A Tale of Two Cities (1935) Based on Dickens' Novel Set In London & Paris, French Revolution

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Last edited Sat Jul 15, 2023, 06:13 AM - Edit history (4)

- Trailer, 'A Tale of Two Cities,' produced by David O. Selznick, 1935, set in London and Paris.

- Revolution. Mme Defarge (Blanche Yurka), 'Why do you endure it, why?' Storming the Bastille prison, July 14, 1789.

- MOVIE, Imdb. STORYLINE: Alas, an aristocrat and a barrister (lawyer) on the same plateau. This is the story of a revolution, a revolution that occurred in France known as the Reign of Terror. The barrister, the town alcoholic and man of disrepute, is in love with a beautiful woman, who marries the aristocrat and bears a beautiful baby girl. The baby girl is infatuated with the barrister, and he with her because of her mother. The ultimate sacrifice occurs and a man's soul goes forward...More, https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0027075/
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- NOVEL. 'A Tale of Two Cities' is a historical novel published in 1859 by Charles Dickens, set in London and Paris before and during the French Revolution. The novel tells the story of the French Doctor Manette, his 18-year-long imprisonment in the Bastille in Paris, and his release to live in London with his daughter Lucie whom he had never met. The story is set against the conditions that led up to the French Revolution and the Reign of Terror.

As Dickens's best-known work of historical fiction, 'A Tale of Two Cities' is said to be one of the best-selling novels of all time. In 2003, the novel was ranked 63rd on the BBC's The Big Read poll. The novel has been adapted for film, television, radio, and the stage, and has continued to influence popular culture.

✒ Dickens opens 'A Tale of Two Cities' with a sentence that has become famous - 📃

- - "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way—in short, the period was so far like the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only"... - More, https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Tale_of_Two_Cities_(1935_film)

- Clip: Brilliant performance by Ronald Colman as Sydney Carton, the lovable rogue who makes the ultimate sacrifice.

- Ronald Charles Colman (9 Feb. 1891–19 May 1958) was an English-born actor, starting his career in theatre & silent film in his native country, then immigrating to the US & having a successful Hollywood film career. He was most popular during the 1920s, 1930s & 1940s. He received Oscar nominations for Bulldog Drummond (1929), Condemned (1929) & Random Harvest (1942).
Colman starred in several classic films, including * A Tale of Two Cities (1935), Lost Horizon (1937) & The Prisoner of Zenda (1937). He also played the starring role in the Technicolor classic Kismet (1944), with Marlene Dietrich, which was nominated for four Academy Awards. In 1947, he won an Academy Award for Best Actor and Golden Globe Award for Best Actor for the film A Double Life...https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ronald_Colman

- Clip: The End. Sydney Carton's tenderness toward the frightened young seamstress awaiting execution is memorable. His final words: '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.'

- CHARLES DICKENS HOME, MUSEUM, LONDON. - Charles John Huffam Dickens (7 Feb. 1812 – 9 June 1870) was an English writer & social critic who created some of the world's best-known fictional characters & is regarded by many as the greatest novelist of the Victorian era. His works enjoyed unprecedented popularity during his lifetime &, by the 20th c., critics & scholars had recognised him as a literary genius. His novels & short stories are widely read today.

Born in Portsmouth, Dickens left school at the age of 12 to work in a boot-blacking factory when his father was incarcerated in a debtors' prison. After 3 years he returned to school, before he began his literary career as a journalist. Dickens edited a weekly journal for 20 years, wrote 15 novels, 5 novellas, hundreds of short stories & non-fiction articles, lectured & performed readings extensively, was an indefatigable letter writer, & campaigned vigorously for children's rights, for education, and for other social reforms...https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Dickens