Product: A Tale of Two Cities (Masterpiece Theatre) (2001)
Rating: 5.0
FINEST version of the story, by far, ever made!!!
This is by far THE BEST rendition of this beautiful story. First of all, the actors who portray Sidney and Charles are completely believable. It is a faithful portrayal of the book as Dickens wrote it. Second, the actors who portray Sidney and Charles are the FINEST portrayals of these characters. The French Charles Darnay, Dr. Monet and the Defarges are really French actors (wow, what a concept). The actor who portrays Sidney is a tortured soul who loves Lucy so much it hurts. Furthermore, unlike other movie and made-for-TV versions of the story, the actors who play them are DIFFERENT people, as Dickens had intended them to be. The two are NOT supposed to be the same person, as is portrayed by those who don't understand the story. They're not related!!! They're supposed to just LOOK SIMILAR, be of SIMILAR build and hair color, which is why Dickens' story works so well. NOBODY - not Lucy, or anyone else who met the two of them, would ever have been STUPID enough to be fooled by anything else. I am a History teacher and have showed both versions to my students. The Chris Sarandon version, which is just AWFUL, put them to sleep, but the Masterpiece Theater version kept them enthralled. I highly recommend it!!!