A Tale of Two Cities **** (1958, Dirk Bogarde, Dorothy Tutin, Cecil Parker, Stephen Murray, Christopher Lee, Athene Seyler, Rosalie Crutchley, Ernest Clark, Paul Guers) – Classic Movie Review 6937

Director Ralph Thomas’s fine, ambitious 1958 British version of A Tale of Two Cities is the sixth film version of the Charles Dickens tale of heroics and romance during the French Revolution, carefully adapted by T E B Clarke.

[Spoiler alert] It stars a most handsome and dashing Dirk Bogarde as the alcoholic English lawyer Sydney Carton, who sacrifices himself to save his to save his ex-French aristocratic double Charles Darnay (Paul Guers) from the guillotine, after falling in love with his fiancée, Lucie Manette.

Dorothy Tutin provides elegant support as the troubled French national Lucie Manette, with strong turns by Christopher Lee (Marquis St Evrémonde), Leo McKern (Attorney General), Ian Bannen (Gabelle), Rosalie Crutchley (Madame De Farge) and Donald Pleasence (John Barsad).

It is perhaps not quite as brilliant as the 1935 Ronald Colman version of A Tale of Two Cities, maybe. But the Rank Organisation’s lavish staging, the handsome art direction (Carmen Dillon) and the more than decent performances make it most perfectly acceptable, even quite stirring and impressive. And it was a far, far better thing than anything the then matinée idol Bogarde had done before, in a heroic and moving performance. The only slight disappointment is that Ernest Steward shoots in black and white.

Also in the cast are Athene Seyler as Miss Pross, Ernest Clark as Stryver, Stephen Murray as Dr Manette, Cecil Parker as Jarvis Lorry, Alfie Bass as Jerry Cruncher, Marie Versini as Marie Gabelle, Freda Jackson as The Vengeance, Duncan Lamont as Ernest Defarge, Eric Pohlmann, Laurence Payne, Danny Green, Sam Kydd, George Woodbridge, Alan Tilvern, Robert Rietty, Sacha Pitoëff, George Rose, Ian Whittaker, Harold Kasket and Peter Copley.

A Tale of Two Cities is directed by Ralph Thomas, runs 117 minutes, is made and released by the Rank Organisation, is written by T E B Clarke, is shot in black and white by Ernest Steward, is produced by Betty E Box, is scored by Richard Addinsell, with art direction by Carmen Dillon.

The Rank Organisation shot it in the Loire Valley in France, where crucially there were no telegraph poles, and used as extras thousands of American soldiers posted at the nearby military facilities in Orleans.

Ralph Thomas said he felt the book ‘was written in black and white, and it’s got to be made in black and white’, but afterwards admitted he was mistaken and colour would have helped the film’s box office and longevity. He added that the film, the most expensive British production of its year, ‘was very self indulgent because I wouldn’t listen to advice.’ Even so, the budget for such a project was modest at only £320,000 and shooting took only six weeks. ‘We just tackled it and went on until the finish,’ summed up Thomas.

French film actor Paul Guers’s voice as Charles Darnay is dubbed uncredited by Tim Turner.

Sir Dirk Bogarde, born Derek Jules Gaspard Ulric Niven van den Bogaerde (28 March 1921 – 8 May 1999).

Dirk Bogarde died at his home in London from a heart attack on 8 May 1999, age 78. His ashes were scattered at his former estate in Grasse, Southern France.

© Derek Winnert 2018 Classic Movie Review 6937

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