A Tale of Two Cities Page #6

Synopsis: During the French Revolution, French national Lucie Manette meets and falls in love with Englishman Charles Darnay. He is however hiding his true identity as a member of the French aristocratic Evrémonde family, who he has denounced in private. The Marquis St. Evrémonde in particular was a cruel man, those he wronged who have vowed to see the end of the family line at any cost. Lucie's father Dr. Alexandre Manette, in fact, was imprisoned in the Bastille for eighteen years because of actions of the Marquis. Into their lives comes English barrister Sydney Carton, who enjoys his alcohol to excess. Carton earlier defended Darnay in a trial on trumped up charges of treason. Carton doesn't really like Darnay in part because Carton also loves Lucie, he realizing that that love is unrequited. But Carton does eventually learn of Darnay's true heritage at a critical time. Carton takes extraordinary measures to ensure Lucie's happiness during this time, which has the potential to be explosive if
Director(s): Ralph Thomas
Production: Franco London Films
 
IMDB:
7.1
Year:
1958
117 min
337 Views


What is the meaning?

- Is it a captive or a place of captivity?

- I don't know.

Does it mean you want to die?

- Kill him!

- It is a cell number.

Show it me!

- Follow... follow me.

- Come on!

You found it!

In 105 North Tower.

We've got old Foulon.

- Foulon!

- Foulon?

He who told us to eat grass.

He's eating grass now in the

very place we last met him.

Hey, citizens, let's get down there!

Mr Lorry, can you not wait a little

longer before you leave for France?

Impossible, miss.

If you could see the chaos

in our Paris office...

Now it's spread to the countryside,

there'll be danger beyond Calais.

They'll be too busy

with their own affairs

to interfere with an

old fellow like me.

I'm taking Jerry

Cruncher as a bodyguard.

- I wish we could change your mind.

- I've delayed too long already.

Even as I'm talking to you,

Paris may be afire or sacked,

our customers' property

burnt or plundered.

- You cannot save it.

- Maybe not, Charles.

But in a tidy business

way, I can see that

all changes of assets

are truly recorded.

- If there's anything of yours I may look to...

- There is nothing of mine in France.

But tell me only what the charge is!

Acting for an emigrant.

What I have done for my new

master was in your interests!

But let me only write to him.

Father!

Not my daughter! Hold me responsible,

if you must, but what has she done?

- What have any of these others done?

- Father, don't let them take me.

Don't blame her. What have they done?

- What have any of these others done?

- You ate whilst we starved!

Hello, Carton.

I'm afraid Lucie's

out. She and the doctor.

I made sure they would be out

before I came here to give you this.

I was visiting the bank this morning

and saw it awaiting you in the rack.

How did you know it was for me?

- Where did you get that?

- You were careless enough to have in posesion.

How did you come by it?

I stole it. I went to your room

the night Dr Manette was taken sick.

Curiosity impelled me to

trace its noble origin,

and when I saw the

same name on that letter

and identified you

as a French nobleman,

I was prepared to discover some episode

in your past, some

covered-up disgrace,

which would explain your

rebirth as Charles Darnay.

Knowing your dislike of me, I'm sure

you would have found it most welcome.

I was truly thinking more of Lucie.

Then allow me to reassure you.

I disclaimed my title,

and with it my estate,

solely because the name on this letter

is one of the most

hated names in France.

Before asking Lucie to marry me,

I decided to renounce it completely,

wash my hands of it.

How simple it all sounds.

Far simpler than I'd imagined.

Goodbye to France, farewell

to all responsibility.

Would you like me to burn that? I see

now that you have no cause to read it.

It comes from Gabelle,

the man I left in charge of my estate.

I sent him instructions long ago

to give the people their freedom.

Devil take it!

You were right to chide me.

Gabelle and his daughter

have been imprisoned,

taken to Paris and lodged in La Force.

He fears for their lives.

Oh! I have been selfish.

I should have gone back to

France when my cousin died,

worked out and supervised

all I meant to do.

Carton...

I'd be obliged if you'd say

nothing to Lucie of this.

She would only share my

own concern about it, and...

she's not in a condition

at this time to be worried.

We...

We haven't voiced it abroad yet.

Our child is due in the spring.

I see.

In view of that,

I hope you won't contemplate

doing anything foolish.

You must leave me to

make my own decision.

Lucie.

- Sydney, forgive me for disturbing your work.

- My work.

But you did once say if there

was anything you could do for me.

And meant it.

Charles has gone to France.

You'll see why. Some servants are

in danger. Sydney, I must go to him.

I need a permit. I would have gone to Mr

Lorry, but unfortunately

he's in Paris already.

It's most unwise to go to

France at a time like this.

Sydney, I must.

You may not know, but Charles's

family were aristocrats.

Yes, I knew.

You knew?

Then you will understand.

- But you can't...

- Sydney, I must.

I know he's in danger. I must go to him.

- Has he arrived in Paris by himself?

- He did.

- Bring him to me.

- Yes, sir.

- Is Citizen Defarge here?

- Yes.

Another from the list supplied

by your excellent wife.

Charles Darnay, or

as he would prefer NO to be known, the Marquis St Evremonde.

Darnay? But I thought he was

lost to us, living in England.

Your age, Evremonde?

My name is Darnay.

Your age, Evremonde.

Twenty-seven.

- Married, Evremonde?

- Yes.

Where is your wife?

- In England.

- Without doubt.

You're consigned, Evremonde,

to the prison of La Force.

Just heaven! Under what

law? For what offence?

We have new laws, Evremonde,

and new offences, since you were here.

I invite you to observe that

I have come here voluntarily

in response to this written

appeal of a fellow countryman.

That's no interest of mine.

I surely have the right to be heard.

Emigrants have no rights, Evremonde.

There is a new decree

confiscating their property.

But I... I have no property.

And condemning to death all who return.

Take him away, Defarge.

Hello.

Monsieur Charles.

Marie!

It's good to see a friend.

Though I wish it were somewhere else.

Tell me, your father?

Ah, I'm too late.

Yesterday.

I asked to be tried with

him, but they wouldn't listen.

Thank God at least for that.

My cause is yours, Marie.

And it's a good cause.

We'll go out free together.

You do not know them, Monsieur Charles.

What did he ever do except be kind?

Oh, I loved him so.

- Some more wine?

- Why, yes.

Well, my wife!

- A pleasing day, eh?

- A beautiful day.

- Forty-seven heads. -

I've got good news for you.

Yes?

Come here.

- What?

- Come, you sit down.

The first name on your register,

here in Paris.

Evremonde?

I took him myself to La Force.

At last.

Evremonde.

Is he alone?

His wife is still in England.

He asked me to communicate

with her father. I refused.

You refused?

But why? That information is the

one certain way of bringing her here.

Dr Manette has surely suffered enough.

I'm not concerned with the

doctor. It's his daughter.

She's an Evremonde now.

But if she is to be punished for her

marriage, it will mean fresh anguish for him.

Anguish? You talk to me of anguish?

What is one daughter beside

a father, brother, sister?

All dead at the hands

of that accursed family.

She is not of their blood.

Been married for six months.

What if there's a child on the way?

An Evremonde.

Now, listen.

I've had this family a

long time on my register

for extermination to

the last of the line.

Isn't that so?

It is so.

Then tell wind and fire where to stop,

but don't tell me.

Alexander Manette?

- Yes.

- French, physician. Good.

Lucie Darnay, French.

This is my daughter.

Emily Pross.

- English.

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T.E.B. Clarke

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Submitted on August 05, 2018

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