lundi 19 février 2007

A Tale of Two Cities 1935

(Le Marquis de Saint Evremond)
Un Film de Jack Conway
Charles Dickens offre sa vision de la Révolution Française dans A Tale of Two Cities. Il crée également une gallerie de personnages excentriques et haut en couleurs. Voici la scène qui introduit le personnage de Sidney Carton (Ronald Colman). Il est l'associé du très suffisant avocat C.V. Stryver (Reginald Owen) qui utilise son intelligence à son propre profit. Stryver doit défendre Charles Darnay qui est accusé, à tord, de haute trahison. Mais, il a besoin de Carton pour enquêter et préparer sa plaidoirie. On ne peut qu'admirer le détachement et l'humour que Colman apporte à son personnage en grand contraste avec les fanfaronnades de ce cabot de Reginald Owen.


Stryver: Really! Not working yet, Carton? This is too much.


Stryver: You've gotta put your mind on this case.


Carton: No. Not possible. Haaa.


Stryver: They've got this Charles Darnay up for treason.


Carton: I don't know Charles Darnay.


Carton: I hate treason, I hate Frenchmen.


Carton: For that matter, I hate Englishmen.


Stryver: Yes, yes. But Lorry sent this case on to us...


Stryver: ...with a special request for all my consideration.


Carton: It's not my consideration he wants, it's yours. Why don't you give it to him?


Carton: Give it to him.


Stryver: Carton, of course, I count on you for a little help.


Carton: You don't need me. You're the great barrister Stryver. Stryver of the King's Bench Bar.


Stryver: Well, if I am, it's due to perseverance. I had to get into the front rank. I wasn't born there, was I? I used my brains.


Carton: Aah! You use mine, you mean.
Stryver: Well, if I do, I pay you for it.


Carton: Well, not enough to justify your interfering with my drinking.


Stryver: But this is treason case. It's a matter of life and death.


Carton: Well, so's everything else. What of it?


Stryver: Carton, I beg of you… have a look at this brief.


Carton: Haaa!


Stryver: Really, Carton, with a man's life in your hands, how can you hesitate?
Carton: I don't hesitate.


Stryver: But, I tell you, Darnay is lost.


Stryver: We have to find a way to conteract the evidence of these witnesses, Barsad and Cly.


Carton: Barsad and Cly. Cly and Barsad.


Carton: Barsad and Cly.


Carton: A case like that could be tried on mere sound.


Stryver: What are you talking about?


Carton: Well… Barsad and Cly, or Cly and Barsad, by the very sound of their names...


Carton: ...by the build of their syllables, are manifestly villains.


Carton: Just as the other fellow…The… The defendant


Carton: what was his name?


Stryver: Darnay. Charles Darnay.


Carton: Equally manifestly a gentleman.


Stryver: But you can't convict a man on syllables, on the sound of his name.






Carton: Barsad. I seem to know that name.


Carton: Wasn't he involved in a… treason case once before? Barsad. Yes, he was!


Stryver: I believe we've uncovered something here, Carton.


Carton: Haa! Well, Mr. Darnay, fate and Mr Barsad have it that I should handle your case.




Carton: Your life is in my hands.


Carton: I may lead you to fortune or the grave.


Carton: Who knows? And who cares?


Stryver: I wish you'd stop drinking, or I wouldn't give much for Mr. Darnay's fortune.


Carton: You know…I shouldn't wonder that, that Cruncher…Jerry Cruncher knows this fellow, Barsad.




Carton: I think I'll call on Jerry.


Stryver: I can't have you hobnobbing with a fellow like Jerry Cruncher! Why, he's a grave robber.


Carton: Now, Stryver, a man who employs me shouldn't be a snob.
Stryver: But he's a grave robber.


Carton: No, you don't discern the facts. The very pith and marrow escape you.

Carton: Do you know the most interesting thing to me about this case?


Stryver: Saving an innocent man from a horrible death.


Carton: No. It's that Cruncher probably knows the tavern that Barsad drinks at. That means I can pursue this case in a congenial atmosphere.


Carton: You're in luck, Stryver. I'll lay you a wager. I'll drink you a victory.
______________________
A Tale of Two Cities est disponible en DVD (avec ST Français) en zone 1 US.

Aucun commentaire: