Rijndri Load of rubbish!!

UnowPriceless hyped garbage

XoWizIama Excellent adaptation.

Kinley This movie feels like it was made purely to piss off people who want good shows

peter-woodhart I'm old now, and I've been watching films (movies!) since the 1940's!This black and white 1958 version of 'A Tale of Two Cities' is a beautiful love story. Although we owe the wonderful Charles Dickens all the credit for creating such an outstanding act of bravery by Sydney Carton, I defy anyone to suggest a better actor than Dirk Bogarde to play this part.Dirk Bogarde starts the film as a drunk who has nothing to live for. Through his love for Lucie, he learns to redeem himself. The words he dictates at the end of the film to Charles Darney in the prison, 'I knew it was not in your nature.....' are real tearjerkers.I watch the film at least once a year and always find it a moving experience.Highly recommendedPS The haunting music by Richard Addinsell is fabulous.....

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

lawrence_elliott "Tale of Two Cities" is one of those overworked and tired tales that has been over told dozens of times ad nausea! However, this rendition is glorious. Only the Ronald Colman version is slightly better, but Dirk Bogarde fits this role perfectly, as he does most of his other roles in film. Although most of the versions of "Tale of Two Cities" are boring, much like the tired renditions of Beethoven's 5th Symphony, this version is like the Herbert Von Karajan or Carlos Kleiber orchestrations that are spectacular and inspiring, as if played for the very first time. There are beautifully crafted scenes in this film that create an interest in the humanity of the characters. This is truly a wonderful film.One of the most powerful ending's to a film I have ever seen, similar to the sacrifice that Christ made for us on the cross, this is a film you must see and you will be glad you did. You will ask yourself, how many people could make such a sacrifice for the one they love? I know I couldn't. The courage of these characters' is awe-inspiring and as one of the character's says, Sydney Carton (Bogarde) shows the best that is in us, and is the best of us, in desperate times. A Super Hero in a great film! See this one! If you have a heart, you will have a lump in your throat and your eyes will be moist at the end of this one!