I finished Les Miserables last summer. And I guess there must be many movie/film versions of Les Miserables. Can anyone recommend the best one to me?(English best)
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I finished Les Miserables last summer. And I guess there must be many movie/film versions of Les Miserables. Can anyone recommend the best one to me?(English best)
I am aware of three movie adaptations. My fav is the one with Jean Gabin. Have a look
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0050709/
This one is nice too
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0119683/
Geoffrey Rush plays Javert and he is fantastic
Here are the ones listed in imdb
http://www.imdb.com/find?s=all&q=les+miserables
You all will excuse me if happy-happy plays and sensuous musicals about the tortuous life of the lowest class of French people before and during the revolution is something that seems more suitable to tragedy, not musical comedy. quasimodo1
You obviously haven't seen the Jean Gabin version, have you? An excellent vintage film with (my humble opinion here) one of the best french actors. If you ever find a copy see it. It's not a happy musical ;). But most of the editions i have found were severely cut. The film as i have seen it is 4 hours long and believe me there were a lot of scenes missing ;)Quote:
Originally Posted by quasimodo1
I enjoyed the one which set the story in WWII France. It was a creative spin which didn't detract from the overall story...a rarity.
This morning I finished the opera version of Les Miserables. I think three music pieces from it is recommendable: do you hear the people sing,on my own, master of the house. But it has cut the story streamline so brief that many important things were left out. And the relationship between Marius and Cosette was not accentuated. If you haven't read the novel first, you will find it difficult to understand the opera.
But on the whole, the opera is still kind of masterpiece. Your ideas?
Les Miserables has been made into film more times than just about any other work of literature. There are a number of fine adaptations, although each takes some liberties with the story. One of the earliest sound versions is the 1935 classic starring Frederic March ("Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde") as Valjean and Charles Laughton ("The Hunchback of Notre Dame"; "The Private Life of Henry VIII") as Javert. It is a real tearjerker, and Sir Cedric Hardwicke (Pharoah Seti in "The 10 Commandments") is magnificent as the understated Bishop Myriel. The made-for-TV 1978 version is remarkable for the icy performance of Anthony Perkins ("Psycho") as a particularly cold and calculating Javert. The most recent version, with Liam Neeson and Geoffrey Rush is extremely good. Hope this helps!
Thank you for your reply.
However, as usual, it is not difficult to imagine how many brilliant plots these 2-hour movie have left out. Alway a pity for movie adaptations for classic literature. It is the same with Mario Puzo's Godfather and Louisa May's Little Women. The stories are cut down too much!
There is also a mini series with Gérard Depardieu as Jean Valjean. That seemed very good...
But it's all in French...
I have that version of 1998 with Liam Neeson as Jean Valjean and Geoffrey Rush as Javert but I was a little bit disappointed. The whole setting and effects are great as well as actors but so much is cut! There's even almost no Enjorlas or Eponine.
quasimodo1,
Technically, the story deals with life in the Restoration Monarchy, and a bunch of rich young punks who style themselves socialists, typical of the nouveau riche trash that threw their sofas into the streets of parish and styled themselves "revolutionaries" every so many years between the 1780s and 1960s, regardless of what the rest of France thought.
Hugo, while supporting Republican ideals, was very disdainful of the radical socialism practiced by such youths--consider the very negative tone he has towards the "leaders" of the group, including the implication that Enjolras is actually Cosette's biological father (remember that these guys are a bunch of Hamlets--still college students in their 30s).
As for the musical, it is hardly a musical comedy, other than the fact that--quite surprising for anything originating in late 20th Century Europe--it clearly features Valjean, Eponine and Fantine as going to Heaven. "Broadway" does not have to be "musical comedy."
I heard that the most faithful one is the first one made. The year escapes me (sometime in the 30's or 40's), but I haven't seen it for myself.
1935 one is great :D
I love the 2000 four part mini series of it.
They cut Eponine out though!Quote:
Originally Posted by manolia
I didn't find it hard to understand and I hadn't read the novel beforehand.Quote:
Originally Posted by wtwt5237
I doubt there'll ever be any genre that can compare to the original... I've been disappointed by every version I've seen; a couple of times greatly disappointed. No help there, I know, but I'm sure I'm not the first to say it! My suggestion is to wait 5 years and read it again. You'll be surprised, every time you read it, how absorbing it can still be.