Konterr
Brilliant and touching
Sanjeev Waters
A movie that not only functions as a solid scarefest but a razor-sharp satire.
Bob
This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.
bkoganbing
In this bicentennial of Charles Dickens it's a good thing to examine all the versions of A Tale Of Two Cities and see aspects in all of them that reflect on the story telling abilities of Dickens. In a Tale Of Two Cities his characters come from a generation or two behind Dickens and it might be the only one of his great work that could be classified as historical. All the rest you can immediately recall to mind are set in his contemporary time.What he did and what Thomas Carlyle did as his contemporary is create characters and write history respectively that forever stamped the image of a seminal historical event in our consciences. For those of us of a historical scholarly bent the image of what Carlyle and Dickens wrote about the French Revolution is soddered into our minds. There's a reason for it, it lies in their research and their abilities as writers.With Dickens it something additional his ability to create unforgettable characters, people whom you once read about and can't forget. Such is Sydney Carton who starts out in the novel as a supporting player but who gradually in the story moves to the first rank and his deed at the end climaxes the story.The Thirties version of A Tale Of Two Cities at MGM and this 1958 film the Rank Organisation are the two best known. Even though MGM's was a Hollywood film it was populated by a cast of British expatriates. Ronald Colman was the Carton of the Thirties and his performance was colored by his impeccable style and good diction. I've always felt Colman so typified the British people as they like to see themselves and we would all like to be Ronald Colman if we're male and come from that blessed isle.In this version Dirk Bogarde's dissolute drunkenness is emphasized far more than with Colman. So is his unrequited love for Lucy Manette the French expatriate played here by Dorothy Tutin. But she loves another, a fellow expatriate Charles Darnay played here by a French actor Paul Guers whom I find to have been dubbed. He does bare a superficial resemblance to Bogarde and that is the real key to the story of A Tale Of Two Cities.The rest of the cast boasts some of the best British performers around at the time like Cecil Parker, Athene Seyler, Donald Pleasance, and Christopher Lee as a cunning and vicious Marquis St. Evremonde. The relationship is changed making Lee and Guers cousins as opposed to an uncle and nephew.Rank Organisation went almost whole hog on this film with an impeccable recreation of late Eighteenth century London and Paris. They could have gone for color, but why be picky. Whatever else A Tale Of Two Cities is politics and history aside, it's about a man who no one thinks has any great character, but in the end really steps to the plate for the one he loves. Which makes the film have a universal theme for the ages.
wes-connors
This version of Charles Dickens' classic "A Tale of Two Cities" betters the 1935 film in some ways, and equals it in others. Alas, the best laid plans, and the worst laid plans, add up to something approaching what we already had. Like the (still) more famous MGM version, "Rank" (the British studio) hits the main plot points, and falls a little short when in considering the sweeping themes. The earlier version, which starred Ronald Colman, aspired to become a "Yuletide" tale (including Christmas songs), while this one "blessedly" plays it more straightforward. The most grievous error is very plain to see… The way to distinguish this production would have been to shoot it in color, which they had the money to do, and did not.Looking beautiful in black and white or color, dissipated English barrister Dirk Bogarde (as Sydney Carton) defends suspected French spy Paul Guers (as Charles Darnay) while falling in love with his client's fetching fiancée, Dorothy Tutin (as Lucie Manette). The casting of the three leads is very much like Mr. Colman's MGM version. Mr. Bogarde is excellent, playing "Sydney Carton" in a lower key makes him more believable in this film's context, and draws you closer. So, even if you know the ending (and you should know the ending), Bogarde is able to make it startling, by unveiling his character deliberately.Director Ralph Thomas, Bogarde, and several of the distinguished supporting characters herein, have a good feel for the material. Another mistake is not having Bogarde play both "Sydney Carton" and "Charles Darnay" (the latter is played, herein, by Mr. Guers and a dubbed voice). Dickens' story depends on the two men looking very nearly identical. This lends believability to their symbolic brotherly love, and makes their love for the same woman (Ms. Tutin) more dynamic. The "twin" theme is a very strong, recurrent (even hereditary, for "Darnay") theme in the novel. Bogarde could have easily played both roles.******* A Tale of Two Cities (2/28/58) Ralph Thomas ~ Dirk Bogarde, Dorothy Tutin, Paul Guers, Rosalie Crutchley
Brooksider100
Pretty boy Bogarde or movie star Coleman? I always thought Dirk Bogarde (Bogarde NOT Bogarte) was a lightweight actor with occasional flashes of excellence.I always thought Ronald Coleman was a great movie star who could act a bit.Having said that I prefer Coleman's version of 'Lost Horizon' to the others and I think his performance as Carton shades Bogarde. Bogarde's best performances were in 'The Night Porter' and 'The Victim'There was, however, a version of this movie (maybe made for TV) with John Mills playing Carton - easily the best.
sandra small
As an avid admirer of nineteenth century novelist Charles Dickens' work, with an interest in the French Revolution, then I felt compelled to watch this Rank adaptation of; A Tale of Two Cities, directed by Ralph Thomas. Although I have not yet read the original novel, I got the impression that this film adaptation of; A Tale of Two Cities stuck as much as possible to the original novel as Dickens intended it to be.We see in this film adaptation of; A Tale of Two Cities the social origins which culminated in the French Revolution. It illustrates the traditional aristocratic 'ruling class's' demise. The demise of the French aristocracy resulted in a reaction by them, where their fears and anxiety pertaining to their precarious position in society culminated in the mistreatment of the ordinary people of France, otherwise referred to as; 'serfs'. Encouraged by the American War of Independence, and influenced by the intellectual elite of The Enlightnement movement culminated in the French Serfs rebelling against the causes of their imposed position within an undemocratic, feudal society, which permitted their mistreatment by the aristocracy. It is the factors of mistreatment and being restrained by their inability to change their situation via the democratic processes we have today, which caused the French serfs to overthrow the aristocratic ruling class at that time in the Eighteenth Century. The over-throwing of the French aristocracy subsequently made way for a new elitist ruling class to emerge in the form of industrialists and businessmen, thereby creating a new type of class consciousness for modernity.As to the acting in the film, it is an eclectic bunch of British character actors playing the parts. This is exemplified by the part played by Dirk Bogarte, who makes the character he plays a portrayal of himself, as opposed to immersing himself into the character, and becoming it! Bogarte illustrates that he is able to become the character he plays in such films as; The Blue Lamp' (1950), where he acts the part of villain Tom Riley with a real and definite intensity. If there was to be any accolades for acting in; A Tale of Two Cities, it would go to the actor, Christopher Lee who played the part of the bombastic French nobleman,Marquis St. Evremonde .If the film is going to be defined as worthy of watching, it is due to the director's ability to keep close to the original Dickens novel.
