The definitive Les Miserables Film
I just finished watching the most awesome adaption of Les Miserables from 1933/34 (I see both years cited) directed by Raymond Bernard. Why this version is not more well known is beyond me because it's so so good and probably the only version to really capture the spirit of the novel that I have seen (and I love the novel to pieces). Well for one thing it's French and for another thing it's close to 5 hours long.
Now to be clear it's not perfect. It still leaves things out, changes a few things, and a few things are out of order but it's still by far the closest thing to the novel that exists that I have seen. And as far as things being left out that might partially be due to the fact that parts of the films were lost when the Nazis invaded France. :(
Interestingly this film was presented in a similar way as the Lord of the Rings films were to us in this century. There were 3 parts to the film and each part was presented a week apart (instead of a year apart like LOTR). But apparently it was a big event in France at the time.
Another thing is Harry Baur, who plays Jean Valjean is probably closer to how the character described in the book than any other actor I have seen. Tragically he would be murdered in the 1940's by the Gestapo.
Now don't get me wrong I enjoyed other adaptions of Les Miserables such as the Broadway Musical (for the awesome songs) and the Fredric March/Charles Laughton film of 1935 (for the lead actors performances) but those two adaptions can only be described as the Cliff Notes version compared to this awesome French version.
Anyways here is a really good write up on the film and a link to the film on Amazon. It's also available on Netflix which is how I managed to see it. :)
Now to be clear it's not perfect. It still leaves things out, changes a few things, and a few things are out of order but it's still by far the closest thing to the novel that exists that I have seen. And as far as things being left out that might partially be due to the fact that parts of the films were lost when the Nazis invaded France. :(
Interestingly this film was presented in a similar way as the Lord of the Rings films were to us in this century. There were 3 parts to the film and each part was presented a week apart (instead of a year apart like LOTR). But apparently it was a big event in France at the time.
Another thing is Harry Baur, who plays Jean Valjean is probably closer to how the character described in the book than any other actor I have seen. Tragically he would be murdered in the 1940's by the Gestapo.
Now don't get me wrong I enjoyed other adaptions of Les Miserables such as the Broadway Musical (for the awesome songs) and the Fredric March/Charles Laughton film of 1935 (for the lead actors performances) but those two adaptions can only be described as the Cliff Notes version compared to this awesome French version.
Anyways here is a really good write up on the film and a link to the film on Amazon. It's also available on Netflix which is how I managed to see it. :)