Charles Dickens’ acclaimed novel A Tale of Two Cities was published 165 years ago as of this writing. Like many of the writer’s greatest works it was published in serials, weekly releases from April 1859 through November. It was critically lauded and continues to be one of the greatest selling works of fiction of all time. Almost since the advent of motion pictures there have been adaptations made of this book, four alone in the silent era. 1935 saw the first adaptation using the fairly new sound process. Other adaptations followed afterwards including film, radio plays, stage musicals, operas and made-for-television mini-series. The subject matter still resonates with people enough to warrant all these adaptations and reimaginings. It still ranks high on reader’s lists as well as in literature classes. So much of the class struggle depicted in the pages as well as a look at the French Revolution from the viewpoints of both the poor and the aristocratic still resonates to this date.
The 1935 release of A Tale of Two Cities, while mostly faithful to the original novel’s prose, is forced to distill down much of the details in order to fit within the framework of a two hour film. A lot of the side stories and machinations of the Revolution are glossed over in order to not only reign in the runtime but also make it more digestible for the average movie-goer who may or may not be savvy to the details of the actual history behind this story. But that flavor is not needed in the film medium just as we don’t need all the long asides when adapting a Victor Hugo novel to film. It adds depth in the prose but can be sliced cleanly away in a film.
The film begins with the famous opening lines from the novel, “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times…” seemingly conflicting observations were it simply looking at one group of people. Lucie Manette (Elizabeth Allan) and her servant, Miss Pross (Edna May Oliver), have just been informed that her father, Dr. Alexandre Mannette (Henry B. Walthall) is not dead like they had supposed but has instead been held prisoner in the Bastille in Paris for eighteen years before finally being rescued. While in his prison he wrote a letter condemning the Evremond family who were responsible for his imprisonment, every last one of them. The father’s mind has broken but with some care from Lucie he slowly begins to recover. She takes him away from Paris to England to rest and regain his sanity.
While on that journey across the English Channel, Lucie meets Charles Darnay (Donald Woods), a French aristocrat and member of the Evremond family. Charles is unlike his family in every way, a man of the people who has relinquished his title and changed his name, moving to England to start a new life. The marquis frames him for treason but some clever work by the barrister and especially his clerk, Sydney Carton (Ronald Colman), exposes the lie and Charles is free. Charles falls in love with Lucie as does Sydney but Lucie prefers the former and remains unaware of the feelings of the latter. Charles confesses his family connections to her father who, knowing his good heart, forgives him of the trespasses of his family, but insists on not telling Lucie just yet. Charles and Lucie marry.
Meanwhile the Marquis (Basil Rathbone) is assassinated in the night and shortly afterwards the destitute and the poor uprise and overthrow the aristocrats, sending them to the guillotine. But Charles is out of their reach being in England. So a plan it laid out to trick him into leaving the safety of England and returning into the waiting hands of his would be executioners in France. A show trial later and he has been sentenced to death.
As it is with all of Dickens’s works this is a plot dense story with more than a little of history in the backdrop. This is an early MGM picture and the studio was already getting a reputation for making grand pictures of a higher quality than those from their rival studios. This is in evidence throughout the whole film but becomes especially noticeable during the montage of riots and massacres that make up the French Revolution. There is shot after shot of many hundreds of rioting extras storming the castles, fighting against the loyal soldiers, even getting gunned down point blank range from cannon fire. It is well staged and harrowing to watch the callousness of this slaughter. There is an amazing scene involving people trying to breach the castle wall while the drawbridge is being raised. Several men scale the side and hammer away at the drawbridge chains until it comes crashing down granting access to the rioters only to turn on them when soldiers from within attack without mercy. This in turn reverses again when other soldiers, loyal to the people, show up to assist the rioters.
The people are right to be upset in how they are treated by the aristocrats. An early scene shows the Marquis St. Evremond (Rathbone) running over a small child in the street with his carriage. He is uncaring, chastising the people for nearly damaging his coach. It is the father of this killed child that will ultimately be the one who sneaks into the marquis’s room at night and assassinates him. Basil Rathbone is appropriately cast as the nasty marquis and when he is killed there is no feeling of remorse for his death. He has an arrogance to his posture that lends itself well to this character. It would come in handy later when he took on the role of Sherlock Holmes in a long series of films.
The people are shown to be starving, yet treated very poorly by the aristocrats, given less than what would be given a dog. One such moment shows a group of soldiers hauling a cart loaded with meat through a group of starving citizens to an enclosure where several dogs are staked out. The people are forced to watch as the meat is tossed to the dogs. This leads to an actual riot as the people break down the gates and take the meat for themselves while the soldiers try to hold them off with their guns. With this type of inhumane treatment it comes as no surprise the people rise up and overthrow their leaders.
As impressive as the depictions of the revolution are they are not the heart of the story, just a background from which the main story can unfold. This is a story about love and of self-sacrifice. Lucie’s father, Alexandre, comes to Charles’ defense and opposes his execution. The people hold up his letter from prison condemning all members of the family to death for the injustice and override his protests. They also recognize that since Charles and Lucie now have a young daughter that she should be held to the same punishment. Carton, still loving Lucie after all this time, makes up his mind to commit the ultimate sacrifice for her, to take Charles’ place in prison and go to the guillotine for him, to die so that an innocent man shall live. His final words, in both the film and the novel, are just as famous and well known as the lines that opened the book. “It’s a far, far better thing I do than I have ever done. It’s a far, far better rest I go than I have ever known.” A scripture may have been on Dickens’ mind when he wrote this moment: “Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.” (John 15:13)
Carton’s sacrifice is one of love, love for Lucie and brotherly love for Charles. His bravery bolsters up another innocent woman who is also sentenced to death. She recognizes that he is not Darnay and takes comfort from his sacrifice and bravery. Carton may lose his life but he does so for the greater good and will receive his just reward on the other side of the veil. He’s not a perfect individual; he drinks too much and longs for a woman who belongs to another man. But he has a tremendous sense of what is right and makes the ultimate sacrifice to right an injustice. This is an emotional capper to an already emotional movie. MGM has made a truly amazing film in their first foray into making this in the talking era. This story has been filmed again many times since but this is still the definitive version to watch. They got it right back in 1935 and it rightfully was nominated for Best Picture because of it.
Academy Award Nominations:
Outstanding Production: David O. Selznick
Best Film Editing: Conrad A. Nervig
____________________________________________________
Release Date: December 27, 1935
Running Time: 123 Minutes
Not Rated
Starring: Ronald Coleman, Elizabeth Allan and Donald Woods
Directed By: Jack Conway
Comments
Post a Comment