A Tale of Two Cities

I met this mini TV series by chance many years ago, when I was still in my teen-age years, and I found I loved it at first sight.:) It's a beautiful journey watching this new adapted classic which continued for somewhat more than three hours. All the actors, especially those who stood for the four major characters, were definitely the perfect choices for this famous story.

I liked James Wilby, in the way he rambled around mopishly, the way he loved 'Lucie' in an unbeknown warm corner of his deep heart and he smiled before people weakly. I always thought that years ago James Wilby was one of the few absolutely beautiful actors I have seen in my life, and in this TV in 1989, his beauty was totally unapproachable! The performance of the good-looking french actor Xavier Deluc for 'Darnay' was brilliant too. It's really odd that during watching this TV I continued thinking about he was somehow a bit similar with dear Dicaprio in some aspect. But what a pity that he seemed to arise in other TV or movie out of France rarely these past years.

The french actress Serena Gordon for 'Lucie' had a pair of really large eyes! And she had an appropriate tender and lovely look and that kind of archaic temperament.

All in all, I would clutch at any chance to watch this splendid mini TV again! Regretfully, DVD version of it is not seen coming out by now in China. But it is still vividly memorized in my heart, in spite of these many years run through~

This is by far the best version of Dickens' Tale. The cast was outstanding.James Wilby really conveys Carton's feelings of hopelessness,alienation,and self-sacrifice.The musical score is moving,the costumes and settings accurate,the story very true to the original.Dickens would be proud!

I just want to say that this movie made a great difference in my life. Sydney Carton (James Wilby) touched my heart with the depth of the look of his eyes. Many times i felt just like him, drunken, wasted & that i did nothing good or useful to be remembered by, no one will weep for me so i guess i felt he's a part of me & that is all because of Wilby's wonderful performance. The music was really really great too. I felt it touched my soul. It made me cry a lot. Every time i see this movie i cry over & over again. Everyone played their roles perfectly that it could have never been better. This is my best movie ever. I just love it & feel it.

This is without doubt one of the real gems of the British TV scene ever. The story, the characters, the costumes and the acting are all without fault and could never be bettered. Do not pass up the opportunity of seeing this series if it ever should arise. From the opening scenes to the tear-jerking conclusion there is drama, excitement, romance, heroism and self-sacrifice, often several of them simultaneously. It is altogether a most marvellous experience and a real landmark in the history of recorded drama. I don't doubt that Charles Dickens would have been proud to have been associated with it.

You should not do this. You should not compare a film to its literary source: they are two different media, each with its own codes of expression and interpretation. But I couldn't help it: I had to do this. Only to constate that the movie gives up almost all the motives of interest present in the novel. Note that sometimes movies are on the same level as literary sources: for what concerns "A Tale of Two Cities", see for exemple the old and quite forgotten silent movie of the same title, directed in 1917 by Frank Lloyd: it stands out of its own, Dickens or no Dickens.

Apart from the comparison, this is quite a lenghty TV film, quite static, a little boring sometimes, but by no means badly realized. I will call it: quite well done, and quite useless.