A TALE Of TWO CITIES. Film / Movier Poster.
Bradford: Printed in Great Britain by W. E. Berry, Ltd., [1958]. Cf. Bolton ATTC-115. An English “3-sheet” poster, in two overlapping sections, approximately 79” x 40". Stored folded, and housed in a clear archival mylar sleeve. Verso with black grease pen annotation: 58-323. Fold-lines, with a few short tears at intersections. Age-toning, other signs of having been used, overall, Very Good. Item #52218
Here offered a scarce poster advertising a 1958 b&w British film based on Dickens' 1859 novel, directed by Ralph Thomas and starring Dirk Bogarde, as Syndey Carton, and Dorothy Tutin as Lucie Manette.
"Thomas Clarke wrote the script. He had read the novel at school and 'had been disappointed by a book that a lesser author might have written; but I could appreciate its potential as a period action film and readily undertook to script.' Among the changes to Clarke's adaptation including limiting the time period to three years. Ralph Thomas insisted on the film being shot in black and white as he felt the book 'was written in black and white, and it's got to be made in black and white.' He was influenced by a French film Casque d'Or set in a similar period which was in black and white.
Borgarde said 'We all felt right from the beginning that the only way to make this film was as a documentary.' Thomas added, 'For that reason, we decided against making it in colour because this would destroy the stark realism we are trying to get.'
The film was released in London in February 1958 and in the US in July 1958. Critical reception was generally postive, though not effusive, with, for example, Variety calling it 'a good adventure yarn and the French Revolution sequences offer a director lively opportunities for colorful action, which Ralph Thomas has deftly grabbed', with the Guardian saying it "was a plain and honest version which makes a decent attempt at putting the complexities of the story into two hours.'" [Wiki].
Price: $350.00