A Tale of Two Cities

During the French Revolution, alcoholic barrister Sydney Carton defends the husband of the woman he loves. This version of Dickens' novel is an early prestige movie featuring some impressive double exposure work, particularly in the timing of William Farnum who plays both Carton and the man he's trying to save from the gallows. Director Frank Lloyd flatters Griffith with his style but isn't subject to D.W.'s tendency to string scenes out and shows great control with the film's many crowd scenes.

This well-mounted and visually interesting silent version of the Dickens novel is a good effort, but, of course, it pales before the 1935 version starring Ronald Colman. As a silent film it suffers from too many title cards -- an artifact, no doubt, of the fondness for the book. One searches for nice things to say about this movie, but they all have to be qualified as "For 1917." Good set design for 1917. Good composition for 1917 and so forth. Still, the acting is good, the story is there and if you want to see what was good in 1917, you can take a look at this. Or you could just stick with the 1935 version and I won't fault you.

Quite a good adaptation of Dickens' book. William Farnum plays the dual roles of Charles Darnay and Sydney Carton. He is rather ho-hum as Darney, but he really shines as the brooding, wasted Carton. There are some clever scenes where Darnay and Carton appear side by side, and one scene where Carton stares into a mirror and sees Darnay's face staring back at him. The sets are impressive, and the storming of the Bastille is realistic and violent. Jewel Carmen, as Lucie Manette, is lovely. The climactic fight between Olive White (as Miss Pross) and Rosita Marstini (as Madame Defarge) is well staged - it really looks like they are beating the crap out of each other. The final scene is touching, as we "see" Carton's last thought. Frank Lloyd directed, but some sources claim William Desmond Taylor may have done some of the directing as well. Margaret Dumont supposedly has a bit in this, but I didn't spot her.

Frank Lloyd's silent version of Charles Dickens' "A Tale of Two Cities" may make you wonder why D.W. Griffith didn't direct his own version of the classic (not that he didn't come close, on a few occasions). Mr. Lloyd's Griffith-like direction is a plus; though, it's somehow not as good as the original. William Farnum, who was one of the leading actors of the teens, does a fine job in the leading role; seeing Mr. Farnum play both as reluctant French nobleman "Charles Darnay" and English alcoholic lawyer "Sydney Carton" is, today, the main attraction. While filled with decent performances, the more famous sound re-makes lose something by casting different men in the lead roles. Beautiful Jewel Carmen has no trouble attracting both men, as "Lucie Manette". And, Florence Vidor (King's wife) sews up stardom on the way to the guillotine. "A Tale of Two Cities" was considered a top production in its time, but it doesn't possess the timeless quality you'll find in many other silent movies.

****** A Tale of Two Cities (3/11/17) Frank Lloyd ~ William Farnum, Jewel Carmen, Charles Clary, Josef Swickard

This 1917 adaptation of A Tale of Two Cities is nothing spectacular; however, William Farnum is absolutely great as Sydney Carton and Charles Darnay, stealing every scene he's in with great panache. One wishes the other actors had as much to do.

The big problem is that the filmmakers assume the audience has read the book and therefore they assume they only need to hit the major beats of the story without doing much to establish character. What results is a rather unimpressive narrative experience, though as I said, Farnum keeps things lively, as do a few moments of truly striking composition and lighting. Otherwise, only silent film nerds and fans of the novel (both of which I'm lucky to be in this instance) will get much out of this movie.