A Tale of Two Cities (1935)
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A Tale of Two Cities Movie Review
A Tale of Two Cities is a 1935 historical film directed by Jack Conway and starring Ronald Colman. It’s a solid and effective, but mostly boring movie.
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“It’s a far, far better thing
I do than I have ever done.
It’s a far, far better rest
I go to than I have ever known“
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The story is set in the French Revolution and deals with two men who love the same woman. Being based on a famous Charles Dickens novel, the film of course has that importance factor to it, especially when you also get reminded by the fact that the critics usually regard this one the best Dickens adaptation of them all.
But I disagree. To me, ‘David Copperfield’ from this same year was a better adaptation. This one is solid overall, but it’s so incredibly dull in its pacing that it seems longer than two hours somehow. It also has way too much dialogue, in particular many less interesting, smaller conversations that must be great in the written form, but in a movie they seemed plodding.
I also did not care for most of its characters, though the acting is overall quite strong despite the film not really having any A-list actors. Well, it has Ronald Colman who is reliably strong here, and it’s funny how he shaved his precious moustache just for this role.
But Elizabeth Allan is very weak, and over-the-top in her role, and the weakest link in the movie. Others are fine, but easily the standout is Edna May Oliver who is so amusing in some of her biting remarks, and she brought a lot of humor to this otherwise very serious excursion.
A Tale of Two Cities is technically stupendous as is to be expected from a 30s big book adaptation. It’s a spectacle in its second half with the French Revolution becoming quite alive. The production design is particularly splendid with many sets being simply gorgeous, and very realistic, recreating the period wonderfully.
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The score is also great as is the atmosphere and the cinematography. But the direction could have been better, and overall the film was slowly paced, and its two halves were so different in scope and tone that it felt uneven in my opinion. Its editing nod was deserved, but its Best Picture nomination was certainly not.
A Tale of Two Cities is technically phenomenal with a good score, some fine performances and particularly fantastic sets throughout, but it has too much dialogue in it and its two halves felt too different, leading to a solid, but very uneven, not particularly engaging book adaptation.
