A Tale of Two Cities (1935)

Academy Awards, USA 1937

Nominated Oscar	Best Picture
	Best Film Editing Conrad A. Nervig

MGM
Directed by Jack Conway
My rating: 2.5 stars out of 4
IMDb
(Turner Classic Movies)

A drunken British lawyer falls in love with the wife of one of his clients. First he gets him off a charge of traitorism by manipulating a key witness. Years pass, and a revolution sweeps through France. The man is tricked into going there to help a friend, but it's really a trap by the evil Madame De Farge who wants to see all of the descendants of an aristocrat sent to the guillotine. Arrested and convicted by the corrupt French judicial system, he awaits his sentence. The lawyer, still in love with his wife, performs a final act of heroism to save him. Perhaps I am too familiar with the book, but I found this cold and impersonal. Madame De Farge is an ogre that threatens to take over the entire movie. Her cat fight with Miss Pross is in poorly coordinated fast motion. Pedestrian direction by Conway results in a missed opportunity.