Escape from Paris

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Movie
German title Escape from Paris
Original title A Tale of Two Cities
Country of production United States
original language English
Publishing year 1935
length 120 minutes
Age rating FSK 16
Rod
Director Jack Conway ,
Robert Z. Leonard
script WP Lipscomb ,
Samuel Nathaniel Behrman
production David O. Selznick for MGM
music Herbert Stothart
camera Oliver T. Marsh
cut Conrad A. Annoying
occupation

Escape from Paris (original title A Tale of Two Cities ) is an American film adaptation of the novel A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens . The directors Jack Conway and Robert Z. Leonard staged the lavish historical drama in 1935 .

action

The film takes place shortly before and during the French Revolution in 1789. The Frenchwoman Lucie Manette, who lives in England, learns from the banker Barsad that her father is Dr. Manette is not dead, as long feared, but spent 18 years as a prisoner in the Bastille . Lucie travels to Paris with the banker and is looking for her father. She finds him in the company of the host DeFarge, who is secretly working for the revolution. On the return trip to England, Lucie meets Charles Darnay, the nephew of the brutal Marquis St. Evremonde. The two fall in love, but Charles is arrested for treason on arrival in England. The drunk and cynical lawyer Sydney Carton helps Darnay to be acquitted of the prosecution. Carton is in love with Lucie himself, but she sees him as a good friend. To impress her, he gives up drinking. When Charles and Lucie get married, Carton is badly hit. But he continues to work for her and also takes care of the daughter who was born a few years later.

In France the revolution has turned into a reign of terror . Charles is lured to Paris. He is to be accused of being an enemy of the revolution because his old teacher Gabelle, an opponent of the revolution, asked him for help in a letter. The marquis was murdered shortly before the revolution for his machinations, but the people's tribunal still wants to take revenge. Dr. Manette tries to help Charles, but he cannot convince the population of his innocence. Madame DeFarge, who lost her brother and sister to the Marquis, is particularly interested in the execution of her nephew. Charles is sentenced to death by the guillotine . His only crime is his ancestry as the last Evremonde.

Meanwhile, Carton realizes that Lucie and her daughter are in danger from their relationship with Charles. He also decides to pretend to be Charles and thus save him, as he and the convict look very similar. And indeed the deception succeeds, Charles can flee to England with his family. The vengeful Madame DeFarge wants to sound the alarm, but she is killed by Lucie's loyal servant Miss Pross. In the conciergerie, Carton befriends a fellow prisoner, a young seamstress, who is courageous because of his charisma. The next morning, Carton and the seamstress stand next to each other in front of the guillotine. Carton now knows that he did the right thing.

background

The film opened in the United States on December 25, 1935. In Germany, it was not released until February 22, 1952. The film was shown for the first time on German television by ZDF in two parts on February 12 and 13, 1972.

Fritz Leiber as Gaspard, Lawrence Grant as the accuser, Lucille La Verne as the avenger and Tully Marshall as the lumberjack can also be seen in other roles . Cedric Gibbons and Edwin B. Willis provided the film equipment , while Douglas Shearer was responsible for the sound . Jacques Tourneur was the director of the Second Unit, which was responsible, among other things, for the scenes of the revolution .

Ronald Colman, on loan from 20th Century Fox studio , refused to play a dual role (Carton / Darnay). Two years after the film, producer Selznick stated in a lecture that Colman shied away from double roles from his experience in the film The Masquerader (1933). After test recordings with Robert Donat and Brian Aherne , Donald Woods was finally engaged for the role of Charles Darnay, although his resemblance to Colman was not so great and he was also 13 years younger. Blanche Yurka (Madame DeFarge) was a well-known theater actress at the time who made her screen debut in this film.

The shooting, which began on June 4, 1935, was made difficult by an illness of the director Conway. Conway suffered from pleurisy , an inflammation of the peritoneum, for a month and was represented by Robert Z. Leonard. Conway returned to the set two weeks before filming ended, but was still not fully healthy. According to press reports, Clarence Brown and Richard Rosson are said to have finished the film in addition to Leonard . However, Brown and Rosson's collaboration cannot be proven.

David O. Selznick quit his work for MGM after this film and founded his own production company Selznick International . He had previously had great success with the MGM production of another Dickens adaptation, David Copperfield , and was able to engage several actors (Arden, Rathbone, Oliver) and also staff members (Marsh, Gibbons, Shearer) for Two Cities .

Further film adaptations of the novel

  • 1910: A Tale of Two Cities - Director: William Humphrey - first adaptation of the novel, short film
  • 1917: A Tale of Two Cities - Director: Frank Lloyd - first film version (USA) full-length with William Farnum
  • 1922: A Tale of Two Cities - director: W. Courtney Rowden - first British film adaptation
  • 1925: The Only Way - Director: Herbert Wilcox - British adaptation with John Martin Harvey
  • 1958: A Tale of Two Cities - Director: Ralph Thomas - British feature film with Dirk Bogarde and Christopher Lee
  • 1965: A Tale of Two Cities - ten-part British television series with John Wood
  • 1980: A Tale of Two Cities - eight-part British television series with Paul Shelley
  • 1980: A Tale of Two Cities - Director: Jim Goddard - British television film with Peter Cushing , Chris Sarandon and Barry Morse
  • 1989: A Tale of Two Cities - Director: Philippe Monnier - British-French television production in two parts with John Mills

Reviews

The lexicon of the international film about the film: "One of the numerous film adaptations of the material - true to the literature, artistically average, with a few good crowd scenes."

Andre Sennwald of the New York Times said the screen had been filled with beauty and tension for two hours. The TV Guide praised the film as the best of all seven adaptations of the Dickens novel. In the magnificent and generous MGM production, every role, no matter how small, is perfectly represented.

Awards

In 1937 the film was nominated for an Oscar in the categories of Best Film and Best Editing .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. a b Escape from Paris at Turner Classic Movies (English)
  2. ^ Escape from Paris. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed March 2, 2017 .Template: LdiF / Maintenance / Access used 
  3. cf. nytimes.com (English)
  4. cf. tvguide.com (English)