"A Tale of Two Cities" (1989) TV mini-series 1989-

Director:

Philippe Monnier

Writers:

Charles Dickens (novel)
Arthur Hopcraft (writer)

Seasons:

1

Release Date:

21 May 1989 (UK)

Genre:

Drama | History | Romance | War

Plot Keywords:

London England | TV Mini-Series | Alcoholism | Love Triangle | Guillotine

Cast

James Wilby	...	Sydney Carton (2 episodes, 1989)
Xavier Deluc	...	Charles Darnay (2 episodes, 1989)
Serena Gordon	...	Lucie Manette (2 episodes, 1989)
John Mills	...	Jarvis Lorry (2 episodes, 1989)
Jean-Pierre Aumont	...	Dr. Alexandre Manette (2 episodes, 1989)
Anna Massey	...	Miss Pross (2 episodes, 1989)
Kathy Kriegel	...	Madame Defarge (2 episodes, 1989)
Alfred Lynch	...	Jerry Cruncher (2 episodes, 1989)
Gérard Klein	...	Monsieur Defarge (2 episodes, 1989)
Jonathan Adams	...	Stryver (2 episodes, 1989)
Karl Johnson	...	Barsad (2 episodes, 1989)
Michel Subor	...	Le père de Darnay (2 episodes, 1989)

Series Directed by
Philippe Monnier		(unknown episodes)

Series Writing credits
Charles Dickens		(unknown episodes)
Arthur Hopcraft		(unknown episodes)

Series Produced by
Steve Hawes	....	executive producer (2 episodes, 1989)
Roy Roberts	....	producer (unknown episodes)

Series Original Music by
Serge Franklin		(2 episodes, 1989)

Series Sound Department
David Eve	....	boom operator (2 episodes, 1989)
Nick Steer	....	sound recordist (2 episodes, 1989)
Jean-Pierre Halbwachs	....	sound editor (unknown episodes)

Series Music Department
Bernard Gérard	....	conductor (2 episodes, 1989)

Series Other crew
Clifford De Spenser	....	dialogue coach (unknown episodes)

Distributors

• BFS Video (2001) (USA) (DVD)
• BFS Video (2011) (USA) (DVD)
• Granada Television
• Masterpiece Theatre (1989) (USA) (TV)
• PBS Home Video (1991) (USA) (VHS)
• Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) (1989) (USA) (TV)

Also Known As:

Runtime:

188 min (video version) | UK:120 min (3 episodes)

Country:

UK | France

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Certification:

UK:15 (video rating) | Australia:M

Movie Connections:

Version of A Tale of Two Cities (1911)

Terrible acting and no clear direction

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.