Picturegoer – Mar 1st 1958
A TALE OF TWO CITIES ★★★
DIRK BOGARDE DOROTHY TUTIN
To paraphrase Sydney Carton, this may not be a far better thing than Dirk Bogarde has ever done before; but it’s certainly the most original acting performance he’s been allowed to give since Dr. Sparrow entered his life.
His Sydney Carton – whose death is the one gallant act in his life – is conceived as a sad, sardonic drunk, deliberately anti-heroic until the final act. The result is less than romantic and more than moving.
Whether Charles Dickens’s old chestnut was worth reroasting is a debatable point, particularly after the masterly serial on TV. But the old excitement still holds good.
The story-divided equally between Paris and London follows the depressing fortunes of the lawyer Sydney Carton, his hopeless love for Lucie Manette (touchingly played by Dorothy Tutin) and his great sacrifice when he takes the place of her husband (Paul Guers) at the guillotine.
The squalid Parisian scenes and the terrible uprising of the peasants come marvellously alive. A stalwart British cast, including Cecil Parker, Athene Seyler, Alfie Bass and Donald Pleasence, does its duty with credit.
