Charming and brutal

It isn't all that great, actually. Really cheesy and very predicable of how certain scenes are gonna turn play out. However, I guess that's the charm of it all, because I would consider this one of my guilty pleasures.

The plot isn't so bad, but the pace of storytelling is too slow which makes people bored. Certain moments are so obvious and unnecessary for the main plot. I would've fast-forwarded those moments if it was an online streaming. The ending looks like implying a sequel, not sure if this movie will get one

An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

each adaptation is a new lecture of book. and revelation. the revelation of this Les Miserables remains Richard Jordan. at first sigh, he does a great job. at the second , he creates a character who use the traits of Jean Valjean to remind the values of a profound metamorphosis. because the lead character of the novel is the bishop Myriel. he is the maker of the war new rules between Valjean and Javert. and Claude Dauphin has the science to give the precise portrait of the noble priest. Anthony Perkins choose a frozen Javert. not a bad idea but the character remains, in many scenes, only a sketch. the film has the virtue to be a nice introduction before reading of book. and this does it real good.

When it comes to all things France related, there aren't too many mainstream stories that have been told and retold again in American cinema. The French Revolution, parts of World War II and even fantasy stories like Disney's Beauty and the Beast (1991) all take place in France. But from as it seems, the most popular of these French stories belong to Victor Hugo's novel of the same name Les Miserables. So far this book has had five major film adaptations; four of which were feature length movies, while another was a mini-series. The two latest adaptations were theatrically released while the second in line was a TV movie release. The difference in years between releases may be a long period (two decades), but the story wasn't drastically varied. The only noticeable change in presentation is having the knowledge of its production date. Knowing it was produced in the late 1970s gives it a much more dated viewing experience. Nonetheless, the story is worth the time to see. As the title would suggest, the plot to this movie is about Les Miserables or "the miserables", "the poor ones" etc. Living in France during 1796, a broke innocent woodcutter named Jean Valjean (Richard Jordan) steals a loaf of bread in order to feed his sister and her children. Not long after being caught by the authorities, Valjean is sent to Toulon to carry out his five-year sentence. In charge of the Toulon camp is the heavy handed Javert (Anthony Perkins), who ends up becoming acquainted with Valjean very quickly and their rivalry percolates into the next thirty years. With time passing before his eyes, Valjean becomes bitter against humanity but realizes his error when a bishop (Claude Dauphin) displays an act of kindness towards him. Determined to live every moment by caring for others, Valjean becomes utterly the opposite of what he once was. Headed by Glenn Jordan (a veteran TV Movie director) and written by John Gay, this film looks dated but still has a significant amount of storytelling.The development of Jean Valjean is intriguing enough to see play out when looking at his humble beginnings. Over time, Valjean becomes a grizzled man who finds himself being more of an early Hudini than a woodcutter. Even at an elderly age, somehow Valjean finds a way of getting around; that's impressive. Richard Jordan as Valjean doesn't disappoint either. Jordan is one those serious actors who always play his role like it were his own. Along his travels he adopts a widow's daughter named Cosette (Caroline Langrishe) and raises her as his own. Angela Pleasence, the daughter of Donald Pleasence, plays the widow. The part that Cosette plays as to her stepfather isn't as prominent, but she does bring about some compelling situations between Valjean and the ever-vigilant Javert. Speaking of which, Anthony Perkins as Javert is credible too. Although he stands like a giant mast, Perkins can be very intimidating as the lead inspector. He really makes things run like clockwork. By far the best chemistry is seen between Perkins and Jordan.The odd thing is the relationship that Javert and Valjean have reminisced to that of Batman and The Joker from Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight (2008). Except this time, the roles and personalities are switched. Valjean is the miscreant who makes Javert's world a chaos to deal with. Yet Valjean's ideals are more unpretentious than say The Joker's. Javert on the other hand resembles that of Batman, wanting order and will stop at nothing to catch Valjean. The parallels are undeniable. It is a little baffling though to see actors playing French characters and not sounding anywhere close to the accent. Saying monsieur doesn't make you entirely French. The other problem that arises is the forced love interest between Cosette and a rebel named Marius (Christopher Guard). All these two characters do is stare at each other once or twice and they both know they're in love. It's certain that most audiences will not buy into this notion and completely believe that. Rarely do individuals know each other are meant to be by just staring.When it comes to visuals, the scenery isn't always clear. However, since this took place way before CGI was implemented into film, all props were undoubtedly physical objects. That covers sets and various historical pieces of the time. A lot of the old structures look appropriate taking the setting into account. The cinematography was shot by Jean Tournier, a native Frenchman (gasp!). Like stated before, although there are some darker than normal scenes, the scenes do cover enough to have the viewer comprehend the surroundings of the main leads. That also means even without a widescreen view. The musical score composed by Allyn Ferguson is another memorable element. Sadly there was no official release of the music but the theme is quite endearing. Relying mostly on the strings, Ferguson's main theme to this adaptation consistently appears whenever Valjean is on screen pointing out that the story revolves around him. Surprisingly, that's all the music needed. It would've been nice to have other cues but it's fine anyway.The fact that the actors weren't directed to have a more authentic French accents and the main character's step daughter having a forced love interest are the only true crimes to this book adaptation. The actors, music, camera-work and especially the writing make this a special story to witness.

Les Miserables (1978) *** (out of 4) Made-for-TV version of Victor Hugo's classic tale about Jean Valjean (Richard Jordon) who is sentenced to prison after stealing a loaf of bread for his sister and starving children. From this point Valjean's life goes through various ups and downs as he manages to escape prison and become an important figure but every step of the way he has to deal with police inspector Javert (Anthony Perkins). Over the past year I've been trying to watch a new version of LES MISERABLES every few months and it's become clear that it would really be bad if a director got a hold of this story and didn't make a good film. I mean, the story itself is so great that it would be really hard to mess that up and as long as you got two good actors in the main roles then there's really no point in delivering a bad film. This 1978 version is yet another good telling of the story and a lot of the credit must go to both Jordon and Perkins. I found Jordon to be extremely good in the part as he managed to handle every bit of development that the character goes through. I really enjoyed him early on as he slowly became a monster due to being abused in prison. Jordon did a remarkably good job playing this almost monster but he was also believable as the character slowly gets broken and turns into a respectable man. Perkins, who will always be remembered for playing Norman Bates, also delivers a fine performance. Obviously, the actor had no problem playing troubled people and I enjoyed the darker, more intense way he played Javert. John Gielgud, Ian Holm and Cyril Cusack have good supporting roles. Another major plus about this version are the costumes, set design and of course the sets. You have no problem feeling as if you're really in the days that the story takes place. The one negative thing I have to say about the movie really isn't the movie's fault at all. Originally this played over two nights on television and the total running time minus the commercials would have been somewhere around 150-minutes. The movie played theatrically in certain parts of the world with a variety of running times but sadly most VHS, DVD and cable versions out there now just run 123-minutes. That is the version I had to watch and it's obvious that some important parts of the story have been edited down. Obviously, the best way to view this film would to be getting a hold of an uncut version but if you must see the film and this shorter version is all that's available, it's still recommended.

Absolutely amazing! Not exactly what I expected, but still good! Very good. The best one I've seen anyway! I'd just like to say to all the people sarcastically blasting the new version that true the movie was awful and I hated it, but could we please cut down on the sarcasm? Thanks alot! If anyone wants to chats with a Les Mis fanatic, write me ok? Toodles all!