A TALE OF TWO CITIES

New Zealand Listener, Volume 39, Issue 988, 25 July 1958, Page 26

A TALE OF TWO CITIES

(Rank) G Cert. SINCE I have not read A Tale of Two Cities, and so many people have, I say my little piece about the new film | version with even more diffidence than

usual. I’m assured it is a faithful translation of the main events of the book, but whether it preserves the spirit in which Dickens wrote is, of course, another matter. Approaching it with only a slight knowledge of the plot, I found it always interesting, but — apart from a few moments here and there-really exciting only towards the end, from the time Sydney Carton, Darnay and the rest arrive in Paris until the scene at the guillotine. All this is very well done. My impression of the rest is that it is very competent — the period atmosphere is

well caught, for instance, and the source of the dissatisfaction of the French people is adequately suggested in contrasting scenes of riches and poverty. On the other hand, this early part of the film is not likely to carry you away, though I think the film as a whole is rather better than some others that Ralph Thomas has directed. What of the players? Dirk Bogarde has been too decent too long to convince us easily that he’s always drunk, but he works hard at the part and captures something of Sydney Carton’s despair. Of the women Rosalie Crutchley plays the bloodthirsty wife of Ernest Defarge with considerable relish, and Dorothy Tutin and Athene Seyler are quite adequate as the. more restrained Lucie and Miss Pross. Among a strong supporting cast I was _ particularly pleased to see _ such _less-often-seen players as Duncan Lamont, Alfie Bass and Donald Pleasence.