#les miserables 1935

[adaptations-polls]

Which version of this do you prefer?

[pureanonofficial]

Now that we’ve reached Bread Crime in Les Mis Letters, I think it’s the perfect time to share the funniest shot from the 1935 movie.

[for-the-love-of-javert]

TGIF Valvert pic that time when Valjean ran away from Javert................ again

Les Miserables 1935

Frederic March as Jean Valjean & Charles Laughton as Javert

[javertwenttoheaven]

About to watch Les Miserables (1935). Thoughts from people who have seen it?

[crypticmoth-art]

[javertwenttoheaven]

Someone go back in time and tell them about those of us who have watched it 10+ times.

From the personal collection of Marilyn Knowlden (young Cosette) in Les Miserables (1935)

[thecringefailintherye]

school is shut

les mis marathon???

[hotvintagepoll]

The great thing about the shadow bracket is that King Fredric March and King Consort Anthony Perkins both starred, respectively, in the 1935 and 1978 adaptations of Les Miserables, March as Valjean, Perkins as Javert. Both of these adaptations are bad, albeit in very different ways. (1935 is the Red Scare Les Mis and 1978 is just...I don't know how to explain it except that it's bad, insanely paced, and Anthony Perkins is very intense and gay in it -- he's the best part.) Truly, a huge win for lovers of both Bad Les Mis Adaptations and hot sad losers!

this is SO GOOD. Hurrah for the Bad Les Mis lovers and losers!!

[gloomth-and-wanderings]

Ahoy there!

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gender is weird but she/her works for now for convenience; call me Frankie. (if you're on les mis letters or whale weekly discord you might also know me as Walpole!)

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profile picture is Joseph Cotten in Journey Into Fear with the hair of Enjolras from Les Miserables Shoujo Cosette edited on; header picture is Jonathan Richman from Live on Toppop 1978; blog title is a quote from hit film She (1935)

Some tags:

#my art is my art, #frankie's creations is other stuff I've made (like edits), #frankie.txt is me yammering on. For a window into my brain check #so me and #i think about this all the time

Interests most prevalent here:

history/material culture (I tag by decade and year when I can)

Les Miserables

Star Trek

the X Files

the sea and the sky

old hollywood-era movies and old time radio, especially stuff with Orson Welles, Joseph Cotten, and Harold Lloyd

music, especially Talking Heads and Jonathan Richman

I speak English, but I am also learning Mandarin and would love to practice! 我的母语是英文，但是我也在学中文，所以我很想练习！

Feel free to send me asks!

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Currently reading: Correspondence of Horace Walpole, The Making of the English Working Class, The Other Side of the Sky, The Cheese and the Worms, The Flying Classroom, Maurice again

Currently watching: The X-Files (s5), Star Trek: Voyager (s6), Doctor Who (first doctor, s2), a lot of movies (on a Harold Lloyd glasses character binge at the moment)

[angstics]

[listening to the same recording of les mis ive been listening to for months] cant wait to go home to watch a boot of les miserables and buy tickets to watch Les Miserables. And watch the fredric march movie. Of les miserables (book adaptation he plays valjean which is INSANE. In 1935 no less when he’s a baby [38])

[scotianostra]

Frank Lloyd, the Scottish film director, actor, scriptwriter, and producer passed away on August 10th 1960 aged 74.

He maybe and obscure relatively unknown nowadays, but Lloyd has the distinction of being the first Scot to win an Oscar

Lloyd was born in Glasgow on Feb. 2, 1887, and went to Canada at the age of 23 to work as a construction engineer.

He came to Hollywood in 1913 and made his start directing one and two-reel silent movies. He made 50 such pictures in the first year.

He won Oscars for his direction of "Divine Lady" in 1929 and "Cavalcade" in 1933. He was nominated in 1935 for his direction of "Mutiny on the Bounty," and although he lost the award to John Ford, the film received the Academy Award for best picture.

Other films of Lloyd's direction included "Les Miserables" (1917), "A Tale of Two Cities" (1917), "Riders of the Purple Sage" (1918), "The Eternal Flame" (1922), "Oliver Twist" (1922), "Ashes of Vengeance" (1923), "Within the Law" (1923), "The Divine Lady" (1929) and "Drag" (1929). He was also credited as a screenwriter on "Les Miserables," "Riders of the Purple Sage," "Oliver Twist," "Ashes of Vengeance" and a number of other pictures.

Beyond his directing career, he also worked as a producer and acted in a number of his own early films. He also served as the president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences from 1934 to 1935.

During World War II, he entered the Army Air Corps as a major and won the Legion of Merit and the Air Medal. He was commanding officer of the 13th Air Force Combat Camera Unit and directed a Pacific airpower documentary.

Lloyd retired from filmmaking in 1945 to live on his ranch at Carmel Valley, but later returned to Hollywood to work on "Shanghai Story" and "Last Command."

He died in 1960 at St. John's Hospital in Santa Monica, Calif., following several months of heart and lung trouble, at the age of 73.

[pureanonofficial]

LES MIS LETTERS IN ADAPTATION - Authority Reasserts Its Rights, LM 1.8.4 (Les Miserables 1935)

Jean Valjean laid his hand upon the detaining hand of Javert, and opened it as he would have opened the hand of a baby; then he said to Javert:—

“You have murdered that woman.”

[for-the-love-of-javert]

Les Mis Hat Parade Part 1: Marius's Hat which I think is some style of Top hat but I'm not sure.

Les Miserables 1935

John Beal as Maius Pontmercy

[gatutor]

Cartel película "Los miserables" (Les misérables) 1935, de Richard Boleslawski.

[project1939]

200 Films of 1952

Film number 189: Les Miserables

Release date: August 14th, 1952 

Studio: 20th Century Fox 

Genre: drama 

Director: Lewis Milestone 

Producer: Fred Kohlmar 

Actors: Michael Rennie, Debra Paget, Robert Newton, Edmund Gwenn, Cameron Mitchell 

Plot Summary: Based on the epic Victor Hugo novel, we see Jean Valjean sent to prison for stealing a loaf of bread. Meeting a kindly bishop who helps him get on his feet after his release, Valjean tries to do good in the world. He breaks his parole, however, and a malevolent French Inspector named Javert becomes obsessed with catching him. 

My Rating (out of five stars): ***¾ 

I’ve never seen the 1935 Hollywood version of this film, which everyone seems to agree is far superior to this. Without that lens to view it through, I thought this 1952 version was pretty good- not great exactly, but quite good. There are a few performances in it that make it worth watching, and Lewis Milestone’s direction was visually striking.  

The Good: 

Robert Newton as Javert. He was the best part of the film for me. He played the role with a creepy, imposing, desperately obsessive edge, which was exactly what was required. 

Javert the character. One of the great characters in literature, his obsessive drive for a machine-like “justice” combined with his traumatic past creates some damn good complexity. 

Michael Rennie as Valjean. Rennie will forever be the regal alien in The Day the Earth Stood Still for me, and I love him for it. Here he played Valjean with a lot of sympathy, conveying much through his eyes and expressions. 

Edmund Gwenn as the Bishop. Who can ever resist the charms of this man? 

Cameron Mitchell as Marius. He played an idealistic revolutionary well. 

The direction by Milestone. It was a very interesting film from a visual standpoint. The close-ups were used well, and there were a lot of cool shot compositions. It was also the ideal kind of situation where things were distinctive and creative, but it didn’t pull you out of the movie. 

I thought the film did a good job compressing a longer story into a shorter period of time. 

The courtroom scenes were particularly visually arresting (pun!)- with a truly nightmarish feel. I’m sure they were influenced by the devastating 1928 French film The Passion of Joan of Arc, because I couldn’t help but think of it. 

The political and philosophical messages were conveyed without hitting you over the head with it. 

The line by Robert near the end to Javert: “How does success taste after all these years?” Chills! 

The Bad: 

Rennie was good, but maybe a little too restrained? 

Debra Paget as Cosette. Most of the blame can probably go to the script and the Hollywood portrayal of these kinds of roles at the time. She overacted, falling into that “innocent damsel” stereotype. 

Debra Paget’s makeup. How she could have been in a mid 19th century convent school with that kind of makeup on her face is laughable. 

All the talk of a high school girl being “a desirable woman” ready for marriage. Yes, it was historically accurate to the 19th century, but it was still super gross watching it now. 

The hint of incest also grossed me out. I know Valjean was only Cosette’s non-genetic guardian, but she constantly called him father. It’s not technically incest, but... eew. 

The use of the intertitles that came on the screen as chapter dividers was inane and totally unnecessary. 

I don’t know that this is bad per se, but I find it funny that Hollywood favors using English actors to play European roles, especially if they are larger protagonist roles. I could list examples, but we’d be here forever. It’s just weird to me, because why don’t you ask an English person how French or German they feel...