Alicia I love this movie so much

Twilightfa Watch something else. There are very few redeeming qualities to this film.

Kamila Bell This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

Marva-nova Amazing worth wacthing. So good. Biased but well made with many good points.

HotToastyRag I'll always have a soft spot in my heart for Fredric March, since he reminds me of my grandpa in The Best Years of Our Lives. Sometimes, as in that movie, he's a wonderful actor; but sometimes, he's just stinky. In Les Misérables, he plays the famous literary hero Jean Valjean, and unfortunately, he's pretty stinky. Charles Laughton plays the complex villain Inspector Javert. As everyone knows, since the story is French, his character name is pronounced "Jah-verr". Fredric March doesn't say it that way. From start to finish, he calls his enemy "Ja-vert". My dad came up with a possible reason for the outrageously embarrassing mistake: Freddie said "Ja-vert,", and director Richard Boleslawski said, "Cut! Freddie, it's 'Jah-verr.'" Freddie said, "Yeah, yeah, I know." Then, thrown out into the ring again, he said "Ja-vert." Rinse and repeat. That scenario sounded so much like something my grandpa would do, that even though "Ja-vert" almost ruins the movie, it still makes me laugh.Now, let's talk about what else is wrong with this version. I really like Charles Laughton, but I think he was miscast as Javert. Charles has a very expressive face, and he always comes across as having enormously deep problems. Javert can't look that way. He's strict, rigid, and has enormous discipline because he loves the law. He doesn't have deep emotional problems. The supporting cast isn't that bad, with Rochelle Hudson as Cosette, Florence Eldridge as Fantine John Beal as Marius, and Cedric Hardwicke as the bishop. Rochelle and Fredric March are pretty contemporary, and parts of the story feel rushed and cheaply done. All in all, this really isn't the best film adaptation of Victor Hugo's novel. Every version has its ups and downs, though, so it's a matter of taste when you pick your favorite.

dbborroughs Story of Jean Valjean from his arrest for stealing bread, the time in the galleys, to his release and hounding by a certain police inspector to whom the law is all. Its a powerful story masterfully told. I've seen any number of versions of the story and all have to trim Victor Hugo's monster of a novel. Unfortunately most versions trim the material so much that you can feel the missing passages. thats not the case here. Here you feel as though you've seen it all. You actually get to know the characters and aren't marched through the story at a break neck speed that that is required to get it all in. This is possibly the shortest version but it feels complete. the cast headed by Fredrick March and Charles Laughton is excellent across the board. This is a must see.

Lauren (sailortrinity08) I had read many good things about this adaptation of my favorite novel...so invariably my expectations were crushed. But they were crushed more than should be expected. The movie would have been a decent movie if I had not read the novel beforehand, which perhaps ruined it for me.In any event, for some reason they changed the labor camp at Toulon to a ship full of galley slaves. The scene at Bishop Myriel's was fine. In fact, other than the galleys, things survived up until the dismissal of Fantine. Because we do not want to have bad things happen to a good woman, she does not cut her hair, sell her teeth, or become a prostitute. The worst she does is run into the mayor's office and spit on his face. Bamatabois is entirely eliminated. Because having children out of wedlock should also not be talked about, Tholomyes is Fantine's dead husband, rather than an irresponsible dandy. Valjean is able to fetch Cosette for Fantine before the Champmathieu affair, so they reunite happily, yet another change. Then comes the convent, which is a pretty difficult scene to screw up. Thankfully, it was saved. After this three minutes of accuracy, however, the movie again begins to hurtle towards Classic Novel Butchering.As Cosette and Valjean are riding through the park, they come across Marius giving a speech at a meeting. About prison reform. When he comes to hand out fliers to Valjean and Cosette, he says the one line in the movie that set me screaming at the TV set. "We aren't revolutionaries." I could hear Victor Hugo thrashing in his grave. OF COURSE THEY ARE REVOLUTIONARIES! They want to revolt against the pseudo-monarchy that is in place in favor of another republic, you dumb screenwriters! It's a historical FACT that there was an insurrection against the government in 1832. At one point Cosette goes to give Marius a donation from her father for the reform movement and meets Eponine. Except...not Eponine. Or at least not the Eponine of the book. This Eponine appears to be a well-to-do secretary girl working for the prison reformers (who are working out of the Cafe Universal as opposed to the Cafe Musain). Not to mention the audience is already made to dislike her thanks to her not-period, low-cut, tight-fitting dress and her snooty mannerisms.The prison reformers (Lead by the most poorly cast Enjolras that I have EVER seen) decide that handing out pamphlets isn't good enough anymore. So they're going to build barricades. I don't know about you, but I have never heard of reform movements tearing up the streets and building barricades and attacking government troops. About three hundred people (it was not supposed to be so many) start attacking the National Guard and building a bunch of barricades, etc. Eponine does die for Marius, thankfully. The rest of the movie is sort of accurate, except that Javert's suicide again seems hard to understand thanks to his minuscule screen time and odd character interpretation. The movie ends with Valjean watching Javert jump into the river. This is again inaccurate because Valjean would never have let Javert drown. He saved the man's life earlier, why let him die now? Then there's the whole skipping of Valjean's confession to Marius, his deterioration, and his redemption on his deathbed with Marius and Cosette by his side.Overall, I can blame the script mostly for the problems. While I am glad Enjolras and Eponine were at least present in the film, they were terribly misinterpreted, as was the entire barricade scene. The elimination of Fantine's suffering prevents us from feeling too much pity for her. That Cosette knows Valjean's past from the start messes with the plot a good deal. I did not even see Thenardier, and Mme. Thenardier only had a few seconds of screen time. The same with Gavroche. I did like Frederich March's interpretation of Valjean a lot, however, which was one of the redeeming features of the movie. On the other hand, Charles Laughton, for all his great acting in other movies, seems to have missed the mark with Javert. The lip tremble, the unnecessary shouting, and his acting in general all just felt very wrong. He also, like many Javerts I have seen, did not appear at all menacing, something required of the character.Again, this film would probably feel much better if I had not read the book. I would not recommend it to book purists, though. I would also say that the movie would have been a good adaptation for the time had not the infamously accurate French version come out the year before.

Syl I thought this was an excellent early version of Victor Hugo's classic. The actor who plays Valjean does an excellent job as does British actor Charles Laughton who plays Javert who chases him for years. I love the film even though it might be dated but it's still faithful to the classic novel. The actresses who play Cosette and Fantine do an excellent job even though they are supporting parts. The film's quality is still excellent even though it was done over seventy years ago in the early stages of talking movies. I still think it's a classic movie and of the novel's best. This film version does not have the music but it still contains the same message of Victor Hugo's novel. Valjean is beautifully played as is Javert in this film.