''Les Misérables'' is a

1934 Events January–February * January 1 – The International Telecommunication Union, a specialist agency of the League of Nations, is established. * January 15 – The 8.0 Nepal–Bihar earthquake strikes Nepal and Bihar with a maxi ...

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 dia ...

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 ...

's 1862 novel of the same name. It was written and directed by

Raymond Bernard Raymond Bernard (10 October 1891 – 12 December 1977) was a French film director and screenwriter whose career spanned more than 40 years. He is best remembered for several large-scale historical productions, including the silent films '' Le Mi ...

and stars Harry Baur as

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 ...

and

Charles Vanel Charles-Marie Vanel (21 August 1892 – 15 April 1989) was a French actor and director. During his 76-year film career, which began in 1912, he appeared in more than 200 films and worked with many prominent directors, including Alfred Hitchcock, ...

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 ...

. The film lasts four and a half hours and is considered by critics to be the greatest adaptation of the novel, due to its more in-depth development of the themes and characters, in comparison with most shorter adaptations. Although produced by

Pathé Pathé or Pathé Frères (, styled as PATHÉ!) is the name of various French businesses that were founded and originally run by the Pathé Brothers of France starting in 1896. In the early 1900s, Pathé became the world's largest film equipment ...

it was not shot at the company's

Joinville Studios The Joinville Studios were a film studio in Paris which operated between 1910 and 1987. They were one of the leading French studios, with major companies such as Pathé and Gaumont making films there. A second studio was added to the original ...

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. Si ...

but on a specially constructed set in

Biot, Alpes-Maritimes Biot (; oc, Biòt) is a small fortified medieval hilltop village in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur near Antibes, between Nice and Cannes. Many people come to Biot for its renowned cubist art museum of Fernand Leger as well as the winding c ...

as well as the nearby

Victorine Studios Victorine Studios (French: Studios de la Victorine) are a film studio in the French city of Nice. They are also known as the Nice Studios. Several small studios have also existed in the city. Originally built in 1921 in an attempt to create a Ho ...

Nice Nice ( , ; Niçard: , classical norm, or , nonstandard, ; it, Nizza ; lij, Nissa; grc, Νίκαια; la, Nicaea) is the prefecture of the Alpes-Maritimes department in France. The Nice agglomeration extends far beyond the administrative ...

. The film's sets were designed by the

art director Art director is the title for a variety of similar job functions in theater, advertising, marketing, publishing, fashion, film and television, the Internet, and video games. It is the charge of a sole art director to supervise and unify the vis ...

Lucien Carré Lucien Carré (born 1904) was a French art director Capua p.127 active in the French cinema designing film sets from the late 1920s to the late 1950s. He worked frequently with the director André Hunebelle as well as Julien Duvivier and Anatole ...

and Jean Perrier. The music, which is substantial, was written by the eminent Swiss composer Arthur Honegger. It was released as three films that premiered over a period of three weeks. * Part One: ''Une tempête sous un crâne'' (Tempest in a Skull) * Part Two: ''Les Thénardier'' (The Thenardiers) * Part Three: ''Liberté, liberté chérie'' (Freedom, dear Freedom)

Plot

is an ex-convict struggling to redeem himself, but his attempts are continually ruined by the intrusion of

. Javert is a cruel, ruthless police inspector who has dedicated his life to pursuing Valjean, whose only crime was stealing a loaf of bread, for which he received 5 years in jail. He serves an additional 14 years for escape attempts. The film, like the novel, features numerous other characters and subplots, such as

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 chi ...

, a woman forced into prostitution to pay two cruel innkeepers, the

Thénardiers The Thénardiers, commonly known as (; ) and , are fictional characters, and the secondary antagonists in Victor Hugo's 1862 novel and in many adaptations of the novel into other media. They are ordinary working-class people who blame society f ...

, for looking after her daughter

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 ...

, and the story of the revolutionaries, including Marius, a young man who falls in love later on in the film with the now-adult Cosette.

Cast

* Harry Baur as

& Champmathieu *

Florelle Florelle (born Odette Élisa Joséphine Marguerite Rousseau, 9 August 1898 – 28 September 1974) was a French soprano singer and actress. She gained fame as Polly Peachum in the French film ''The Threepenny Opera'', after which she had numerou ...

Josseline Gaël Josseline Gaël (born Jeannine Augustine Jeanne Blanleuil; 4 February 1917 – 10 August 1995) was a French actress who specialised in comedy roles. She is best remembered for her portrayal of Cosette in the 1934 film adaptation of Les Misérabl ...

* Gaby Triquet as Cosette (child) *

Jean Servais Jean Servais (; 24 September 1910 – 17 February 1976) was a Belgian film and stage actor. He acted in many 20th century French cinema productions, from the 1930s through the early 1970s. He was married to Gilberte Graillot, and later act ...

as Marius *

Orane Demazis Orane Demazis (4 September 1894 – 25 December 1991) was a French actress. Biography Born Henriette Marie Louise Burgart in Oran, French Algeria, in a family of Alsatian origin, Demazis entered the Paris Conservatoire National Supérieur d'Ar ...

as Éponine * Gilberte Savary as Éponine (child) * Lucien Nat as Montparnasse *

Charles Dullin Charles Dullin (; 8 May 1885 – 11 December 1949) was a French actor, theater manager and director. Career Dullin began his career as an actor in melodrama:185 In 1908, he started his first troupe with Saturnin Fabre, the ''Théâtre de Foire ...

as Thénardier * Marguerite Moreno as Madame Thénardier *

Émile Genevois Émile Genevois (1 January 1918 – 19 September 1962) was a French film actor.Cardullo p.106 Genevois appeared in over ninety films and television programmes, generally in character role A character actor is a supporting actor who plays unus ...

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 i ...

* Robert Vidalin as Enjolras * Henry Krauss as Monseigneur Myriel * Denise Mellot as Azelma * Jacqueline Fermez as Azelma (child) * Cailloux as Mabeuf * Ginette d'Yd as Sister Simplice * Pierre Piérade as Bamatabois * Charlotte Barbier-Krauss as Toussaint *

Roland Armontel Roland Armontel (21 December 1901 – 15 March 1980) was a French actor. Born Auguste Louis Magnin in Vimoutiers, Orne, France, he died in Paris. Selected filmography * ''Fun in the Barracks'' (1932) * ''Let's Touch Wood'' (1933) * ''Les Mis ...

as Félix Tholomyès

Differences from the novel

The film is, for the most part, faithful to the original novel, however, there are some differences: * Javert is presented as considerably less sympathetic than in the book, largely portraying him as the pinnacle of the cruelty in 19th century France. * Valjean is released after having saved a house from caving in, not because his time is served. * Not Fantine's last, but her first evening with Tholomyès is shown. * Valjean's re-arrest after his escape from Montreuil's prison and escape from the "Orion" are omitted. * Valjean and Cosette's stay at the Gorbeau House, their dodging of Javert and their arrival at the Petit-Picpus convent are omitted. After they leave the Thénardiers, the film jumps to Cosette's sixteenth birthday. * Cosette and Marius are already lovers before the attack on Valjean in the Gorbeau House. * Marius is already acquainted with Éponine and Gavroche before the attack at Gorbeau House. * When Marius notifies Javert of the Thénardiers' plans, he is also able to give Javert Valjean's address, at least one of them. Javert comes to this address after the robbery and recognises Valjean there. Valjean has to flee to his other house, where he finds Marius and Cosette. After Marius reveals what he has done, expecting gratitude, Valjean sends him away. Only Cosette's pleas make him change his mind, but only after Marius left. * Valjean does not meet Thénardier in the sewers. * Valjean presents himself to Gillenormand when taking Marius home. Gillenormand, Marius and Cosette have therefore always known the identity of Marius' saviour. * Valjean dies shortly after his confession to Marius, the day after the wedding, due to a wound which appeared to have become infected (probably due to the sewer water). He does not describe Fantine to Cosette.

Critical reaction

The film has been referred to as "the most complete and well rounded adaptation of Victor Hugo's classic novel". Raymond Bernard's version of'' Les Misérables'' was chosen by curator Robert Herbert as one of a number of films to support an exhibition of French drawings held in 2010 at th
Art Gallery of New South Wales
in Sydney, Australia. The Exhibition was entitled ''David to Cézanne: master drawings from the Prat Collection, Paris.'' It ran from 22 September until 5 December 2010. The film was screened 30 October, 3 November and 7 November in the Gallery's Domain Theatre.

Restoration and home video

The Criterion Collection The Criterion Collection, Inc. (or simply Criterion) is an American home video, home-video distribution company that focuses on licensing, restoring and distributing "important classic and contemporary films." Criterion serves film and media scho ...

released a restored version of ''Les Misérables'' in their

Eclipse An eclipse is an astronomical event that occurs when an astronomical object or spacecraft is temporarily obscured, by passing into the shadow of another body or by having another body pass between it and the viewer. This alignment of three c ...

DVD line. Its three parts appeared alongside Bernard's '' Wooden Crosses'' (1932) in the Eclipse Series 4: Raymond Bernard collection (2007). This version, totalling 281 minutes (109:52, 85:21 and 86:36), is shorter than the reported 305 minute total runtime of the original release, though it is possible that time may be inaccurate, or includes brief intermissions no longer present. Criterion's DVD liner notes describe how the film was reissued at varying lengths over the following decades and was only restored to its approximate original length shortly before Bernard's death, minus some scenes that could not be recovered. In 2013,

carried out a brand new restoration of the film, totalling 289 minutes (115:39, 85:45 and 87:23), and released it on Blu-ray and DVD. Eureka Entertainment also released this version on Blu-ray and DVD in 2014, as part of their

Masters of Cinema Masters of Cinema is a line of DVD and Blu-ray releases published through Eureka Entertainment. Because of the uniformly branded and spine-numbered packaging and the standard inclusion of booklets and analysis by recurring film historians, the ...

line.DVDCompare.net: ''Les Misérables'' (1934) Blu-ray
/ref>

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Miserables, Les (1935 film) 1934 films Films based on Les Misérables 1930s French-language films French black-and-white films Films directed by Raymond Bernard 1934 drama films Films produced by Raymond Borderie Films released in separate parts Films scored by Arthur Honegger Films shot at Victorine Studios Films set in the 19th century French historical drama films 1930s historical drama films Pathé films 1930s French films