Les Misérables

Film Review by Lewis Porteous | 15 Dec 2014
Film title: Les Misérables
Director: Raymond Bernard
Starring: Charles Vanel, Harry Baur, Paul Azaïs, Émile Genevois, Henry Krauss, Charles Dullin, Jean Servais, Gaby Triquet, Josseline Gaël, Florelle
Release date: 8 Dec
Certificate: PG

So popular is Victor Hugo's tale of Jean Valjean, a good-natured criminal prevented from escaping his past due to the intrusions of obsessive police inspector Javert, that adaptations have spanned a variety of mediums and almost become a genre in their own right. This 1934 offering from Raymond Bernard suffers from neglect in favour of the following year's Hollywood production, but is generally regarded as the most faithful take on the novel.

Running over four hours, the feature can certainly afford to spend time concentrating on character development and is to be admired for its Gallic sophistication and mounting sense of tragedy. Its compassionate depiction of the lost and poverty-stricken, meanwhile, places it on a par with Jean Renoir's humanistic The Lower Depths and the classic works of poetic realism helmed by Marcel Carné. There's no getting around the somewhat overwrought nature of its narrative, but this stands as a vital distillation of early 20th-century filmmaking techniques. [Lewis Porteous]

Released on DVD and Blu-ray by Eureka! Entertainment as part of the Masters of Cinema Series

http://www.eurekavideo.co.uk/moc