IMDb > "A Tale of Two Cities" (1989)

"A Tale of Two Cities" (1989) More at IMDbPro »TV mini-series

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Overview

User Rating:
7.3/10   173 votes
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Down 2% in popularity this week. See why on IMDbPro.
Director:
Writers:
Charles Dickens (novel)
Arthur Hopcraft (writer)
Contact:
View company contact information for A Tale of Two Cities on IMDbPro.
Release Date:
21 May 1989 (UK) more
Genre:
User Reviews:
Terrible acting and no clear direction more (11 total)

Cast

  (Series Credited cast)
James Wilby ... Sydney Carton
Xavier Deluc ... Charles Darnay
Serena Gordon ... Lucie Manette

John Mills ... Jarvis Lorry
Jean-Pierre Aumont ... Dr. Alexandre Manette
Anna Massey ... Miss Pross
Kathy Kriegel ... Madame Defarge
Alfred Lynch ... Jerry Cruncher
Gérard Klein ... Monsieur Defarge
Jean-Marc Bory ... Marquis St-Evremonde
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Jonathan Adams ... Stryver
Claude Aufaure ... Le gentilhomme prisonnier
Anthony Benson ... Le geôlier
Bernard Blancan ... Un patriote
Christian Bordeleau ... Un valet d'Evremont
Marie Bunel ... La paysanne
André Chaumeau ... Le vieux geôlier
Jack Clark ... Un badaud
Muriel Combeau ... Seamstress
Janine Darcey ... La villageoise
Derek Deadman ... Cly
Harry Fielder ... First Jailer
Joël Freminet ... Le chef des patriotes
Gilles Gaston-Dreyfus ... Le cantonier
Mary Healey ... Mrs. Cruncher
Karl Johnson ... Barsad
François Lalande ... Gabelle
Gérard Laurent ... Un officier de la garde
Claude Le Saché ... Un aristocrate
André Maranne ... Un aristocrate
Michel Modo ... L'officier de la garde
John Moffatt ... Le juge
André Oumansky ... Le président du tribunal
James Patten ... Le jeune Jerry
Samantha Rénier ... La petite Lucie
Gérard Renoux ... Un valet d'Evremonde
Nicolas Serreau ... Jacques
Jean-Pierre Stewart ... L'accusateur public
Michel Subor ... Le père de Darnay
Jean-Paul Tribout ... Gaspard
Ellen Tully ... La servante
John Woodvine ... Le procureur général
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Additional Details

Also Known As:
Un comte des deux villes (France)
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Runtime:
188 min (video version) | UK:120 min (3 episodes)
Country:
Language:
Color:
Certification:
UK:15 (video rating)

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4 out of 13 people found the following review useful.
Terrible acting and no clear direction, 19 May 2005
4/10
Author: kneeston from Florida

I had to read A Tale of Two Cities for my English class this year, and found it to be not that bad of a read, and it got VERY exciting towards the end. After we finished the book, our class watched this movie...while I had fun watching it because its so terrible at points I couldn't stop laughing, it's really a travesty.

The first problem is that almost all of the acting (perhaps with the exception of Darnay and Dr. Manette) is remarkably terrible. They have hired a whole movie's worth of low budget B-Actors, who simply can't be taken seriously. Their emotions are laughable, they deliver lines terribly, their accents are inconsistent, and they often overact trying to compensate for their own bad acting.

The worst thing is probably the script itself. Since I have read the book I followed the movie very well, but to someone who hasn't, they would be completely lost. The movie never keeps on clear direction or narrative and jumps all over the place spastically. The story is hardly told at all, its almost as if the script is ATOTC highlights strung together into almost 4 hours of hell.

So if you're DESPERATE for a movie version, give it a shot. But terrible acting and terrible script keep this from being all it could be.

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