''Les Misérables'' is a 1958 film adaptation of the 1862
Victor Hugo
Victor-Marie Hugo, vicomte Hugo (; 26 February 1802 – 22 May 1885) was a French Romanticism, Romantic author, poet, essayist, playwright, journalist, human rights activist and politician.
His most famous works are the novels ''The Hunchbac ...
novel
A novel is an extended work of narrative fiction usually written in prose and published as a book. The word derives from the for 'new', 'news', or 'short story (of something new)', itself from the , a singular noun use of the neuter plural of ...
. Written by
René Barjavel
René Barjavel (24 January 1911 – 24 November 1985) was a French author, journalist and critic who may have been the first to think of the grandfather paradox in time travel. He was born in Nyons, a town in the Drôme department in southeas ...
, the film was directed by
Jean-Paul Le Chanois
Jean-Paul Étienne Dreyfus, better known as Jean-Paul Le Chanois (; 25 October 1909 – 8 July 1985), was a French film director, screenwriter and actor. His film ''...Sans laisser d'adresse'' won the Golden Bear, Golden Bear (Comedies) awar ...
and stars
Jean Gabin
Jean Gabin Alexis Moncorgé (born Jean-Alexis Moncorgé), known as Jean Gabin (; 17 May 190415 November 1976), was a French actor and singer. Considered a key figure in French cinema, he starred in several classic films, including '' Pépé le ...
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 ...
.
Adaptation
The bishop's background is briefly sketched rather than detailed as in the novel. Javert is a young boy, the son of a guard in the Toulon prison, when he sees Valjean as a convict. Fantine's body, instead of being thrown into a public grave unceremoniously after Javert arrested Jean Valjean, was still in her deathbed after Jean Valjean escaped jail, and he pays Sister Simplice to bury her properly. In a flashback to Mr. Thénardier's looting of valuables from the corpses of dead soldiers at the
Battle of Waterloo
The Battle of Waterloo was fought on Sunday 18 June 1815, near Waterloo, Belgium, Waterloo (then in the United Kingdom of the Netherlands, now in Belgium), marking the end of the Napoleonic Wars. The French Imperial Army (1804–1815), Frenc ...
and inadvertent rescue of Baron Pontmercy, he was an opportunistic deserter from within
Napoleon
Napoleon Bonaparte (born Napoleone di Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French general and statesman who rose to prominence during the French Revolution and led Military career ...
's
Grande Armée
The (; ) was the primary field army of the French Imperial Army (1804–1815), French Imperial Army during the Napoleonic Wars. Commanded by Napoleon, from 1804 to 1808 it won a series of military victories that allowed the First French Empi ...
rather than a thief outside the ranks who completely
fabricated his military service record after the war to cover up his looting, and Mrs. Thénardier was also present at Waterloo serving as a
cantinière. Javert comes to arrest Jean Valjean when he is in the house of Thénardier intending to take Cosette with him. Sister Simplice admits Valjean and Cosette to the convent instead of Father Fauchevent. Thénardier, in disguise, meets Marius and proves to him with the help of newspaper clippings that he is completely mistaken about Valjean's criminal past.
Cast
Production
Called "the most memorable film version", it was filmed in East Germany and was overtly political.
Of the many
film adaptations
A film adaptation transfers the details or story of an existing source text, such as a novel, into a feature film. This transfer can involve adapting most details of the source text closely, including characters or plot points, or the original sou ...
of the novel, this has been called "the one most popular with audiences in postwar France".
One noteworthy plot change was made to accommodate the fact that the actors playing the roles of
Valjean
Valjean Johns (November 19, 1934February 10, 2003), who typically recorded under his first name only, was an American pianist best known for his recording of the theme song from the TV show ''Ben Casey''.
Born in Shattuck, Oklahoma, Valjean stud ...
and
Javert
Javert (), no first name given in the source novel, is a fictional character and a 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 police i ...
were far apart in age, rather than near contemporaries as in the novel. Instead of Javert recognizing Valjean as a convict he had often guarded years earlier, he remembers how, when he was just a boy, his prison guard father had pointed out this man as "the worst kind of prisoner, who tried to escape four times".
[
]
Release
The movie was a massive hit in France, the second most popular of 1958.
The ''New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...
'' described it as one of the first French "blockbusters" that appeared in response to such lengthy feature films as ''Around the World in 80 Days
''Around the World in Eighty Days'' () is an adventure novel by the French writer Jules Verne, first published in French in 1872. In the story, Phileas Fogg of London and his newly employed French valet Passepartout attempt to circumnavigate ...
'' and ''The Ten Commandments
The Ten Commandments (), or the Decalogue (from Latin , from Ancient Greek , ), are religious and ethical directives, structured as a covenant document, that, according to the Hebrew Bible, were given by YHWH to Moses. The text of the Ten C ...
''. It said it was "a ponderous four-hour retelling of Victor Hugo's oft-filmed epic. ... Not a page is skipped ... Too literary, it has the saving grace of Jean Gabin's truly heroic depiction of Jean Valjean plus some stirring scenes on the barricades." It was a "quintessential Gabin role ... that of a loner, an outsider, usually a member of the lower orders who may flirt with love and happiness but knows they are not for him".
The film did not premiere in New York until July 1989, when it ran to coincide with the celebration of the bicentennial of the French Revolution.[
]
See also
* Adaptations of ''Les Misérables''
References
External links
*
''Les Miserables''
at Box Office Story
{{DEFAULTSORT:Miserables (1958 film)
Films based on Les Misérables
1958 films
East German films
1950s French-language films
Films directed by Jean-Paul Le Chanois
Films based on French novels
Films set in France
Films set in Paris
Films shot in Germany
Films shot in Paris
Films with screenplays by Michel Audiard
Films with screenplays by René Barjavel
1950s historical drama films
German historical drama films
French historical drama films
Italian historical drama films
Pathé films
1958 drama films
Films scored by Alessandro Cicognini
1950s Italian films
1950s French films
1950s German films
Films scored by Georges Van Parys
French-language German films