A Tale of Two Cities Page #2

Synopsis: An elaborate adaptation of Dickens' classic tale of the French Revolution. Dissipated lawyer Sydney Carton defends emigre Charles Darnay from charges of spying against England. He becomes enamored of Darnay's fiancée, Lucie Manette, and agrees to help her save Darnay from the guillotine when he is captured by Revolutionaries in Paris.
Production: Warner Home Video
 
IMDB:
7.8
Rotten Tomatoes:
100%
NOT RATED
Year:
1935
128 min
2,041 Views


to the North Tower...

...they found hair like this...

...on my sleeve.

How was this?

Was it you?

I'm Lucie, her daughter.

Your daughter.

Do you think he's fit

to make a journey to England?

Get him out of France for his sake, and for

the sake of the Jacquerie who rescued him.

- What is this Jacquerie?

- One day you will know.

All France will know.

You're coming with me, Father.

Wait.

Wait.

Where is the place?

The brick was here by the bench.

It's gone.

- What's he looking for?

- Something he wrote in the Bastille.

And it was left in his cell?

No, we found it.

A reminder of such horror,

it's better he should never see it again.

Father, dear, we shall find it.

You're coming with me now. Home.

Home.

No one saw a coach leave here,

you understand?

Eighteen years in a cell without a trial...

...because an aristocrat chose

to brush the good doctor from his path.

Too bad we don't know

which aristo it was.

But I do know.

I have cause to remember.

His outrages against my own family

would never let me forget.

Then you have his name on your register?

He has the place of honor.

The Marquis St. Evremonde.

Killed.

Dead.

The child is dead, Excellency.

It's extraordinary to me that you cannot

take care of yourselves and your children.

One or the other of you

is forever in the way.

How do you know what injury

you might do to my horses?

Drive on, faster.

Irritating episode.

The marquis drives fast.

We'll drive him fast to his tomb.

My dear nephew,

what goes forward here?

I'm leaving. I'm going to England.

Really?

Monsieur Gabelle,

when you were my nephew's tutor...

...you shouldn't have encouraged him

to be so petulant.

You've made the name Evremonde

the most detested in all France.

I can't endure your cruelty.

There is a sickness these days

which labels itself humanitarianism.

You have no pity for those who suffer.

Pity, my dear boy,

is a diseased variety of sentimentality.

Do you pity the swine

whose flesh we eat?

The peasants are not swine.

That, my dear Charles,

is where you and I differ.

I'm very much afraid,

that you have taught my nephew...

...to take the new philosophy

of equality seriously.

Now, I enjoy Monsieur Voltaire and

these other modern philosophers, but I...

I take them lightly,

and merely as an exercise for the mind.

Most of our lands are stolen.

I intend to see them returned

to the peasants.

Really?

Thank your stars that you're related to me,

or you might find yourself in the Bastille.

Monseigneur, I pray you overlook

the impulsiveness of youth.

- I'm not frightened of anything you can do.

- Charles, I beg of you.

I'm not at all sure that it wouldn't be the

patriotic thing to imprison you, Charles...

...in spite of the pain

it would cause me personally.

By the bye, if you should run into

any difficulties in England, let me know.

The prisons, even in that utopia,

are very uncomfortable, they tell me.

A pleasant journey, Mr. Darnay.

What did he mean by that?

The steel hand in the velvet glove.

- But he's capable of anything.

- I'm not troubled, Gabelle.

Charles, let me go with you.

I can't take you now...

...but some day we'll be together.

God bless you, Charles.

On the boat to England,

you say, Morveau?

Do you think it can be done

on the boat to England?

Darnay will be arrested the day he lands.

You are ingenious, Morveau.

I like your plan.

- Proceed with it.

- Very well, Your Excellency.

The boy is capricious.

He needs correction.

Yes, Your Excellency.

Here we are, Dr. Manette,

safe in England...

...and you've borne the voyage

like a seasoned traveler.

It's been a pleasant voyage.

Your kindness has done me good,

much good.

It's nice to be one's self again.

Believe me, Miss Manette,

I'm sorry the voyage is ending.

And I... I can't tell you how glad I am

your hatbox fell into the water at Calais.

Really, Mr. Darnay.

Oh, I only meant that rescuing it gave me

the opportunity to meet you and your father.

And it gave me the opportunity

to hear your instructive discourse...

...on George Washington

and the rights of man.

Now you're making sport of me.

Oh, no, Mr. Darnay,

it was most edifying.

Ahoy, ashore.

- All right, hand me my luggage, my bag.

- Get back.

Sorry.

There we are. Hurry up, lad.

Good, that's it.

Bon voyage.

Barsad.

Now to find the carriage,

and then for London, eh, doctor?

I wonder, Miss Manette, if I may presume

to call upon you at your home?

On such short acquaintance?

Oh, Mr. Darnay.

Certainly a crossing from Calais in this fog

cannot be called short acquaintance.

Do let me see you again.

Lucie, dear, ready?

Yes, Father.

Thank you, Mr. Darnay,

for all your kindness.

- Goodbye then until Sunday.

- Sunday?

I told Father I was inviting you to sup

with us on Sunday at our house in Soho.

Goodbye.

Goodbye, young man, until Sunday.

Which one is Evremonde?

That's him there.

But he calls himself Darnay,

Charles Darnay.

I tell you, the marquis is going to make it

well worthwhile for the both of us.

Really, not working yet, Carton?

This is too much.

You've got to put your mind

on this case.

No, not possible.

They've got this Charles Darnay

up for treason.

I don't know Charles Darnay.

I hate treason, I hate Frenchmen...

For that matter, I hate Englishmen.

Yes, but Lorry

sent this case on to us...

...with a special request

for all my consideration.

It's not my consideration he wants,

it's yours.

Why don't you give it to him.

Of course, I count on you

for a little help.

You don't need me.

You're the great barrister Stryver.

Stryver of the King's Bench Bar.

Well, if I am, it's due to perseverance.

I had to get into the front rank.

I wasn't born there, was I?

I use my brains.

- You use mine, you mean.

- Well, if I do, I pay you for it.

Well, not enough to justify

your interfering with my drinking.

But this is a treason case.

It's a matter of life and death.

Well, so is everything else. What of it?

Carton, I beg of you,

have a look at this brief.

Really, with a man's life in your hands,

how can you hesitate?

- I don't hesitate.

- But I tell you, Darnay is lost.

We have to find a way to counteract

the evidence...

...of these witnesses, Barsad and Cly.

Barsad and Cly. Cly and Barsad.

Barsad and Cly.

A case like that

could be tried on mere sound.

What are you talking about?

Well, Barsad and Cly or Cly and Barsad...

...by the very sound of their names,

by the build of their syllables...

...are manifestly villains.

Just as the other fellow...

The... The defendant,

what was his name?

Darnay. Charles Darnay.

Equally, manifestly a gentleman.

But you can't convict a man on syllables,

on the sound of his name.

Barsad.

Barsad.

I seem to know that name.

Wasn't he involved in

a treason case once before?

Barsad. Yes, he was.

I believe we've uncovered

something here, Carton.

Well, Mr. Darnay, fate and Mr. Barsad

have it that I should handle your case.

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Charles Dickens

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Submitted on August 05, 2018

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