A Tale of Two Cities (1935)
- General info
- Available formats
- Synopsis:
- This adaptation of the classic novel by Charles Dickens finds courageous British lawyer Sydney Carton (Ronald Colman) defending French aristocrat Charles Darnay (Donald Woods) from false accusations of treason against England. Carton also becomes enamoured of Darnay's beautiful bride-to-be Lucie (Elizabeth Allan) but she and Darnay marry and begin to raise a family in France. Then, when Darnay falls into the hands of French revolutionaries, Carton once again comes to his rescue.
- Actors:
- Ronald Colman, Elizabeth Allan, Edna May Oliver, Reginald Owen, Basil Rathbone, Blanche Yurka, Henry B. Walthall, Donald Woods, Walter Catlett, Fritz Leiber, H.B. Warner, Mitchell Lewis, Claude Gillingwater, Billy Bevan, Isabel Jewell, Lucille La Verne, Tully Marshall, Fay Chaldecott, Eily Malyon, E.E. Clive
- Directors:
- Jack Conway, Robert Z. Leonard
- Producers:
- David O. Selznick
- Writers:
- Charles Dickens, WP Lipscomb, S.N. Behrman, Thomas Carlyle, M. Cléry, Mademoiselle des Écherolles, M. Nicholas
- Others:
- Conrad A. Nervig
- Genres:
- Classics, Drama, Romance
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Reviews (1) of A Tale of Two Cities
Historical Spectacular. - A Tale of Two Cities review by Steve
MGM drafted in the ranks of British expats, for this exuberant telling of the Charles Dickens classic. Ronald Colman even shaved off his trademark moustache to play the complicated tragic hero Sidney Carton. He is charismatic and sympathetic and the calm centre of much flamboyant character acting. Basil Rathbone also makes a mark as the tyrannical aristocrat, Evrémonde.
It is full of historical detail that brings to life all the social strata of Paris and London in the brutal regimes of the eighteenth century. The grave-robbers, the bankers, the highwaymen... The sets are magnificent and the action scenes hugely ambitious, particularly the storming of the Bastille by a cast of many thousands.
The main weakness is the oddly un-starry casting of B-film stalwart Elizabeth Allen as Lucie Manette. Perhaps the second half of the film isn't quite as stunning as the first as it cuts the rich historical detail in order to get the story done. But it is easily the best of the run of classic European historical adventure yarns produced by Hollywood in the '30s.
And it is the ultimate adaptation of this thrilling story. It's curious that MGM presented this film of a starving proletariat sparking a revolution to an American public suffering the Great Depression. Maybe it's plausible to read it as support for Roosevelt's New Deal? But primarily, this is an exciting, inspiring and flavourful spectacle.