A great novel MGM's machinery of the thirties brought to the screen, Charles Dickens' "A Tale of Two Cities" will stand the test of time even with this starchy film version as part of its history. What raises this movie above the usual fare Hollywood churned out at the time was the force majeure that Blanche Yurka kicked up as the relentless Madame DeFarge. Director Jack Conway's efforts would have jellied before our eyes without her. When she sets her vengeful sights on the annihilation of those poor Evremondes, a feverish chill passes through everything on the screen, and the wind goes out of this movie's sails by the time that cornstalk of a standby, Edna May Oliver, does her in.
It leaves you with only incidental pleasures--the tremulous approach Isabel Jewell makes to the guillotine; the even more tremulous elocution of Ronald Colman as Sydney Carton (Remember his "It's a far, far better thing I do than I have ever done before."); and glimpses of Lucille LaVerne whom movie buffs might remember in another movie set during the French Revolution--the far superior "Orphans of the Storm."
It leaves you with only incidental pleasures--the tremulous approach Isabel Jewell makes to the guillotine; the even more tremulous elocution of Ronald Colman as Sydney Carton (Remember his "It's a far, far better thing I do than I have ever done before."); and glimpses of Lucille LaVerne whom movie buffs might remember in another movie set during the French Revolution--the far superior "Orphans of the Storm."