Search - A Tale of Two Cities on DVD

Not the same as the book, but. . . .

Ruth Henriquez Lyon | Duluth, Minnesota USA | 06/16/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

". . .it was a good watch anyway. Chris Sarandon was outstanding in the roles he played of look-alikes Charles Darnay and Sydney Carton. He captured Carton's sardonic humor well, and evoked his melancholic fatalism and innate dignity with much pathos. A quite elderly Kenneth More put on a great performance as the officious but kindly banker, whose character provided much humorous dialogue. The character of Miss Pross, the sharp-eyed chaperone, was absolutely wonderful.

I never expect a movie to follow a novel very closely -- books and films are two completely different art forms and cannot be translated one to the other with good effect. As the movie begins we see the words "Based on the novel by Charles Dickens." With those words we are given fair warning that what is to follow is an interpretation of Dickens' vision.What this film did was capture what is so wonderful about Dickens' novels -- the alternation between the humor and the darkness at the center of much human experience. The scenes were knit together flawlessly, so that a rather complicated plot taking part in two different places came together without confusion or awkward transitions. The pacing was artfully done, and the last 40 minutes or so were very suspenseful. It's too bad the movie received so many bad reviews because it didn't follow the book. I've read the book and found it, like many of Dickens' works, to be wonderful, but also probably inaccessible to many readers. This film takes a good story and opens it up to those who may never open the book."

Excellent

Mitzie Carvel | 11/10/1999

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I have recently watched this movie in High School and I loved it. I thought that it was very detailed and real. The actors were incredible and the movie really made me think. The characters were so incredible and I fell in love with the plot. I would recommend this movie to everyone. I think that people of all ages should see this movie. It was a great learning experience and it held my interest."