A Tale of Two Cities (1911)

A condensed silent film version of the Charles Dickens classic about the French Revolution and its subsequent Reign of Terror.

Director:

William Humphrey

Writers:

Charles Dickens (novel), Eugene Mullin (scenario)

Stars:

Maurice Costello, Florence Turner, John Bunny

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Maurice Costello	...	Sydney Carton
Florence Turner	...	Lucie Manette
John Bunny	...	Jailer
Norma Talmadge	...	(Mimi) Woman on the way to guillotine
William Humphrey	...	The Duke D'Evremon
Florence Foley	...	The Woodcutter's Child
Kenneth Casey	...	Duke's Son in Early Scenes
Ralph Ince
James Morrison	...	Peasant brother
Julia Swayne Gordon	...	Miss Pross
Charles Kent	...	Dr. Manette
Tefft Johnson	...	Defarge
Leo Delaney	...	Darnay
William Shea	...	Jarvis Lorry
Mabel Normand

Storyline

Barrister Sydney Caron falls in love with lovely Lucie Manette, daughter of a victim of the oppressive French aristocracy. After he successfully defends falsely accused Charles Darney, Carton's love for Lucie remains unrequited as she marries Darnay. When Darnay is ultimately condemned to death by a revolutionary tribunal during the Reign of Terror, his only hope for rescue lies with Carton.

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Plot Keywords:

reign of terror | french revolution | charles dickens | tribunal | bastille | 

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Genres:

Short | Drama | History

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Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

21 February 1911 (USA)

Also Known As:

Een episode uit de Fransche revolutie

Filming Locations:

Vitagraph Studios, 1277 E. 14th St., Brooklyn, New York, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Vitagraph Company of America

Technical Specs

Runtime:

30 min 21 min (DVD) 21 min (DVD release)

Sound Mix:

Silent

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Director William Humphrey did not want to cast the fourteen year old inexperienced Talmadge, but she persevered because of the encouragement of star Maurice Costello.

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Connections

Version of The Plymouth Playhouse: A Tale of Two Cities: Part 1 (1953)

User Reviews

Highlights

While it is impossible to do justice to Dickens' sprawling novel in 20 minutes, Vitagraph makes a stab at it with this series of scenes in little more than tableaux format. Good costumes, good backgrounds and excellent actors do their best, but stick with the 1935 version directed by Jack Conway.

While this would seem to be, from the cast list, an all-star version -- including a very young Mabel Normand -- you should realize Vitagraph worked its actors hard -- starring in one picture, helping to fill out a crowd scene in the next. Still, you might want to play "spot the star" with this one.