A Tale of Two Cities

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) | Release Date: December 25, 1935

CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION

87	METASCORE Universal acclaim based on 9 Critic Reviews

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Mixed:

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Critic Reviews

Critic score Publication By date

100

TV Guide MagazineStaff (Not Credited)

One of director Jack Conway's finest efforts, the film never suffers from a sense that the novel has been compressed or rushed. Moving, fresh and aware of its effects, this film stands as one of Hollywood's finest adaptations of a novel. Read full review

100

Staff (Not Credited)

Metro achieves in A Tale of Two Cities a screen classic. Read full review

Susan King

Endearing, sumptuous 1935 adaptation of Dickens' sweeping epic set against the French Revolution. [15 Oct 2006, p.E10]

Andre Sennwald

For more than two hours it crowds the screen with beauty and excitement, sparing nothing in its recital of the Englishmen who were caught up in the blood and terror of the French Revolution and of Sydney Carton, who gave his life for his friends. Read full review

Michael Wilmington

The first, and best, of the three versions of Charles Dickens' tale of the French Revolution. [05 Dec 2008, p.C5]

Ted Mahar

The historical details of costumes and settings are exemplary and the cast superb. Those best of times and worst of times must have looked much like this. [12 Jul 1996, p.39]

The GuardianSteve Rose

Vintage screen Dickens with a cutting edge: the French terror is vividly, hauntingly realised, all chaos and guillotine ghouls. [16 Aug 2000, p.23]

Howard Thompson

Directed by Jack Conway, the picture is a compelling expansion of Dickens's story of the French Revolution, with the central role of Sidney Carton, a disreputable lawyer, memorably projected by Ronald Colman. [14 Feb 1999, p.6]

Pauline Kael

It's a creditable though unadventurous film, handsomely staged in the M-G-M backlot style for classics.