A Tale of Two Cities (1935 film) French Revolution and deals with two men who are alike, not only in appearance, but in their love for the same woman. The film is generally regarded as the best cinematic version of Dickens' novel. On the eve of the French Revolution, Lucie Manette (Elizabeth Allan) is informed that her father (Henry B. Walthall) is not dead, but has been a prisoner in the Bastille for many long years before finally being released. She travels to Paris to take her father to her home in England. Dr. Manette has been taken care of by a friend, Ernest Defarge (Mitchell Lewis),
A Tale of Two Cities modern readers), Carton disreputable but magnetic. One can only suspect whose psychological persona it is that Carton and Darnay together embody (if they do), but it is often thought to be the psyche of Dickens himself. Dickens might have been quite aware that between them, Carton and Darnay shared his own initials, a frequent property of his characters. However, he denied it when asked. The novel takes place primarily in London and Paris in the latter half of the eighteenth century. It spans a time period of roughly thirty-six years, with the (chronologically) first events taking place in December 1757