‘Pimpernel’ Smith (1941)

Description

A sequel to “The Scarlet Pimpernel” (1934) which springs forward from Revolutionary France to pre-Second World War Europe. It is mid-1939 and both Germany and England are preparing for an inevitable conflict. English archaeologist Horatio Smith takes his students to Germany before the start of World War II to study the existence of early Aryans. He is actually there, however, to free concentration camp inmates. General von Graum, a Gestapo head, dispatches the beautiful Ludmilla Koslowski to find the man behind the escapes, but she instead allies with Horatio. Together they scheme to free Ludmilla’s father, Sidimir. This film helped to inspire the Swedish diplomat Raoul Wallenberg to mount his real-life rescue operation in Budapest that saved tens of thousands of Hungarian Jews from Nazi concentration camps.