This 1917 adaptation of A Tale of Two Cities is nothing spectacular; however, William Farnum is absolutely great as Sydney Carton and Charles Darnay, stealing every scene he's in with great panache. One wishes the other actors had as much to do.
The big problem is that the filmmakers assume the audience has read the book and therefore they assume they only need to hit the major beats of the story without doing much to establish character. What results is a rather unimpressive narrative experience, though as I said, Farnum keeps things lively, as do a few moments of truly striking composition and lighting. Otherwise, only silent film nerds and fans of the novel (both of which I'm lucky to be in this instance) will get much out of this movie.
The big problem is that the filmmakers assume the audience has read the book and therefore they assume they only need to hit the major beats of the story without doing much to establish character. What results is a rather unimpressive narrative experience, though as I said, Farnum keeps things lively, as do a few moments of truly striking composition and lighting. Otherwise, only silent film nerds and fans of the novel (both of which I'm lucky to be in this instance) will get much out of this movie.