AllMovie

In this 1980 Jim Goddard version of the classic Dickens tale, it is American actor Chris Sarandon who gets to recite doomed Englishman Sydney Carton's famous line, "It is a far, far better thing that I do, than I have ever done." Although Sarandon's performance as Carton is not far, far better than Ronald Colman's in the same role in the 1935 Jack Conway film, it is at least competent. And it doesn't hurt that director Goddard surrounds Sarandon with veteran British actors -- including Peter Cushing, Kenneth More, Nigel Hawthorne, and Barry Morse -- to season the film with Dickensian flair and flavor. As anyone familiar with the novel is aware, love is a central theme -- romantic love, patriotic love, humanitarian love, and in Goddard's film, this theme comes across even when Sarandon does not. Of all of the film versions of A Tale of Two Cities (at least eight), this one is not the best, but neither is it the worst; instead, it is a worthy offering that deserves a look.