The Only Way (1927 film)

The Only Way
John Martin Harvey
Directed by	Herbert Wilcox
Produced by	Herbert Wilcox
Written by	Charles Dickens (novel) Frederick Longbridge (play) Freeman Wills (play)
Starring	John Martin Harvey Madge Stuart Betty Faire Ben Webster
Production company	Herbert Wilcox Productions
Distributed by	First National-Pathé Pictures
Release date	1927 (1927)
Country	United Kingdom
Language	English

The Only Way is a 1927 British drama film directed by Herbert Wilcox and starring John Martin Harvey, Madge Stuart and Betty Faire. It was adapted from the play The Only Way which was itself based on the novel A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens. John Martin Harvey had been playing Carton in the play since 1899 and it was his most popular work. It cost £24,000 to make and was shot at Twickenham Studios. The film was a commercial success and reportedly took over £53,000 in its first two years on release. It was a particularly notable achievement given the collapse in British film production between the Slump of 1924 and the passage of the Cinematograph Films Act 1927 designed to support British film making.

In 1770s France Doctor Manette is witness to the rape of a young woman Jeanne Defarge and the murder of her and brother Jacques by the powerful Marquis d'Evremonde. In order to silence Manette, d'Evremonde arranges to have him locked away in the infamous Bastille Prison where he remains for over a decade. Manette's young daughter is able to be spirited out of the country to England by her guardian the British banker Jarvis Lorry, where she is brought up by Miss Pross. Ernest Defarge swears vengeance on d'Evremonde and will not rest until the entire family has been wiped out.

Many years later Doctor Manette is released. His time in the Bastille has left him institutionalised and he initially finds it hard to adjust to life outside the prison. Jarvis Lorry and Manette's now-grown daughter Lucy come to Paris to escort him to England. On the journey back they encounter a young man named Charles Darnay, who is the son of Marquis d'Evremonde, fleeing France because his liberal views clash with those of his father. Darnay and Lucy soon fall in love, but their hopes of marriage are threatened when Darnay is arrested on his arrival in England for espionage and high treason as an alleged French spy. Darnay's accuser is the unscrupulous Barsad, who is himself in the pay of the French government.