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Les Misérables (1952 film)
Encyclopedia
Les Misérables is a 1952 American film adapted from the novel Les Misérables
by Victor Hugo
. It was directed by Lewis Milestone
, and featured Michael Rennie
as Jean Valjean, Robert Newton
as Javert, Sylvia Sidney
as Fantine, Debra Paget
as Cosette, Edmund Gwenn
as the bishop, Cameron Mitchell
as Marius, Elsa Lanchester
as Madame Magloire and James Robertson Justice
as Robert (Fauchelevent).
(Note: This list takes only the largest differences into account; in smaller details there are even more.)
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...
by Victor Hugo
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....
. It was directed by Lewis Milestone
Lewis Milestone
Lewis Milestone was a Russian-American motion picture director. He is known for directing Two Arabian Knights and All Quiet on the Western Front , both of which received Academy Awards for Best Director...
, and featured Michael Rennie
Michael Rennie
Michael Rennie was an English film, television, and stage actor, perhaps best known for his starring role as the space visitor Klaatu in the 1951 classic science fiction film The Day the Earth Stood Still. However, he appeared in over 50 other films since 1936, many with Jean Simmons and other...
as Jean Valjean, Robert Newton
Robert Newton
Robert Newton was an English stage and film actor. Along with Errol Flynn, Newton was one of the most popular actors among the male juvenile audience of the 1940s and early 1950s, especially with British boys...
as Javert, Sylvia Sidney
Sylvia Sidney
Sylvia Sidney was an American actress who rose to prominence in the 1930s appearing in numerous crime dramas.-Early life:...
as Fantine, Debra Paget
Debra Paget
Debra Paget is an American actress and entertainer who rose to prominence in the 1950s and early 1960s in a variety of feature films including Cecil B. DeMille's epic The Ten Commandments and Love Me Tender, the film début of Elvis Presley.-Early life and career:Paget was born in Denver, Colorado...
as Cosette, Edmund Gwenn
Edmund Gwenn
Edmund Gwenn was an English theatre and film actor.-Background:Born Edmund John Kellaway in Wandsworth, London , and educated at St. Olave's School and later at King's College London, Gwenn began his acting career in the theatre in 1895...
as the bishop, Cameron Mitchell
Cameron Mitchell (actor)
Cameron Mitchell was an American film, television and Broadway actor with close ties to one of Canada's most successful families, and considered, by Lee Strasberg, to be one of the founding members of The Actor's Studio in New York City.-Early life and career:Born Cameron MacDowell Mitzel in...
as Marius, Elsa Lanchester
Elsa Lanchester
Elsa Sullivan Lanchester was an English-American character actress with a long career in theatre, film and television....
as Madame Magloire and James Robertson Justice
James Robertson Justice
James Robertson Justice was a popular British character actor in British films of the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s.-Biography:...
as Robert (Fauchelevent).
Cast
- Michael RennieMichael RennieMichael Rennie was an English film, television, and stage actor, perhaps best known for his starring role as the space visitor Klaatu in the 1951 classic science fiction film The Day the Earth Stood Still. However, he appeared in over 50 other films since 1936, many with Jean Simmons and other...
as Jean ValjeanJean ValjeanJean Valjean is the protagonist of Victor Hugo's 1862 novel Les Misérables... - Debra PagetDebra PagetDebra Paget is an American actress and entertainer who rose to prominence in the 1950s and early 1960s in a variety of feature films including Cecil B. DeMille's epic The Ten Commandments and Love Me Tender, the film début of Elvis Presley.-Early life and career:Paget was born in Denver, Colorado...
as CosetteCosetteEuphrasie "Cosette" Fauchelevant is a fictional character in the novel Les Misérables by Victor Hugo.- Cosette in the novel :... - Robert NewtonRobert NewtonRobert Newton was an English stage and film actor. Along with Errol Flynn, Newton was one of the most popular actors among the male juvenile audience of the 1940s and early 1950s, especially with British boys...
as 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... - Edmund GwennEdmund GwennEdmund Gwenn was an English theatre and film actor.-Background:Born Edmund John Kellaway in Wandsworth, London , and educated at St. Olave's School and later at King's College London, Gwenn began his acting career in the theatre in 1895...
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... - Sylvia SidneySylvia SidneySylvia Sidney was an American actress who rose to prominence in the 1930s appearing in numerous crime dramas.-Early 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,... - Cameron MitchellCameron Mitchell (actor)Cameron Mitchell was an American film, television and Broadway actor with close ties to one of Canada's most successful families, and considered, by Lee Strasberg, to be one of the founding members of The Actor's Studio in New York City.-Early life and career:Born Cameron MacDowell Mitzel in...
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... - Elsa LanchesterElsa LanchesterElsa Sullivan Lanchester was an English-American character actress with a long career in theatre, film and television....
as Madame Magloire - June Hillman as Mother Superior
- Patsy Weil as Cosette (age 7)
- Bobby Hyatt as 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...
- James Robertson JusticeJames Robertson JusticeJames Robertson Justice was a popular British character actor in British films of the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s.-Biography:...
as Robert - Joseph WisemanJoseph WisemanJoseph Wiseman was a Canadian theater and film actor, best known for starring as the titular antagonist of the first James Bond film, Dr. No, his role as Manny Weisbord on Crime Story, and his career on Broadway...
as Genflou - Rhys WilliamsRhys Williams (actor)Rhys Williams was a Welsh character actor in movies and television, whose career spanned several decades.He made his film debut in How Green Was My Valley . This movie takes place in rural Wales with a large cast of Welsh characters, but was actually filmed in Hollywood with Canadian, American,...
as Brevet - Florence BatesFlorence BatesFlorence Bates was an American character actress who often played grande dame characters in her films.Born Florence Rabe in San Antonio, Texas, the second child of Jewish immigrants, Bates showed musical talent as a child, but a hand injury inhibited her from continuing her piano studies...
as Madame Bonnet - Merry AndersMerry AndersMerry Anders is an American actress who has appeared in a number of television programs and films since the 1950s. In 1954, she succeeded Ann Todd as Stuart Erwin's daughter in the final season of his TV series, The Stu Erwin Show.In the 1955-1956 season, she joined Janis Paige in the 26-week CBS...
as Cicely - John Rogers as Bonnet
- Charles Keane as Corporal
- John DierkesJohn DierkesJohn Dierkes was an American character actor present in several classic films.-Life and career:Dierkes was born on February 10, 1905 in Cincinnati, Ohio. He attended Brown University and subsequently went to work as an economist for the United States Department of State. In 1941 he joined the Red...
as Bosun
Differences from the novel
The film greatly differs from the novel:(Note: This list takes only the largest differences into account; in smaller details there are even more.)
- Valjean gets sentenced to ten years (instead of five) and tries to escape only once (instead of four times).
- Valjean serves his time on an actual galley. At that time, the French prisons, the 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 were still nicknamed "galleys", since that was their origin, but galleys have not been used since the mid 18th century. - Upon his release, Valjean is given a yellow passport, which, while written in French, is stamped yellow in English.
- On leaving the bishop's house, Valjean kneels on a fallen rose. This rose becomes for him the signal of the bishop's forgiveness (it leads him to putting back some objects he intends to steal from a goldsmith) rather than the candlesticks.
- Valjean does not lift the cart but merely stops it.
- Valjean chooses the name of Madeleine by chance. Though it is never said in the book, the "true" reason is clearly Mary of Magdala (Marie Madeleine in French), the repentant sinner.
- Javert's behavior at the Champmathieu trial makes it clear that he knew Champmathieu wasn't Valjean all along and told the mayor about the trial to set it up as a trap. This implies that Javert already understood Valjean well enough to know that he wouldn't stand aside and watch an innocent man being condemned in his place.
- Cosette sees her mother Fantine before Fantine dies.
- Valjean knocks Javert out before fleeing from the hospital. In the book, he accepts arrest and escapes from the city jail.
- 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...
, most importantly their daughter 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...
, are completely cut from the storyline. - 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 :...
is cut from the film, making Marius the only leader of the (unnamed) rebellious group. - It is hinted that Valjean might be in love with Cosette.
- Gavroche's part is much smaller, and his death is omitted.
- Javert follows Valjean through the sewers, whereas in the book he stands near the only other exit of the sewer patiently.
- Javert is only with Valjean when he confronts him before agreeing to let Marius live.
- Valjean witnesses Javert's suicide.
- The story ends with Javert's suicide and as a result no evidence is provided that Valjean dies and that Marius and Cosette wed.
- A couple of new characters are invented for this movie. One is Robert , who is Valjean's friend and the foreman of his factory. Robert plays a rather large role, being the only one who knows about Valjean's past and who practically convinces Javert to let Valjean go at the end. A few minor characters are invented as well; for example, René, Valjean's secretary, and Genflou, another inmate from the galleys.