A Tale of Two Cities
Composite Score: 83.43
Starring: Ronald Colman, Elizabeth Allan, Edna May Oliver, Reginald Owen, Basil Rathbone, Blanche Yurka, Henry B. Walthall, Donald Woods, Walter Catlett, and H.B. Warner
Director: Jack Conway
Writers: W.P. Lipscomb and S.N. Behrman
Genres: Drama, Romance, History
MPAA Rating: Not Rated
Box Office: $2.30 million worldwide
Why should you Watch This Film?
A Tale of Two Cities is the 1935 film adaptation of Charles Dickens’s novel of the same name. It stars Ronald Colman and Donald Woods as the leading men alongside Elizabeth Allan as the leading lady. The film received Oscar nominations for Best Picture and Best Film Editing for its year, carving itself a place in the annals of film history. The film’s concise adaptation of Dickens’s epic set in the French Revolution remains true to the tale, abbreviating and cutting scenes where necessary while still maintaining the nature of the story. The love triangle at the center of the film is well acted by all three performers, who lend the film some extra emotional weight and ultimately bring the catharsis that comes at its satisfyingly tragic conclusion.
Why shouldn’t you Watch This Film?
A Tale of Two Cities, while a fair adaptation of the Dickens novel (and indeed maybe even more easily digestible), takes an interestingly pro-American slant in its portrayal of the French Revolution, focusing on the revolution’s anti-rich tendencies as obvious negatives, easy to associate with the story’s villain, Madame De Farge – played artfully by Blanche Yurka. It refers back to George Washington as an admirable revolutionary far more often than I would have expected from a film based on the works of one of Britain’s most prolific authors. It’s oddly Americanized in those ways, making it feel not quite the faithful adaptation that it seems, but still solid nonetheless.
So wait, why should you Watch This Film?
The performances from Colman, Woods, and Allan carry a good portion of the film with the aid of Blanche Yurka and Edna May Oliver. Ronald Woods plays Charles Darnay with all of the noble humility that the character requires, playing a convincing romantic lead, loyal friend, and pitiable victim across the film’s wide narrative. Elizabeth Allan’s Lucie Manette brings all the pride and grace of a pre-Victorian lady to bear in her performance, easily wooing both of her suitors (though unintentionally I believe). Oliver as Miss Pross, the governess/housekeeper, takes what could easily have just been a comic relief role and turns it into something noble that has the whole audience rooting for her success by the film’s climax. Yurka’s De Farge is every bit the Dickensian villain that she was written to be – hardened by the world to all human compassion, a victim of injustice who continues to proliferate the system. Her impassioned argument against Darnay at his trial stands out as one of the single most impressive bits of acting in the whole film. Finally, Ronald Colman plays the debauched lawyer Sydney Carton as the ideal of a flawed protagonist, complete with all the longing for betterment that you could ask for. His performance is the true star of the show, particularly in the back half as he resigns himself to an eternal friendzone and begins to despair of ever achieving true goodness until presented with the opportunity in the end. His final moments in the film bring home the entirety of the narrative, bringing a true bit of emotion as the camera flies away from him and he echoes the final lines of Dickens’s novel – it’s a fantastic conclusion to the film that cements it and his performance in the audience’s minds.
A Tale of Two Cities is a well-acted and fairly faithful adaptation of Dickens’s prolific novel, bringing the characters and story to life in a way that leaves its audience impacted by the emotional weight of the tale, solidifying its place among the greats. Though the American studio took some liberties with the source material that come across as a bit ham-handed in a modern light, the core of the film – its studies of the relationships between Darnay, Carton, and Manette – stays true to the original and leaves a solid impact. This film is currently available to stream via DirecTV or Watch TCM or to rent on most other streaming platforms for those looking to give it a watch.
