''Les Misérables'' is a 1978 British

made-for-television A television film, alternatively known as a television movie, made-for-TV film/movie or TV film/movie, is a feature-length film that is produced and originally distributed by or to a television network, in contrast to theatrical films made for ...

film adaptation A film adaptation is the transfer of a work or story, in whole or in part, to a feature film. Although often considered a type of derivative work, film adaptation has been conceptualized recently by academic scholars such as Robert Stam as a dial ...

of the 1862 novel of the same name by

Victor Hugo Victor-Marie Hugo (; 26 February 1802 – 22 May 1885) was a French Romantic writer and politician. During a literary career that spanned more than sixty years, he wrote in a variety of genres and forms. He is considered to be one of the great ...

. The film was written by

John Gay John Gay (30 June 1685 – 4 December 1732) was an English poet and dramatist and member of the Scriblerus Club. He is best remembered for ''The Beggar's Opera'' (1728), a ballad opera. The characters, including Captain Macheath and Polly Peac ...

, produced by

Lew Grade Lew Grade, Baron Grade, (born Lev Winogradsky; 25 December 1906 – 13 December 1998) was a British media proprietor and impresario. Originally a dancer, and later a talent agent, Grade's interest in television production began in 1954 ...

, and directed by

Glenn Jordan Glenn Jordan (born April 5, 1936) is a retired American television director and producer. Born in San Antonio, Texas, Jordan directed multiple episodes of ''Family'' and helmed numerous television movies, several based on real persons as divers ...

(no relation to star Richard Jordan). The film originally aired on

U.S. The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

television on

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainmen ...

on 27 December 1978.

Plot

The plot follows the general outline of the novel of the same name, omitting many details and some entire episodes. The narrative is strictly chronological and avoids the digressions required to mirror the novel's structure. Many of the novel's minor characters do not appear or are combined. For example, the role of the Thénardiers is reduced to a scene in which Valjean ransoms Cosette from them. The film begins with Jean Valjean's theft and then lingers in the Toulon prison where his mistreatment is detailed under the gaze of Javert, who witnesses Valjean's amazing feat of strength in rescuing a man crushed under a boulder. Valjean escapes when saving another convict who had fallen while repairing some battlements. Struggling to survive, he encounters a kindly Bishop, who feeds and shelters him. He steals silver plates from the Bishop. When Valjean is arrested and brought back to the Bishop, the Bishop pretends the silver pieces were a gift, dismisses the police, and gives Valjean two silver candlesticks in addition to what he had originally stolen. Valjean is overcome. The Bishop tells him he has purchased his soul for God and that his life will now be different. Valjean becomes a prosperous businessman using techniques for the manufacture of black beads that he learned in Toulon and becomes mayor of his town under the name Madeleine. Javert arrives to serve as chief of the local police. He thinks he recognizes Madeleine and notes his use of the Toulon manufacturing method. Madeleine rescues the beggar Fantine, who recounts her history in a few sentences, when Javert is about to punish her, and Javert witnesses Madeleine rescue a man trapped beneath a cart, another astonishing feat of strength. Javert denounces Madeleine to his superiors, but before they can confirm Madeleine is actually Valjean, another man is arrested and charged in Arras with being the escaped convict Valjean. Javert confesses his actions to Madeleine and asks to be dismissed from his position. Madeleine refuses his request and goes to Arras where he wins the release of the falsely accused man by identifying himself as Valjean. Valjean returns to his town and tries to help the dying Fantine while he awaits arrest. He learns how the Thénardiers are caring for her daughter Cosette. Javert insists on arresting him, Fantine dies, and Valjean escapes. He ransoms Cosette from the Thénardiers and gives her a doll. Living in Paris with Cosette, Valjean escapes from Javert, who is directing police searches of the district where he is living, by climbing a wall, landing in the garden of a Paris convent. The gardener is the man he rescued from being crushed under a cart, who agrees to pretend he and Valjean are brothers and recommends him to the nuns as a gardener. Cosette attends the convent school. When she completes her education and has become a young woman, Valjean decides they should leave the convent's cloistered premises so she can experience the world. Valjean and Cosette are strolling in a public garden and pause to listen to radicals denounce the government. Cosette and Marius, one of the radical group though not a speaker, see one another and their eyes lock. Marius pays the urchin Gavroche to tail them and report their address to him. Marius soon romances Cosette through the entrance gate to their home. Valjean sees this and abruptly announces to Cosette that they must leave for England. When Marius learns this, he visits his grandfather, Gillenormand, who detests his radical activities, to ask for money. Instead his grandfather suggests he make the woman he wants to marry his mistress and Marius, repulsed by the suggestion, leaves. The radicals have created a barricade and are exchanging gunfire with the military. Gavroche identifies a man on the radical side of the barricade as the undercover police infiltrator, Javert. Enjolras arrests Javert and promises to shoot him if the barricade falls to the government's forces. Marius sends Gavroche with a message for Cosette, which Valjean reads. Valjean goes to the barricade and tries to talk Marius into abandoning the radicals. Gavroche is shot by the soldiers and dies. Valjean asks Enjolras for the privilege of killing Javert, which Enjolras grants him. Valjean instead releases him, repeating the words of the Bishop that his soul was once purchased for God. When Marius is wounded, Valjean escapes carrying his limp body with him through the sewers. Javert pursues him there and confronts him about their earlier encounter. Javert prepares to kill Valjean but suddenly disappears into the darkness of the sewers. He commits suicide by jumping into the Seine. The film ends with the wedding of Cosette and Marius, attended only by Valjean and Gillenormand.

Cast

Richard Jordan Robert Anson Jordan Jr. (July 19, 1937 – August 30, 1993) was an American actor. A long-time member of the New York Shakespeare Festival, he performed in many Off Broadway and Broadway plays. His films include ''Logan's Run'', ''Les Misérab ...

Jean Valjean Jean Valjean () is the protagonist of Victor Hugo's 1862 novel ''Les Misérables''. The story depicts the character's struggle to lead a normal life and redeem himself after serving a 19-year-long prison sentence for stealing bread to feed his ...

Anthony Perkins Anthony Perkins (April 4, 1932 – September 12, 1992) was an American actor, director, and singer. Perkins is best remembered for his role as Norman Bates in Alfred Hitchcock's suspense thriller '' Psycho'', which made him an influential ...

Javert Javert (), no first name given in the source novel, is a fictional character and the main antagonist of Victor Hugo's 1862 novel ''Les Misérables.'' He was presumably born in 1780 and died on June 7, 1832. First a prison guard, and then a polic ...

Angela Pleasence Daphne Anne Angela Pleasence (born 30 September 1941) is an English actress. Trained in theatre, Pleasence's first major film role came in '' Hitler: The Last Ten Days'' (1973), followed by roles in horror films such as ''From Beyond the Grave'' ...

Fantine Fantine (French pronunciation: ) is a fictional character in Victor Hugo's 1862 novel ''Les Misérables''. She is a young '' grisette'' in Paris who becomes pregnant by a rich student. After he abandons her, she is forced to look after their chil ...

Caroline Langrishe Caroline Langrishe (born 10 January 1958) is an English actress. Early life Born in London, Langrishe is the elder daughter of Patrick Nicholas Langrishe (1932–2022), of The Manor House, Sellindge, Kent, a Lieutenant in the 11th Hussars, late ...

Cosette Cosette () is a fictional character in the 1862 novel ''Les Misérables'' by Victor Hugo and in the many adaptations of the story for stage, film, and television. Her birth name, Euphrasie, is only mentioned briefly. As the orphaned child of an u ...

** Joanna Price as young Cosette *

Christopher Guard Christopher Guard (born 5 December 1953) is an English actor, musician and artist. He is known for roles such as Jim Hawkins in '' Return to Treasure Island'' (1986), Bellboy in ''Doctor Who'' serial ''The Greatest Show in the Galaxy'' (1988), ...

as Marius *

Ian Holm Sir Ian Holm Cuthbert (12 September 1931 – 19 June 2020) was an English actor who was knighted in 1998 for his contributions to theatre and film. Beginning his career on the British stage as a standout member of the Royal Shakespeare Company, ...

as Thénardier *

Caroline Blakiston Caroline Georgiana Blakiston (born 13 February 1933) is an English actress. She is best known in her native United Kingdom for her role in the television comedy series ''Brass'', to international audiences as Mon Mothma in the ''Star Wars'' film ...

Madame Thénardier Madame may refer to: * Madam, civility title or form of address for women, derived from the French * Madam (prostitution), a term for a woman who is engaged in the business of procuring prostitutes, usually the manager of a brothel * ''Madame'' ( ...

* Timothy Morand as

Enjolras Enjolras () is a fictional character who acts as the charismatic leader of the Friends of the ABC in the 1862 novel ''Les Misérables'' by Victor Hugo. In both the novel and the musical that it inspired, Enjolras is a revolutionary who fights fo ...

Dexter Fletcher Dexter Fletcher (born 31 January 1966) is an English film director and actor. He has appeared in Guy Ritchie's ''Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels'', as well as in television shows such as the comedy drama '' Hotel Babylon'' and the HBO series ...

Gavroche Gavroche () is a fictional character in the 1862 novel ''Les Misérables'' by Victor Hugo. He is a boy who lives on the streets of Paris. His name has become a synonym for an urchin or street child. Gavroche plays a short yet significant role in ...

Cyril Cusack Cyril James Cusack (26 November 1910 – 7 October 1993) was an Irish stage and screen actor with a career that spanned more than 70 years. During his lifetime, he was considered one of Ireland’s finest thespians, and was renowned for his int ...

as Fauchelevent * Claude Dauphin as

Bishop Myriel Bishop Charles-François-Bienvenu Myriel, referred to as Bishop Myriel or Monseigneur Bienvenu, is a fictional character in Victor Hugo's 1862 novel ''Les Misérables''. Myriel is the Bishop of Digne in southeastern France. The actual Bishop of D ...

John Gielgud Sir Arthur John Gielgud, (; 14 April 1904 – 21 May 2000) was an English actor and theatre director whose career spanned eight decades. With Ralph Richardson and Laurence Olivier, he was one of the trinity of actors who dominated the Briti ...

as Gillenormand *

Celia Johnson Dame Celia Elizabeth Johnson, (18 December 1908 – 26 April 1982) was an English actress, whose career included stage, television and film. She is especially known for her roles in the films ''In Which We Serve'' (1942), ''This Happy Bree ...

as Sister Simplice *

Joyce Redman Joyce Olivia Redman (7 December 1915Jonathan Croall, "Redman, Joyce Olivia (1915–2012)", ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', Oxford University Press, Jan 201available online Retrieved 1 April 2020. – 9 May 2012) was an Anglo-Irish a ...

as Magliore *

Flora Robson Dame Flora McKenzie Robson (28 March 19027 July 1984) was an English actress and star of the theatrical stage and cinema, particularly renowned for her performances in plays demanding dramatic and emotional intensity. Her range extended from q ...

as The Prioress

Production

Lynne Frederick Lynne Frederick (25 July 1954 – 27 April 1994) was an English actress, film producer, and fashion model. In a career spanning ten years, she made over thirty appearances in film and television productions. Known for her classic English rose b ...

heavily campaigned for the role of

. When she auditioned, she also read for the role of

. She was ultimately deemed too old to play Cosette and too young to play Fantine. The film was produced by

Norman Rosemont Norman Rosemont (December 12, 1924 in Brooklyn, New York – April 22, 2018 in Scottsdale, Arizona) was an Emmy-winning American producer of films, television, and theatre. He worked as a press agent before moving into theatre. He worked as a ge ...

who specialised in period adaptations of classic novels for television. He found it difficult to raise financing for the first few and spent two years raising the money for ''Les Miserables''. NBC turned it down out of fear Americans would not understand the title. Eventually money was raised from CBS and IBM. The movie was a ratings success, beating ''

Charlie's Angels ''Charlie's Angels'' is an American crime drama television series that aired on ABC from September 22, 1976, to June 24, 1981, producing five seasons and 115 episodes. The series was created by Ivan Goff and Ben Roberts and was produced by Aa ...

'', and Rosemont found raising finance easier from then on.Why Norman Rosemont Likes to Film the Classics: Norman Rosemont's TV Films By DAVID LEWIN. New York Times 23 Nov 1980: D35.

References

External links

* * * *
Review by film historian Tim Brayton
{{DEFAULTSORT:Miserables, Les (1978 film) 1978 films 1978 television films 1978 drama films Films based on Les Misérables Films shot in England Films shot in France Films directed by Glenn Jordan ITC Entertainment films CBS network films Films with screenplays by John Gay (screenwriter) 1970s English-language films 1970s British films British drama television films

Plot

Cast

Production

See also

References

External links