THE BATMAN OF REVOLUTIONARY FRANCE.

Byline: Rob Lowman Daily News Entertainment Editor

To his friends, he's mild-manner and unthreatening. But once he puts on his disguise, he turns into a superhero and protector of the innocent.

No, we're not talking about Clark Kent or Bruce Wayne but Sir Percy Blakeney, a k a the Scarlet Pimpernel. Now A&E has kicked some life into the old story of the foppish English nobleman who saves the wrongly accused from Madame Guillotine during the French Revolution.

The first right move they made in this A&E/BBC production was casting Richard E. Grant as the Pimpernel. Grant, who has had some odd roles in ``The Player'' and ``Bram Stoker's Dracula,'' is one of the few actors who could be convincing as both dandy and man of action. The second was jazzing up the protagonist of the 1905 novel by Baroness Orczy, letting him pull a few superhero tricks from up his sleeve.

True, Grant does get to recite the famed bit of doggerel - ``They seek him here, they seek him there/ The Frenchies seek him everywhere/ Is he in heaven? Is he in hell?/ That damned elusive Pimpernel'' - but he also gets to engage in swordplay, trickery and play with what might be called 18th-century high-tech toys.

The story - for those of you who haven't read the book or caught the 1935 movie starring Leslie Howard or the inferior ``The Elusive Pimpernel'' (1950) with David Niven - finds Blakeney being pursued by the French official Chauvelin (Martin Shaw), one of revolutionary leader Maximilien Robespierre's henchmen.

Knowing the Pimpernel is English, Chauvelin crosses the Channel and, by scheduling a date for her brother with the guillotine, blackmails former French citizen Lady Marguerite (Elizabeth McGovern) into helping him discover the identity of the Pimpernel. Lady Marguerite, it so happens, is married to Blakeney but doesn't know her husband moonlights. Got that?

Well, needless to say, they all end up in Paris and, after much travail, everything more or less rights itself since there are two more ``Pimpernel'' telefilms slated to air at later dates.

This production is quite colorful and lively, filled with nice touches of guillotine humor - children playing at beheading in the streets and partygoers doing a ghoulish dance and falling down. (``Ring Around the Rosie'' was originally about the plague. Remember the line ``ashes, ashes all fall down?).

Grant is splendid. But Blakeney's relationship with Marguerite doesn't quite click, which is unfortunate since Grant and McGovern seem so well-suited. This can be attributed, in part, to the plot. But McGovern, usually a terrific actress, seems unsure of her role. They have two more tries, so there's hope. Shaw, however, makes a suitable villain.

Despite its drawbacks, ``The Scarlet Pimpernel'' is fun. (Everyone speaks English by the way - but you expected logic?) And for those of you who are horticulturally challenged, a scarlet pimpernel is a small red flower, which Blakeney left as his calling card.

Dark and steamy sci-fi: Based on the works of sci-fi writer Philip K. Dick, who was the source material for the films ``Blade Runner'' and ``Total Recall,'' Showtime's new series, ``Total Recall'' plays like a hybrid of the two.

It is set in a futuristic city, dark and rainy, reminiscent of ``Blade Runner'' and, like that movie, concerned with rogue aliens. Like ``Total Recall,'' the villain is the giant sinister Rekall company.

Starring Michael Easton as David Hume, a detective in the Citizens Protection Bureau, ``Total Recall 2070'' offers much promise as a series, but it will need some better writing and acting first. Easton is suitably gumshoe scruffy, but some of the others seem like androids. One exception is Karl Pruner, who brings some life to the role of Ian Farve, Hume's android partner.

Being cable TV, there is a dash of eroticism thrown in, sometimes through Rekall trips (memory implants), and sometimes between Hume and his wife, Olivia (Cynthia Preston).

While there is enough in the first episode of ``Total Recall 2070'' to tune in another week, the series will have to map out a more compelling future to keep an audience.

THE FACTS

The show: ``The Scarlet Pimpernel'' (rated TVPG).

What: Story of the 18th-century English nobleman who rescues the innocent from the French Revolution's reign of terror.

The stars: Richard E. Grant, Elizabeth McGovern and Martin Shaw.

Where: A&E.

When: 6 and 10 tonight.

The show: ``Total Recall 2070'' (rated TV14).

What: New series based on the works of sci-fi writer Philip K. Dick.

The stars: Michael Easton, Karl Pruner and Michael Anthony Rawlins.

Where: Showtime.

When: 8 tonight.

CAPTION(S):

2 Photos

Photo: (1) Richard E. Grant and Elizabeth McGovern star in A&E's ``The Scarlet Pimpernel.''

(2) Karl Pruner plays an android in ``Total Recall 2070'' on Showtime.