Product Description

Ex-convict Jean Valjean tries to rebuild his life to be a respectable citizen but police inspector Javert relentlessly hounds him and won't let him escape his past.
Genre: Feature Film-Drama
Rating: NR
Release Date: 24-APR-2007
Media Type: DVD

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #17187 in DVD
• Brand: Unknown
• Released on: 2007-04-24
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
• Formats: Black & White, Color, Dubbed, DVD, Full Screen, Restored, Subtitled, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Subtitled in: Spanish, French
• Dubbed in: French, Spanish
• Number of discs: 2
• Dimensions: .30 pounds
• Running time: 216 minutes

Amazon.com
Victor Hugo's massive novel Les Miserables has spawned many adaptations in many forms over the years, and Twentieth Century Fox can count two respectable versions from its studio heyday. Both are included on this single-disc release. The superior version is the lavish 1935 take, for which producer Darryl F. Zanuck marshaled the studio's resources. While evocatively staged by director Richard Boleslawski and smartly condensed into punchy, vivid scenes, the movie is remembered for its indelible central performances: Fredric March as the hunted Jean Valjean and especially Charles Laughton as his letter-of-the-law pursuer, Inspector Javert. March, a sometimes stagey actor, is at his committed best, notably in the sequence where (in a single-scene second role) he plays the simpleton mistaken for the fugitive Valjean. But Laughton is completely fascinating: cruel and unforgiving, yet neurotic and weak; and Laughton brings out a tortured sexual undercurrent to Javert's pursuit. (Laughton didn't get an Oscar nomination for his performance, but he bagged one the same year for Mutiny on the Bounty; the film itself was nominated in four categories, including nods for Best Picture and Gregg Toland's cinematography.)

The 1952 production is similarly handsome, and director Lewis Milestone (All Quiet on the Western Front) an even more talented filmmaker than Boleslawski. But it misses classic status because of the elusive alchemy of casting. The story may be told serviceably, but Michael Rennie's Christlike Valjean and Robert Newton's steadfast Javert don't catch the magic, giving the result a sort of "Classics Illustrated" quality. But Laughton will haunt your dreams. --Robert Horton

Customer Reviews

Great Restoration Work
The original 1935 version is definetely the best here,and the 1952 version is okay, but more of a curiosity piece only, though it has its audience. The DVD transfer is excellent and the restoration process is super. I think that the Charles Laughton/Frederic March version is one of cinemas lost masterpieces and Laughtons performance was overlooked at the time because of "Mutiny on the Bounty" which was released in the same year. This DVD release will definetely enhance its reputation

the 1935 version only:
This IS the best film of ALL time! And I've been a movie addict for all my life. (about 40 yrs now). Ive seen many movies and have a long favorite list, but this is definately number one! Everything is perfect!
It has drama, romance, action, touching music and a great tearjerking ending! All performances could never be better! Fredric march & Charles Laughton (should have got Oscars, but who cares?) are at their best!
If you like great classics, this is it! I can go on & on & on...but will stop here! I am so glad it is on DVD now!

Wonderful classic
Wonderful adaptation of this classic book! Michael Rennie gives a very good portrayal of the tortured then redeemed Jean Valjean and Robert Newton gives a wonderfully realistic portrayal of the zealous Inspector Javert! One aspect I thought added to the overall story, the fact that it was done in black and white; I thought it added to the overall grit of the story.