The miserables of 1935

One of my recent movie watches was the 1935 movie version of Victor Hugo's classic sprawling novel Les Misérables. It's available to watch on Amazon's streaming service but apparently out of print on DVD. But, since I need to free up more space on my DVR, I'm doing a post on it now.

Thanks to the 1980s musical and the movie adaptation of the musical, you probably know the basic story. Jean Valjean (Fredric March) is arrested during the French Revolution of stealing a loaf of bread to feed his starving family, for which he's punished with a long sentence as a galley slave. When he gets out, the only person who will give him lodging is the Bishop of Digne (Cedric Hardwicke), who is the first person to treat him well by not turning him in to the authorities for committing a crime.

Valjean goes to a town in the north of France where he comes up with a good way to make colored glass, making money for himself but more importantly making the whole town prosperous. They make him mayor, but this brings him to the attention of Émile Javert (Charles Laughton), a dogged police inspector who had seen Valjean once before during Valjean's incarceration. He suspects the mayor, and this ultimately causes Valjean to flee.

By this time, Valjean has come into the possession of a foster daughter Cosette (played as an adult by Rochelle Hudson), daughter of Fantine (Florence Eldridge) who had been fired from Valjean's factory because of rumors about her past. Valjean and Cosette go to Paris and when Cosette grows up it's time for the revolutions of 1830. This is how she meets Marius (John Beal). Javert is still on Valjean's trail, however.

This version of Les Misérables is not bad for what is essentially a Cliffs Notes version of the book, although to be fair with the original novel clocking in at well over a thousand pages, it's going to be tough to come up with any movie that doesn't cut a lot out, or else come up with something close to four hours as was done for Gone With the Wind. March is good as Valjean; Laughton is excellent as Javert. Beal is the weak link, wooden as Marius but then it would probably explain why Beal never made it to the top in Hollywood. This version also looks like it came straight out of 1930s Hollywood; nowadays the production values would at least look much more better.. On the plus side, this movie doesn't have the obnoxious shithead Gavroche.

I can certainly recommend the 1935 Les Misérables, although I wish it were on DVD too.