A Tale of Two Cities

Get up. Get up. Come on. Get up. Get up.

Get up there, get up there.

Come on there. Now push hard.

Get up. Push hard. Come on.

Come on there. Come on there.

Blimey. Hey, Joe, what o'clock is it?

Uh, it must be nearly 11.

Eleven, and we ain't atop of Shooter's Hill yet?

- Push. - Come on now. Whoa-ho!

Whoa-ho, hey. Come on.

Push, push!

Aye, Joe.

What do you say it is, Tom?

Well, I'd say it's a horse coming up at a canter.

Well, I say it's a horse coming up at a gallop.

Gentlemen, in the king's name, on guard, all of you.

Dover mail? Are you the Dover mail?

Never mind what we are. What are you?

I'm a messenger from Tellson's Bank.

Stand! No nearer.

I wants Mr. Jarvis Lorry.

I've got a message for him from his bank.

Uh, here I am. Is that Jerry Cruncher?

Right you are, sir.

Stop! Keep where you are.

It's quite all right. I know him.

Then step over and speak to him if you must,

but don't let him come no nearer.

You never know these days.

What is the message, Jerry?

The message is to wait at the Royal George for mademoiselle.

Ah, she'll be at Dover.

Give this reply to the office, Jerry.

Recalled to life.

Recalled to life.

Right you are, sir.

- Did you hear the message, sir? - I did.

- What did you make of it? - Nothing at all.

That's a coincidence too. That's what I made of it myself.

Now then, gentlemen, all together, please.

- Hot gravy, sir? - No, no, no.

The young lady you were expecting, sir.

- Miss Manette. - Ah, yes.

- She has arrived, sir. - Good.

It's business. Strictly business.

Of course, sir.

I'm from Tellson's Bank in London

and it is business.

Ah, quite, quite.

I am Mr. Jarvis Lorry, Junior of Tellson and Company Bankers.

Your humble servant, miss.

Yes, I... I received a letter from the bank, sir,

informing me that some intelligence, some discovery...

Uh, the word is not material, miss. Either one will do.

Are you quite a stranger to me, sir?

Uh, Miss Manette, I am a man of business.

Pay no more attention to me than if I were a machine.

- I am not much else. - But I know you.

- I'm sure I know you. - Yes.

Uh, when you were a little girl, I was instrumental

in bringing you and your mother over to England.

Uh, no romance. Uh, business, you know.

No room for sentiment in business.

Yes. That was 17 years ago.

Yes. Uh, I speak, miss, of that time.

Our business today has to do with your father, Dr. Manette.

- You knew him before he died? - Before, uh...

Y-y-yes. Yes, he was a client

of Tellson and Company's Paris bank.

I am an arm of that bank.

That is how you will regard me.

A mere mechanical arm of Tellson and Company.

Mr. Lorry, what have you come to tell me?

Now, let us suppose that your father had not died.

- Suppose... - Uh, d-don't be afraid, child.

Mr. Lorry, please do not keep me in suspense.

What is it?

Uh, if your father had not died,

if he had suddenly and silently disappeared,

if he had an enemy who caused him to be imprisoned.

I entreat you, sir, pray, pray, tell me.

No, no, no. Don't kneel, child.

In heaven's name, why should you kneel to me?

For the truth, oh, dear, good, compassionate sir,

for the truth.

Mr. Lorry, is my father alive?

Yes, child.

Well, where is he?

Uh, you will find him greatly changed.

A wreck it is probable,

though we will hope for the best.

My father.

My poor, poor father.

Now you know the best and the worst.

You will see this poor, wronged gentleman then

with a fair sea voyage and a fair land voyage...

Uh, what is the matter?

Uh, Miss Manette, my dear child.

What are you doing to my Ladybird?

- Oh! - I-I...

I-I-I had to tell her some news.

You took a fine manner of doing it.

You in brown, why couldn't you tell her

what you had to tell her without frightening her to death?

See what you've done to her?

You call that being a banker?

I tried to break it as gently as I could.

Gently? I'd like to see you break things roughly.

Oh, my pretty.

My sweet.

Pross is with you now.

No one can harm you. My darling.

I assure you, madam, I had no intention...

I am not madam.

I'm Miss Lucie's companion, and I'm Miss Pross.

- But, madam, I assure you... - I'm... I'm all right.

Of course, you're all right. It was a shock.

The man has no sense blurting out

whatever he was blurting out as if he were calling coals.

Please, Miss Pross. Where is my father?

He has been imprisoned at the Bastille 18 years.

Eighteen years. Gracious creator of day.

To be buried alive for 18 years.

But I entreat you, sir, where is he now?

Uh, an old servant of his, De Farge, is taking care of him.

- But where? Where? - In his wine shop in Paris.

You must take me to him at once.

Well, why do you stand there like a nincompoop?

You hear, don't you?

She wants to be taken to her father.

Isn't it natural she should want to see her father?

Well, I will, but...

A toast to the king's health.

- There's mud in it. - There's food in it.

Drink, little one. Never mind the taste.

- How can men bear such poverty? - Bear it?

Look, they live within the very shadow of the Bastille.

They have to bear it.

Do not do that, Jacques.

Well, there'll be blood flowing in these streets before long, De Farge.

Yes, but keep that thought in your heart, Jacques.

- Don't waste it on the walls. - You're right, Jacques.

Jacques, where do you want this wood? In the loft?

Jacques, 116 from Bordeaux.

Welcome, Jacques. Come inside.

A hundred and 16 from Bordeaux, my wife.

Well, Jacques, do you see the way the spilt wine is being sucked up?

Every drop.

It's not often those poor beasts

know the taste of wine

or of anything but black bread and death.

It is so throughout all France.

Has he seen our tenant upstairs?

Not yet, but I will show him.

Eighteen years imprisoned in the Bastille.

Wait till you see him.

The sight will burn into the souls

of all of the name of Jacques.

Strangers. The rose.

Madame De Farge?

Recalled to life.

Yes, yes. We have some very fine old wine upstairs.

My husband will show you.

Come.

You were too young to remember me.

I was his servant.

Where... where is he?

Is he greatly changed?

Changed, mademoiselle.

Changed.

You lock him in? Why?

He's lived so long that way that an open door would...

Is it possible?

All things are possible in France today

just as all things will be possible later.

Don't come in to him yet. Let us go first.

Still hard at work?

Yes, I-I'm working.

These shoes must be done.

You have a visitor, you see.

A visitor.

Show your work to monsieur.

It is a lady's shoe.

It is a young lady's walking shoe.

It is in the present mode.

I never saw the mode.

I did it from a drawing.

Dr. Manette...

...do you remember me?

Come, come now.

You remember an old friend in Tellson's Bank in London?

No.

No.

Who are you?

Who are you?

It is the same...

but how can it be?