A Tale of Two Cities

1917
1h 10m

IMDb RATING

6.1/10

167

YOUR RATING

William Farnum in A Tale of Two Cities (1917)

Drama History Romance War

Alcoholic lawyer Sydney Carton travels to Paris during the Reign of Terror to rescue French aristocrat Charles Darnay, husband of the woman he loves.Alcoholic lawyer Sydney Carton travels to Paris during the Reign of Terror to rescue French aristocrat Charles Darnay, husband of the woman he loves.Alcoholic lawyer Sydney Carton travels to Paris during the Reign of Terror to rescue French aristocrat Charles Darnay, husband of the woman he loves.

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

6.1/10

167

YOUR RATING

See production info at IMDbPro

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Trivia
According to director Frank Lloyd, "I met a neighbor of ours, a schoolteacher. I told him of my assignment to make the [Charles Dickens] picture. He was very much impressed. 'What a marvelous opportunity,' he said. 'I think it a privilege to bring the works of Dickens before 60 people, and here you have the chance to bring them before 60 million.' I thought of this latter phrase, I think, all during the making of the picture. I decided it would be more discreet to bring the works of Charles Dickens before--possibly--many million people than the work of Frank Lloyd. For that reason I followed as closely as possible the story of the book. Every historical detail was absolutely correct; all the settings were the result of careful, patient research; and the characterizations and theme of the story were transferred to the screen in such a manner as to accurately follow the author's ideas".

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Featured in Chris & Don: A Love Story (2007)

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Review

Featured review

7/10

Sparknotes version of Dickens

This 1917 adaptation of A Tale of Two Cities is nothing spectacular; however, William Farnum is absolutely great as Sydney Carton and Charles Darnay, stealing every scene he's in with great panache. One wishes the other actors had as much to do.

The big problem is that the filmmakers assume the audience has read the book and therefore they assume they only need to hit the major beats of the story without doing much to establish character. What results is a rather unimpressive narrative experience, though as I said, Farnum keeps things lively, as do a few moments of truly striking composition and lighting. Otherwise, only silent film nerds and fans of the novel (both of which I'm lucky to be in this instance) will get much out of this movie.