A Tale of Two Cities

Charles Dickens' novel of the French Revolution has been filmed several times, the most notable version being the 1935 MGM epic starring Ronald Colman in the signature dual role as both Charles Darnay, a high-minded ex-aristocrat who endangers his life by returning to his radicalized French homeland for a noble cause, and Sydney Carton, the dissolute English lawyer who makes a fateful decision in the name of love. Originally broadcast on CBS in 1980, this lavish (for its time) adaptation boasts a script by John Gay that is generally faithful to the source material while necessarily compressing the narrative a bit. The supporting cast features a handful of great character actors—Peter Cushing as Manette, Kenneth More as Lorry, Flora Robson as Miss Pross, David Suchet as Barsad, and Nigel Hawthorne as Stryver. But Alice Krige's Lucie is pallid, and both Billie Whitelaw's Madame Defarge and Barry Morse's Marquis are over-the-top. Most problematic of all, Chris Sarandon is simply out of his depth as Darnay and his lookalike Carton, relying on crude tricks to differentiate the two and turning both into one-note caricatures. But even though this admittedly creates a considerable hole at the center of the story, the film's majestic sweep and general fidelity to the novel still make it a strong optional purchase. (F. Swietek)[Blu-ray Review—Apr. 19, 2016—Shout! Factory, 162 min., not rated, $24.98—Making its first appearance on Blu-ray, 1980's A Tale of Two Cities features a fine transfer and a DTS-HD mono soundtrack, but no extras. Bottom line: although uneven, this Blu-ray debut will be appreciated by fans of Dickens's classic novel.]