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Les Misérables (1935 film)
Encyclopedia
Les Misérables is a 1935 American drama film based upon the famous Victor Hugo
novel of the same name
. It was adapted by W. P. Lipscomb and directed by Richard Boleslawski. This was the last film for 20th Century Pictures before it merged with Fox Film Corporation to form 20th Century Fox
The film was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture
and the Academy Award for Film Editing
. The National Board of Review
named the film the sixth best of 1935.
The plot of the movie basically follows Hugo's novel, but there are a large number of differences.
Victor Hugo
Victor-Marie Hugo was a Frenchpoet, playwright, novelist, essayist, visual artist, statesman, human rights activist and exponent of the Romantic movement in France....
novel of the same name
Les Misérables
Les Misérables , translated variously from the French as The Miserable Ones, The Wretched, The Poor Ones, The Wretched Poor, or The Victims), is an 1862 French novel by author Victor Hugo and is widely considered one of the greatest novels of the nineteenth century...
. It was adapted by W. P. Lipscomb and directed by Richard Boleslawski. This was the last film for 20th Century Pictures before it merged with Fox Film Corporation to form 20th Century Fox
20th Century Fox
Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation — also known as 20th Century Fox, or simply 20th or Fox — is one of the six major American film studios...
The film was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture
Academy Award for Best Picture
The Academy Award for Best Picture is one of the Academy Awards of Merit presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to artists working in the motion picture industry. The Best Picture category is the only category in which every member of the Academy is eligible not only...
and the Academy Award for Film Editing
Academy Award for Film Editing
The Academy Award for Film Editing is one of the annual awards of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Nominations for this award are closely correlated with the Academy Award for Best Picture. Since 1981, every film selected as Best Picture has also been nominated for the Film Editing...
. The National Board of Review
National Board of Review Awards 1935
-Best American Films:#The Informer#Alice Adams#Anna Karenina#David Copperfield#The Gilded Lily#Les Misérables#The Lives of a Bengal Lancer#Mutiny on the Bounty#Ruggles of Red Gap#Who Killed Cock Robin?- Top Foreign Films :#Chapayev...
named the film the sixth best of 1935.
The plot of the movie basically follows Hugo's novel, but there are a large number of differences.
Cast
- Fredric MarchFredric MarchFredric March was an American stage and film actor. He won the Academy Award for Best Actor in 1932 for Dr. Jekyll and Mr...
as Jean ValjeanJean ValjeanJean Valjean is the protagonist of Victor Hugo's 1862 novel Les Misérables...
/Champmathieu - Charles LaughtonCharles LaughtonCharles Laughton was an English-American stage and film actor, screenwriter, producer and director.-Early life and career:...
as Inspector Émile JavertJavertJavert is a fictional character from the novel Les Misérables by Victor Hugo. He is a prison guard, and later policeman, who devotes his life to the law. He is always referred to just simply as "Javert" or "Inspector Javert" by the narrator and other characters throughout the novel; his first name... - Cedric HardwickeCedric HardwickeSir Cedric Webster Hardwicke was a noted English stage and film actor whose career spanned nearly fifty years...
as Bishop MyrielBishop MyrielBishop Charles-François-Bienvenu Myriel, referred to as Bishop Myriel or Monseigneur Bienvenu , is a fictional character in Victor Hugo's Les Misérables. Myriel is the Bishop of Digne... - Rochelle HudsonRochelle HudsonRochelle Hudson was an American film actress from the 1930s through the 1960s. Hudson was a WAMPAS Baby Star in 1931.-Career:...
as CosetteCosetteEuphrasie "Cosette" Fauchelevant is a fictional character in the novel Les Misérables by Victor Hugo.- Cosette in the novel :... - Florence EldridgeFlorence EldridgeFlorence Eldridge was an American actress.-Personal life:...
as FantineFantineFantine is a character in Victor Hugo's 1862 novel Les Misérables.- Backstory :"Fantine was one of those beings which are brought forth from the heart of the people... She was called Fantine because she had never been known by any other name...""All four were ravishingly beautiful. As to Fantine,... - John BealJohn Beal (actor)-Life and career:Beal was born James Alexander Bliedung in Joplin, Missouri. He originally went to New York to study art but a chance to understudy in a play made him change his mind. He began acting in the 1930s, opposite Katharine Hepburn , among others; one of his notable screen appearances was...
as MariusMarius PontmercyMarius Pontmercy is a principal fictional character in Victor Hugo’s 1862 novel Les Misérables. He is young, intense, and in love with Cosette. He fights at the barricades with Enjolras and the Friends of the ABC when %C3%89ponine tricks him into going to the barricade and he resolves to die... - Frances DrakeFrances Drake (actor)Frances Drake was an American actress, is best known for playing Eponine in Les Misérables .-Life and career:Born in New York City, her parents moved to Canada when she was four...
as ÉponineÉponineÉponine Thénardier is a fictional character in the 1862 novelLes Misérables by Victor Hugo.- Éponine in the novel :As children, Éponine and her younger sister Azelma are described as pretty, well-dressed, charming and a delight to see. They are pampered and spoiled by their parents the Thénardiers... - John CarradineJohn CarradineJohn Carradine was an American actor, best known for his roles in horror films and Westerns as well as Shakespearean theater. A member of Cecil B DeMille's stock company and later John Ford's company, he was one of the most prolific character actors in Hollywood history...
as EnjolrasEnjolrasEnjolras is the charismatic leader of the Friends of the ABC in the 1862 novel Les Misérables by Victor Hugo.- The Friends of the ABC :... - Ferdinand GottschalkFerdinand GottschalkFerdinand Gottschalk was an English film actor. He appeared in 76 films between 1917 and 1938. He was born and died in London, England....
and Jane Kerr as the ThénardiersThénardiersThe Thénardiers, commonly known as Thénardier and Madame Thénardier , are two of the primary villains in Victor Hugo's novel Les Misérables and the stage musical of the same name... - Marilyn Knowlden as Young Cosette
Differences from the book
This adaptation made quite a lot of changes many of which can also be found in later adaptations:- Jean Valjean's trial, life as a convict and release are presented chronologically, whereas in the book his previous life is presented in flashback. In addition, the book begins by introducing the bishop, while in the movie he does not appear until Valjean arrives at his door.
- While the word "galleys" was still used until the late 19th century to designate the French BagnioBagnioA Bagnio was originally a bath or bath-house.The term was then used to name the prison for hostages in Istanbul, which was near the bath-house, and thereafter all the slave prisons in the Ottoman Empire and the Barbary regencies...
s, the actual penalty of sending someone to the galleysGalley slaveA galley slave was a slave rowing in a galley. The expression has two distinct meanings: it can refer either to a convicted criminal sentenced to work at the oar , or to a kind of human chattel, often a prisoner of war, assigned to his duty of rowing.-Antiquity:Contrary to the popular image of the...
was abolished in mid-18th century. The galleys portrayed in this film are a huge anachronismAnachronismAn anachronism—from the Greek ανά and χρόνος — is an inconsistency in some chronological arrangement, especially a chronological misplacing of persons, events, objects, or customs in regard to each other...
. - In the movie, Javert is shown being assigned to the galleys, and seeing Valjean's display of strength at the beginning. In the book he is not introduced until after Valjean has become mayor.
- Javert's first name is given as Émile, while in the book it is never given.
- In the film, Valjean's prison number is 2906, while in the book it is 24601.
- Javert is in the book described as a tall man, with a small head, sunken eyes, large sideburns and long hair hanging over his eyes. This can hardly be more different from Charles LaughtonCharles LaughtonCharles Laughton was an English-American stage and film actor, screenwriter, producer and director.-Early life and career:...
's appearance. - Valjean brings Cosette to Fantine before she dies, while in the book he does not fulfil this pledge to Fantine until after she dies.
- In the movie Valjean and Cosette go to the convent with a letter of introduction from M. Madeleine, whereas in the book they came upon the convent purely coincidentally while fleeing from Javert.
- We see Valjean rescue a man whose cart had fallen on him, which arouses Javert's suspicion, but the movie does not mention that this man (Fauchelevent) and the gardener at the convent are the same person.
- Marius meets Valjean and Cosette while they ride into the park where he is giving a speech, while in the book he is simply walking in the park when he meets them.
- Éponine's role is changed from the book. In the movie, she is the secretary of the revolutionary society Marius belongs to. In the book, she is the Thénardiers' daughter, and is not connected to the revolutionary society. The movie makes no mention of her being the Thénardiers' daughter.
- In the book, Enjolras is the leader of the revolutionaries and Marius is not even a very faithful follower (him being a BonapartistBonapartistIn French political history, Bonapartism has two meanings. In a strict sense, this term refers to people who aimed to restore the French Empire under the House of Bonaparte, the Corsican family of Napoleon Bonaparte and his nephew Louis...
with different ideas than his friends). In the movie, Marius is made the leader. In addition, the students' goal is not a democracy but to better the conditions in the french galleys. Marius says himself: "We are not revolutionaries." - In the movie, Éponine delivers the message from Marius to Cosette, which Valjean intercepts, causing Valjean to come to the barricade to rescue Marius. In the book GavrocheGavrocheGavroche is a fictional character from the novel Les Misérables by Victor Hugo.-Gavroche in the novel:Gavroche is the eldest son of M. and Mme Thénardier. He has two sisters, Éponine and Azelma, and two unnamed younger brothers. He is also technically unnamed; the reader is told he chooses the...
, who does not appear in the movie, does this. - In the movie, Javert pursues Valjean and Marius into the sewers, which he does not in the book, although he does meet Valjean when he exits the sewers, having pursued Thénardier there.
- Valjean brings Marius to Valjean's house and Cosette, while in the book Valjean brings Marius to the house of Marius' grandfather M. Gillenormand, who does not appear in the movie. Also, while Valjean thinks Javert is waiting for him and he is going away, he gives Marius and Cosette instructions, including to love each other always and leaving the candlesticks to Cosette, which in the book appeared in his deathbed scene.
- In the movie, Valjean says goodbye to Cosette, because he is moving to the United KingdomUnited KingdomThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
. - The movie ends with Javert's suicide, while at the end of the book Valjean dies of grief after having been separated from Cosette, because Marius severed all ties with him after learning of Valjean's convict past. This is never shown in the 1935 movie (or in the 1952 remake, for that matter).