'Pimpernel' Smith
Jun. 10th, 2020 04:00 pmAlerted by ![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
sovay that there were watchable copies of 'Pimpernel' Smith on the internet, we tracked one down - not on the Wayback Machine, with which our television declines to communicate, but on YouTube, which we were able to watch together in the comfort it deserves. For an assessment of the film rooted in long-term affection and knowledge of the medium which is both deep and extensive, read sovay's version; what you get here is more questions than answers.
Well, one answer: yes, thank you, I enjoyed it very much; two hours well spent. It is - and I don't think this is hidden at all, although I was not expecting it - pure propaganda: why it is right to oppose the Nazis, why we will defeat them and why America should join us in doing so. This is not a message that gets old. Oddly, for a wartime propaganda film, it isn't gung-ho about war, declaring with its hero: "I hate violence. It seems such a paradox to kill a man before you can persuade him what's right. So uncivilized!"
( But, to begin at the beginning ... )
The film isn't perfect, then, but what is? It's a fairy tale, with an attractive (if flawed) hero, its heart is in the right place and it kept me entertained.
sovay that there were watchable copies of 'Pimpernel' Smith on the internet, we tracked one down - not on the Wayback Machine, with which our television declines to communicate, but on YouTube, which we were able to watch together in the comfort it deserves. For an assessment of the film rooted in long-term affection and knowledge of the medium which is both deep and extensive, read sovay's version; what you get here is more questions than answers.Well, one answer: yes, thank you, I enjoyed it very much; two hours well spent. It is - and I don't think this is hidden at all, although I was not expecting it - pure propaganda: why it is right to oppose the Nazis, why we will defeat them and why America should join us in doing so. This is not a message that gets old. Oddly, for a wartime propaganda film, it isn't gung-ho about war, declaring with its hero: "I hate violence. It seems such a paradox to kill a man before you can persuade him what's right. So uncivilized!"
( But, to begin at the beginning ... )
The film isn't perfect, then, but what is? It's a fairy tale, with an attractive (if flawed) hero, its heart is in the right place and it kept me entertained.
