , damsels in distresses , adequate scenarios and the impressive sets , too are superb . Louis Jourdan plays to perfection , fitting the role like elegant Duke , he does a dashing hero leading several characters and facing nasty enemies . Jourdan match up efficiently to the popular conception of the hero who remains the archetypal acting and mythical qualities which make the role seems so invincible in spite of suffering a sad personal loss . Ordinary 50s sword and cape in which appears some historical characters as Louis XVI , Marie Antoniette , Louis XVII and Robespierre and is developed an intrigue about the little boy prince Louis XVII , guillotined king Louis XVI's son . Stellar cast plenty of known actors as Louis Jourdan , Keith Michell along with a top-notch British support cast as a very young Richard O'Sullivan , the illustrous veteran Martita Hunt , Finlay Currie , Terence Longdon , Anne Heywood , among others .
The motion picture was professionally directed by Brian Desmond Hurst . He was a good Brit craftsman who made some nice and successful movies. One of his first hits was Theirs Is the Glory (1946), about the disastrous British-American wartime operation at Arnhem in Holland, which became Britain's biggest-grossing film for almost a decade . The film he is most famous for results to be Scrooge (1951) with Alastair Sim, considered by critics and audiences alike to be the best and definitive film version of Charles Dickens' classic novel "A Christmas Carol" . He is also noted for his World War II film The lion has wings (1939) . Among his other successes was Malta story (1953), about the defiant resistance of the military and civilian populations on the island of Malta against relentless Nazi bombing during the war , and Simba (1955), about the Mau-Mau rebellion against British colonial rule in Kenya . And other movies as ¨Trottie true¨, ¨The Mark of Cain¨ , ¨Behind the mask¨, and this ¨Dangerous Exile¨ about the French Revolution .
Exciting exploits set on the Reign of Terro , in which the heir of the French throne escapes , while Robespierre's agents seek him , there and everywhere . Adventures inspired by Baroness Orczy's famous novel , Scarlet pimpernel , about a wealthy aristocrat who confounds the French revolutionaries and he becomes a rescuer of those persecuted by the French Revolution and the guillotines and mainly saving the heir of the beheaded king Louis XVI , his child Louis XVII . In fact, the plot is similar to subsequent ¨The Scarlet Pimpernel¨ (1982) by Clive Donner . This is one of the innumerable versions of the much-filmed adventures about unfortunate aristocrats and heir being mercilessly chased by the revengeful revolutionaries while brave patriots engaged in the underground effort to snatch out from under the blade of the guillotine , executing risked rescues of the Frenchmen caught in the Reign of Terror (1792 ) . Spectacular costumer with historical intrigue , suspense , damsels in distresses , adequate scenarios and the impressive sets , too are superb . Louis Jourdan plays to perfection , fitting the role like elegant Duke , he does a dashing hero leading several characters and facing nasty enemies . Jourdan match up efficiently to the popular conception of the hero who remains the archetypal acting and mythical qualities which make the role seems so invincible in spite of suffering a sad personal loss . Ordinary 50s sword and cape in which appears some historical characters as Louis XVI , Marie Antoniette , Louis XVII and Robespierre and is developed an intrigue about the little boy prince Louis XVII , guillotined king Louis XVI's son . Stellar cast plenty of known actors as Louis Jourdan , Keith Michell along with a top-notch British support cast as a very young Richard O'Sullivan , the illustrous veteran Martita Hunt , Finlay Currie , Terence Longdon , Anne Heywood , among others .
The motion picture was professionally directed by Brian Desmond Hurst . He was a good Brit craftsman who made some nice and successful movies. One of his first hits was Theirs Is the Glory (1946), about the disastrous British-American wartime operation at Arnhem in Holland, which became Britain's biggest-grossing film for almost a decade . The film he is most famous for results to be Scrooge (1951) with Alastair Sim, considered by critics and audiences alike to be the best and definitive film version of Charles Dickens' classic novel "A Christmas Carol" . He is also noted for his World War II film The lion has wings (1939) . Among his other successes was Malta story (1953), about the defiant resistance of the military and civilian populations on the island of Malta against relentless Nazi bombing during the war , and Simba (1955), about the Mau-Mau rebellion against British colonial rule in Kenya . And other movies as ¨Trottie true¨, ¨The Mark of Cain¨ , ¨Behind the mask¨, and this ¨Dangerous Exile¨ about the French Revolution .