Reviews

There are many recorded versions of Les Miserables. This review compares the 10th (1995) and 25th (2010) anniversary concerts. The 1995 concert featured a "Dream Cast"-most of whom had performed in the London or Broadway versions, and they include some of the most highly regarded singers associated with Les Miserables. Some of the 2010 cast (Samantha Barks, Earl Carpenter, Katie Hall, and Norman Lewis) were drawn from contemporary London productions; others had other significant singing experience. Whether this was less than a Dream Cast is a matter of opinion. In general, they are equally good; in casual listening, you may not be able to tell one from the other. But some differences are notable.

VALJEAN Colm Wilkinson (1995) is an award-winning singer, the original and, some think, the best Valjean. He has a powerful voice, but does not always employ it; his performance emphasizes emotional expression. Alfie Boe (2010) tends to sing with more power than Wilkinson. Boe had once trained for the opera, and it shows. He was 37 when this concert was recorded-roughly 20 years younger than Valjean in his final years. Some make-up would have obscured this age discrepancy.

JAVERT Philip Quast (1995) won several awards over his long stage career, He is best known for playing Javert, and his long hair and sideburns resemble Hugo's character. Norman Lewis (2010) had sung in a wide variety of musicals for nearly 20 years. Quast and Lewis are both very capable singers.

FANTINE By the time they appeared in these concerts, both Ruthie Henshall (1995) and Lea Salonga (2010) had extensive experience in musical theatre. Both give excellent portrayals of Fantine, although Henshall, fitted with a blonde wig, looks more like the character in the novel.

M. THENARDIER Hugo's Thenardier is extremely sleazy and sinister. In the musical, M. Thenardier is a somewhat comical figure. Perhaps the authors felt the need for some comic relief from the generally dark story line. Alun Armstrong (1995), a very versatile performer, had a long career in various roles. He sings more musically than Matt Lucas (2010), and his costume and make-up are more appropriate.

Mme THENARDIER Jenny Galloway (1995 and 2010) had this role in both concerts. Although much of her career was as a television actress, she also possesses musical talent.

EPONINE Lea Salonga (1995) was an established star when she sang this role. Samantha Barks (2010), who turned 20 just a day or so before the concert, had portrayed Eponine in London for just a few months. "On My Own" is one of the best songs in the musical. It demands a wide range of emotions, tempos, registers, and dynamics. If a singer has any weaknesses, this number will disclose them. Both Salonga and Barks deliver very strong performances.

MARIUS It is in this role that the two concerts are most noticeably different. Michael Ball (1995), one of the most popular singers in the cast, demonstrates talent in both singing and acting, although he had little or no training as a singer. Ball was 33 when the 1995 version was recorded. In contrast, Nick Jonas (2010) had turned 18 only weeks before the concert. His previous work was on music videos. His rendering of "Empty Chairs at Empty Tables" demonstrates musical taste, and a stronger voice than he shows in most of his other numbers. He suffers when his voice is juxtaposed with those of the other lead singers in the 2010 concert; but, strangely, he often seems to be holding back.

COSETTE Judy Kuhn (1995) has had great success in a variety of musical roles. But the 2010 concert was perhaps the first major appearance for Katie Hall, who had turned 20 a few months earlier. She and Kuhn have similar styles. Kuhn may have a slightly stronger voice; but Kuhn, a 37-year-old brunette, does not look like Cosette. Hall does, and also has marvelously expressive facial features-the audience can always understand her emotions. When singing duets with Jonas, she may have held back to maintain balance.

ENJOLRAS Michael Maguire (1995) won a Tony Award for his singing as Enjolras in Les Miserables on Broadway. In a long stage career, Ramin Karimloo (2010) has appeared four times in Les Miserables. Both men are very strong capable singers.

The VENUES

1995: Royal Albert Hall (RAH) has a capacity of roughly 5,000. In the 1995 concert, singers awaiting their cues were seated on stage behind those actually singing. This arrangement resembles a high school talent show. Although lighting and camera angles tend to obscure this, it can be distracting (as when, during "Beggars at the Feast," we see Wilkinson in the background quenching his thirst with a bottle of water). The RAH concert employed relatively large microphones which occasionally obstruct views of singers or cast shadows on their faces. There were a few problems with lighting and sound. The concert was recorded by 9 camera operators. Most close-ups were shot from below the performers; and sometimes there is a wide-angle view when a close-up would have been better. Images from the West End stage performance are occasionally projected on a large screen to show events that could not be enacted at the RAH.

2010: The 25 anniversary concert took place in the massive O2 arena. Its normal capacity is 20,000-even with some space taken up by the concert stage, the capacity must have been over 12,000. For this event, more thought was evidently given to lighting and sound. Smaller microphones were used, which are seldom noticeable. Only those who are actually performing appear on the stage. The credits list 18 lighting technicians. And the 20 camera operators provided multiple views, which have been well edited. The large screen behind the choir displays enlarged pictures of the actors on the stage-helpful for the live audience, less so for viewing the digital version.

The film begins with Jefferson's presentation to the French court as the U. S. Minister Plenipotentiary. Rather than his diplomatic work, the movie shows him mixing in French society, absorbing French culture, art, music, and cuisine, and explaining American values and political philosophy to the French. Jefferson enjoys French high society, but he is aware of the popular discontent and royal excesses that led to the Revolution.

Jefferson brings his daughter Martha (Patsy) to Paris when he first comes to France. Later, he sends for his younger daughter Maria (Polly) then 6, but she does not want to leave the Eppes family, with whom she and Sally Hemings have been living. And two years elapse before she arrives in Paris, accompanied by Sally (then 13 or 14). As shown in the movie, Polly naturally feels closer to Sally than to Jefferson and Patsy.

During his Paris years, Jefferson meets Maria Cosway, a beautiful artist and musician, who is involved in an unhappy marriage. He becomes extremely infatuated, and perhaps in love with her. Historians have not been sympathetic toward Maria-"What Maria Cosway seems to have wanted was a rescuing father, not a lover, a role that Jefferson refused to play." It is clear that, after a year and a half, their relationship has cooled. In the film Maria senses his diminishing interest. In April 1790, she was to complain that he had not written to her since he left France many months earlier. It seems that the two of them were incompatible.

The film portrays Sally as an uninhibited flirtatious teenager who seduces Jefferson. She was "mighty near white," "very handsome," with "long straight hair down her back." And she was the half-sister of Jefferson's deceased wife. He spends a significant amount on clothes for her. In the movie, Patsy is bothered by such expenditures for a slave girl, and even more disturbed when she learns what is happening between her father and Sally. The movie implies that Patsy's intention to become a nun reflected her desire to escape such a sordid affair.

Sally's brother James, in Paris to learn French cuisine, thinks he and Sally should remain in France--as free persons. Jefferson persuades them to return to Monticello by agreeing to grant them their freedom, after specified time has passed and certain conditions have been met. This is where the film ends. It feels somewhat incomplete, like a single chapter in the lives of its characters.

Ending at this point, the film never takes us to Monticello, and fails to explore the future lives of the principal characters. Jefferson's major role in shaping the new nation's politics and geography is well known. Subsequent events must have eroded his feelings for Maria Cosway. She deserted her husband, abandoned her daughter (hoping the little girl would be raised as a Catholic), and traveled around Europe with an Italian tenor. In the 1790s, she entered a convent school, and later raised money for a convent school for girls. Patsy raised a dozen children, dealt with her husband's mental health problems, and helped manage her father's affairs. Sally's relationship with Jefferson lasted nearly forty years-many of them after the time when he was sexually active. Her children escaped slavery and lived out their lives as free persons.

The plot for this film was influenced by James Ivory's reading of Fawn Brodie's biography of Jefferson, which presented the first detailed account of the relations between Jefferson and Sally Hemings. Released in 1995 before the emergence of DNA evidence, Ivory's 1995 screen version accepts the interpretation that there was real affection between Sally and Jefferson. Some years earlier, CBS contemplated making a television docudrama based on Chase-Riboud's story, but backed down in the face of academic opposition. Although Sally appears only in the second half of this film, it attracted similar criticism. In the final analysis, as Brodie concluded, without additional evidence, "we must remain forever baffled about the feelings of Sally Hemings during the whole of her life."

The cast is solid. Nick Nolte portrays Jefferson as a polite and circumspect diplomat. Some reviewers have complained that his performance lacks energy. But it must be remembered that Jefferson was not an orator, and often spoke so quietly that he could scarcely be heard. Greta Scacchi, daughter of an Italian father and an English mother was a good choice to play Maria Cosway, whose family background was similar. Gwyneth Paltrow is very effective as Patsy. Thandiwe Newton, daughter of a British father and a Zimbabwean mother was well cast as Sally, although Sally could have passed for white (important, because for Jefferson race was largely about color). Newton very effectively conveys Sally's character as Ivory conceives it. But, in her real-life dealings with Jefferson, Sally must have been rather shy and deferential. As James Hemings, Seth Gilliam is obsequious when speaking to Jefferson, but otherwise occasionally very outspoken.

The film pays great attention to historical details. It was shot on location in France, at such venues as Versailles Palace, the Panthément Abbey, Desert de Retz, and the Palais Royal. Many happenings in the movie are based on real events: Jefferson's remodeled Paris house, his pantograph for copying documents, the ceremonially doffing of hats in the French court, Maria Cosway's tragic childhood, a moose skeleton from America, a balloon flight, and an enduring wrist injury.

The music in this film reflects Jefferson's musical tastes. Among his papers was a copy of Corelli' s violin sonata, which is heard at the opening of the film. The tenor aria from the opera Dardanus was apparently a favorite of Jefferson and Maria. After he sent her a copy of this aria, Maria was prompted to write Songs & Duets, one of which she sings in the film when commiserating with Jefferson about his injured wrist. The film uses a 1786 Kirkman harpsichord, very similar to the one Jefferson ordered for Patsy who was taking lessons in Paris.

Scarcely any subject in U. S. history can compare with Thomas Jefferson's relationship with Sally Hemings. In her biography of Jefferson, Fawn Brodie concludes that, without additional evidence, "we must remain forever baffled about the feelings of Sally Hemings during the whole of her life." Nonetheless, Brodie concludes that Sally's relationship with Jefferson was "a serious passion that brought Jefferson and the slave woman much private happiness." Similarly, this film, written by Tina Andrews, portrays their relationship as a true romance, and Sally as an intelligent, inquisitive, and assertive woman.

Unfortunately, this docudrama skips over the origins of the Hemings family and begins with Sally's voyage to France accompanying Jefferson's daughter Maria ("Polly"). Sally, about 14 years old when she arrives in Paris, is not just another slave girl. She was said to be "light colored and decidedly good looking." And she was the half-sister of Jefferson's wife, whom she might have strongly resembled. In her massive book about the Hemings family, Annette Gordon-Reed comments, "there was virtually no way that Hemings and Jefferson could talk with each other without the conscious or unconscious memory of Martha Wayles Jefferson hovering between them." Indeed, in the film, Jefferson tells Sally, "You look exactly like my wife." In her initial intimate encounter with Jefferson, Sally behaves like a sexually experienced woman-we are almost left to wonder if she is seducing Jefferson, rather than the other way around.

In those days, mature, even middle aged, men did develop romantic interest in teenage girls. Gordon-Reed cites the cases of Madison and John Marshall. The movie shows how James Callender's article publicized the Jefferson-Hemings relationship-but it had little political impact. Southern whites denounced miscegenation in public, but practiced it in private. Jefferson had the examples of his father-in-law John Wayles and his slave mistress Betty Hemings, and his mentor George Wythe, whose black maid was evidently his concubine. The film shows Sally negotiating with Jefferson the conditions of her return from France to Virginia, although her mother wanted her to remain in France.

Andrews' movie includes some events that seem highly improbable. It shows Sally in Paris, acquiring the manners of society, learning to read and write English and French, asking Jefferson pointed questions about the applicability of "liberty" as written in the Declaration of Independence, challenging Jefferson's derogatory description of blacks, quoting to Tom Paine some of his own words, and dancing with him at a Paris function. In the film, Sally assists runaway slaves, and is captured, and whipped by a slave catcher. One improbable scene finds Sally on the back stairs of the Presidential Mansion (now known as the White House), where Dolley Madison tells her, "Ultimately, we are women aren't we? Even to the same second-class concerns no matter our color." But back at Monticello, Sally occasionally gives orders to the overseer. The film creates a fictional Henry Jackson, a Monticello slave who is in love with Sally.

Andrews assumes that Sally's first pregnancy produced a son, Tom. This Tom has an important role in the film, but Madison Hemings said that Sally's first child died soon after it was born, and does not list Tom as one of Sally's children. There was a Tom (Tom Woodson) of the appropriate age, but DNA evidence does not show a connection between him and the Hemingses.

Sally's daughter Harriet (played by Amelia Heinle, now CEO of Newman Enterprises on "The Young and The Restless") is shattered when a young white man, who is attracted to her, discovers her true identity and attacks her. Like some of her siblings, Harriet finds that her racial status could prevent her from having a home, a family, and a chance to be free. She and her brothers Beverly and Eston (all of whom were 90 per cent white) eventually move into white society.

As Sally, Carmen Ejogo, daughter of a Nigerian father and a Scottish mother, very effectively conveys her character as conceived by Andrews. But we may doubt whether Sally was the intelligent, inquisitive, and assertive woman shown in the film. As Betty, Diahann Carroll is convincing-Gordon-Reed feels that Betty was "the central (and most compelling)" person in the Hemings family. Sam Neill portrays Jefferson as a sympathetic figure, torn between his philosophical discomfort with slavery and the economic imperatives of plantation operation. Mare Winningham deserves great credit for her portrayal of Martha ("Patsy") Jefferson. Martha's life was not easy-she had to raise a dozen children, contend with the debts of her father and her husband, and cope with her husband's emotional issues, which eventually led to their separation. She must have been profoundly uncomfortable with her father's relationship with Sally. As Jefferson's other daughter, Maria ("Polly"), Jessica Townsend is given limited screen time. Sally and Polly spent five weeks together during their voyage to Europe, which must have forced some interaction between them-but we know little about it. The film implies that Polly was friendlier than her sister to Sally. Mario Van Peeples gives a plausible interpretation of James Hemings, whose motives and concerns are not fully understood. But Rene Auberjonois, cast as the muckraking journalist James Callender, is almost too sleazy.

The Andrews' film accurately reveals how Jefferson's life style, together with the poor productivity of his plantation, produced massive debts. It deviates from history in some details, for example, we see Monticello's slaves contentedly singing and dancing, and the slaves being sold while Jefferson was still alive, whereas they were not actually sold until six months later. Although one may question its presentation of Sally's personality, of plantation slave life, and of Jefferson's treatment of his slaves, the film suggests the issues that must have arisen in connection with Jefferson's private life. It certainly conveys the pathos surrounding Jefferson's final days. Neill is especially compelling as the aging and feeble Jefferson. The camera work is effective-in some scenes, we feel we are actually at Monticello.

This National Geographic film is not a history of the climbs on Mount Everest from 1953 to 2003. It is rather a 2003 retrospective on 1953 expedition--the first to reach the summit, which asks: How has the mountain changed in this time? Did these years "tarnish an icon"?

To answer these questions, the film tells how three men, Peter Hillary and Jamling Tenzing Norgay (whose fathers, Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay, were the first climbers to reach the top of Mount Everest), and Brent Bishop (whose father, Barry Bishop, was a member of the first U. S. team to reach Everest's summit) join an expedition led by Pete Athans, returning to confront the mountain. After climbing Everest at the time of the 1996 disaster, Jamling Tenzing Norgay had promised his family that he would not climb it again. While he remains at Base Camp, several other Sherpas take part in the summit quest. Athans, Bishop, and Hillary provide the commentary. The Sherpa viewpoint is presented by Jamling Tenzing Norgay; and Dawa Sherpa, making his first trip to the summit, offers such pithy observations as the Sherpa saying, "Before climbing mountain, pay all your debts."

After the successful 1953 British expedition, an unfortunate dispute arose. Tenzing inadvertently signed a statement that he reached the summit first. In response, British expedition leader John Hunt claimed that Tenzing, as a mere Sherpa, lacked the skill to have been first. Later, Tenzing said that Hillary was first. Tenzing and Hillary have subsequently said that they reached the summit together. Although the question of who reached the summit first seems rather pointless (was there a finish line at the top of the mountain, manned by an official with a checkered flag?), it trapped Hillary and Tenzing in an unexpected controversy, and took some of the luster from their achievement. Tenzing's life became more complicated after 1953-he may even have wished that he had not climbed Everest. For his part, Hillary did not expect anyone to return to the summit.

Unlike most similar productions, Everest: 50 Years on the Mountain gives considerable attention to the Sherpas. The film features interviews with various Sherpas, including some who climbed with Tenzing Norgay. Since 1921, Sherpas have performed the heavy lifting for expeditions-in a typical year each Sherpa makes as many as 20 trips from Base Camp to Camp 2, and 10 trips from Camp 2 to the South Col. Sherpas have also undertaken other tasks in support of climbers. The career path for a Sherpa begins at an early age with service as a porter. After this, some Sherpas may advance to become climbing Sherpas and sirdars (foremen supervising other Sherpas). By assisting climbers, some Sherpas have substantially increased their earnings. But Sherpas have also suffered frostbite, broken bones, and death on the mountain. Sherpas have been, in Jamling Tenzing Norgay's words, the "unsung heroes of mountaineering." But, on the 1952 Swiss expedition, Sherpas were treated as equals-in fact, Tenzing Norgay wished he had reached the summit with the Swiss. After mastering Everest, Edmund Hillary founded the Hillary Foundation, which has constructed over 30 schools and two hospitals for Sherpas. (Hillary's wife and daughter died in a plane crash while en route to work on one of these hospitals.)

After narrowly escaping death in an icefall, the expedition's camera crew, "exhausted and rattled," decided not to return to the mountain. Thus the film's concluding scenes were shot with a hand-held video camera. This camera had its limitations-it could not cope with extreme cold, and parts of some scenes are seriously overexposed--but, in the hands of Pete Athans, it yielded outstanding shots of climbers laboriously approaching the South Summit, with some of the world's tallest peaks visible thousands of feet below.

The film ends amid a crowd of scores of climbers on the top of Mount Everest, while Peter Hillary makes an emotional cell phone to his father. Fifty years had certainly brought changes to the mountain.

Unlike "Plymouth Adventure," a 1952 MGM movie that focuses on the voyage of the Mayflower and features special effects, big-name actors portraying well dressed, beardless men and well washed women engaged in a partly fictitious plot, Saints and Strangers presents less prominent actors as bearded men and poorly clothed and groomed women coping with the extreme challenge of founding a colony in the wilderness.

For the most part, this mini-series, which devotes 20 minutes to the voyage, and nearly three hours to the first few years of Plymouth colony, adheres to actual historical events. Aboard the Mayflower, we see the birth of Oceanus Hopkins, the storm, the ship's broken beam, and John Howland being washed overboard. We see the settlers, in their first onshore explorations, finding skeletons, buried Indian corn, and the site of former Indian village on which they construct Plymouth. The film shows Samoset appearing and greeting them in English, Squanto teaching them how to plant crops, and the settlers negotiating a mutual assistance treaty with Massasoit, and Hobomok's wife being sent to investigate Squanto's warning that Massasoit intended to attack the colony, and finding that no attack was planned. All of this is documented in the settlers' accounts.

But, in some respects, the movie clearly breaks with the historical record. There is no evidence of Dorothy Bradford's nightmares about her son back in Leyden. The film deviates from established facts in showing Massasoit poised to attack the settlers until Squanto talks him out of it. In this screen version, some Indians abduct Billlington's son as payback for the settlers' theft of Indian corn. But it is clear from Bradford's account that young Billington simply got lost in the woods. The film shows Hopkins' wife Elizabeth developing a constructive relationship with Hobomok's wife, for which there is no evidence. And it gives a prominent role to Hobomok's son ("Wematin"), although the documentary record offers no evidence for even his existence. In the movie, the Wessagusset massacre is presented as Plymouth's pre-emptive strike against an Indian conspiracy. But the settlers' accounts show it is just as true that what the Indians planned was a pre-emptive response to the Weston men's conspiracy to steal their corn.

The film shows Squanto mistranslating English and Indian statements, evidently to prevent confrontations-but we have no evidence of this (the English settlers, unacquainted with Indian languages, obviously could not judge the veracity of translations). Squanto actually died, not at a meeting with settlers and other Indians as shown in the movie, but during a trading expedition around Cape Cod. It is true, as we see in the film, that, as he lay dying, he asked Bradford to pray for him to the English God.

Captain Jones was more helpful to the settlers than the film suggests. He led at least one of the original shore exploration parties, and after another foray, "killed five geese, which he friendly distributed among the sick people." He provided some of the Mayflower's canons to the colony, and helped the settlers transport them up fort hill and mount them. And he kept the ship at hand from November 1620 until April 1621 in support of the colony. One contemporary account refers to Jones's "kindness and forwardness." Jones did offer to take those who wished back to England-none went.

The casting and the script attempt an honest portrayal of all the characters and their settlements. The actors capture what we know of the personalities of the leading settlers-that Standish was somewhat abrasive and had a bad relationship with John Billington (in years not covered by the movie, Billington was tied up by neck and heels for cursing Standish, and was eventually (1630) hanged for murder), that Stephen Hopkins sometimes clashed with the leaders, that Edward Winslow was an effective diplomat, and William Bradford was a respected leader.

The film gives major attention to Native Americans, who, like the settlers, were not a monolithic group. On screen, we see their actual hair styles and attire. Great credit goes to the actors who portray the Indians, and deliver their lines in a Native American language (although apparently not the language that Eastern Massachusetts Indians actually spoke), accompanied by English or French subtitles. The film reveals the differences between tribes and their leaders, as far as these were understood by the settlers. Massasoit was a reasonable man and a true friend to Plymouth. Squanto befriended the settlers in important ways, but evidently had his own agenda. And, as shown in the film, there apparently was some sort of rivalry between Squanto and Hobomok. Hobomok's wife evidently was living with him in Plymouth, but that is about all we know about her. Canonicus, who appears in this film bullying Massasoit and threatening Plymouth by sending arrows in a snakeskin, got along well with Rhode Island settlers and was almost a father figure to Roger Williams.

In the movie's final scene, the story jumps six years, from the second thanksgiving, and shows Bradford greeting his son John, who has just arrived from Leyden. Of course, this is only the beginning of the Plymouth story, which carries on until Plymouth was incorporated in Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1691.

The film is necessarily based on accounts written by white Englishmen. The Indians left no written records, so the film's producers had to make educated guesses about their conversations and conferences. This is also true regarding English and Native American women. Despite a few historical inaccuracies, this mini-series gives a true feeling of the settlers' challenges and how they dealt with them.

Plymouth Adventure was a big budget Technicolor extravaganza, released during the 1952 Thanksgiving season with ads proclaiming that its production involved "Fabulous cost," and required "A cast of thousands," and promised "Savage Storms" and "Flaming Mutiny," and described Captain Christopher Jones (Spencer Tracy) as an "iron-fisted master of a ship of destiny," Dorothy Bradford (Gene Tierney) as a "lovely, lonely victim of the sea's passions," her husband William Bradford (Leo Genn) as "a leader of men and seeker after freedom," and John Alden (Van Johnson) as a man "lured on a perilous adventure by a land of promise." The film really gives a feeling of the Pilgrims' experience. The cast is promising, the actors deliver their lines effectively, and the Oscar-winning special effects, especially the storm, are impressive. The plot is less so.

Viewers are left with the impression that the narrative was written by Gilbert Winslow. I believe that it was based instead on the writings of Bradford and perhaps Edward Winslow. In any case, the film is a curious mixture of real and fictional events. It begins with preparations in Southampton, where the Speedwell has just arrived bringing Pilgrims from Holland. In the film, as in real life, William Brewster, one of the Pilgrim leaders (who had been hiding to avoid being hanged for publishing a book critical of King James and the Anglican Church), has stowed away on the Mayflower.

In the film, Thomas Weston, a sort of 17th-century venture capitalist, confronts Pilgrims with a revised contract, which would no longer allow them to work for themselves two days a week and to retain the houses they construct, and the Pilgrims angrily reject the revised contract. Although not shown in the film, Pilgrim leaders, desperately short of funds, were later forced to accept the contract. The film accurately portrays the ongoing problems with the Speedwell, which, despite many repairs, was forced to turn back after the voyage was begun.

The screen version is enlivened with physical confrontations between certain Pilgrims and crew members. There is no evidence that these specific events occurred. There were somewhat hostile relations between the 30 or more members of the ship's crew and the passengers, and between the Pilgrim "Saints" and the more secular "Strangers," who did not know each other or share the same religious convictions. But the passengers-both Saints and Strangers-must have been most troubled by their living conditions. The film shows the passengers well washed and well dressed throughout the voyage. But it is probable that the 102 passengers lived on the gun deck in a space roughly 50 x 25 feet, which had a 5-foot ceiling. There was no heat, no provision for laundry or bathing (in any case, the English at that time were averse to bathing); and passengers did not change clothes during the two-month trip. Instead of a toilet, passengers must have used a bucket and emptied it over the side. The ship was constructed to carry cargo, and the passengers could probably reach the upper deck only by a wood or rope ladder.

As portrayed in the film, the ship did experience a terrible storm that broke a beam, which was repaired by a screw (but not a printing press). It was not Bradford but John Howland who was washed overboard. That he was rescued had significant consequences, for Howland's descendants have included authors from Ralph Waldo Emerson to Benjamin Spock, and political figures from Franklin Roosevelt to Sarah Palin. The film shows the ship being taken to New England without passengers' knowledge; but the Pilgrim leaders may have intended to go to New England--they had spoken with John Smith, and had a copy of his book, A Description of New England, with its a map of New England. The diversion to New England supposedly desired by Weston, the undercover bribe he gave to Jones for this purpose, and the torrid romance between Dorothy Bradford and Jones, are dismissed by historian Samuel Eliot Morison with the curt statement, "That is sheer nonsense."

John Carver, the most prominent and wealthiest of the passengers, and the first governor of the colony, gets very little attention in the film. Instead, John Alden appears as a principal character, although during the voyage he was only a hired hand (but an important one, responsible, as a cooper, for maintaining the ship's supply of fresh water). The film gives an accurate view of the divided opinions that led to the Mayflower Compact. But it invents a mutiny by ship's crew, led by Robert Coppin (Lloyd Bridges), for which there is no evidence. Similarly, there is no evidence that the portrayal of Coppin was true to life. In real life, Coppin helped the Pilgrims find Plymouth harbor. Actually, First Officer Clark was more important than Coppin.

Apart from the voyage of the Mayflower, the theme of the film is the redemption of Jones, who had an "attitude of unfriendliness toward the passengers," but, through his interaction with Dorothy and the Pilgrims, becomes more sympathetic, as exemplified in his decision to keep the Mayflower at Plymouth until the spring of 1621 to shelter the settlers while they established the colony. But Jones tells Dorothy that, in view of her feelings, she cannot stay iwith Bradford in New England; instead she must return to England with him. (In real life, Jones had a family back in England.) The film implies she took her own life because she could not resolve her contradictory feelings. In fact, Jones and Clark were consistently friendly towards the Pilgrims. It was they for whom Jones River and Clark Island were named. The film skips over all the developments from November 1620 to April 1621, when the settlers had their first dealings with the Indians and lost half their number to the great sickness. In his final statement to the settlers, a reformed Jones says, "I was alone. Now I am with my fellows."

In the 1953 movie, "Titanic," Twentieth-Century Fox employed the famous disaster as the setting for a memorable melodrama. Focused on the Sturges family, with its troubled history, clashing loyalties, and conflicting aspirations, the film also reflects more general tensions between upper class and middle class, and between Europe and the American Midwest. Julia Sturges (Barbara Stanwyck) is an American who wants to "rescue" her children, Annette (Audrey Dalton) and Norman (Harper Carter), from her husband Richard (Clifton Webb), and raise them in America. Richard initially seems to be self-centered, arrogant and insensitive. In one exchange, he tells Julia, "I made the mistake of thinking I could civilize a girl who bought her hats out of a Sears Roebuck catalog." On the other hand, the children love Richard, and he has his own plans for them. But Julia wants them to "stop being rootless, purposeless, superficial hotel children." She boarded the Titanic without informing Richard of her plans, but he learns about them, and manages to board the ship by purchasing a ticket from Jean Pablo Uzcadum, father of a Basque family, after persuading him to rejoin Mrs. Uzcadum and his children after sailing on a later vessel. The movie doesn't show the curious glances that must have been attracted to Richard, extremely well attired, posing as the head of this lower-class family, guiding them until they are settled in the ship's third-class section. (Richard later helps Mrs. Uzcadum (Marta Mitrovich) with paper work to show her as head of the family, and acts to save her family when the ship is sinking.) Richard is pleased with Annette, who "has grace and style." But Julia sees Annette as "an arrogant little prig." He wants Annette to marry into a wealthy family, but Julia says that she has never seen a happy international marriage. At first, Annette plans to return to Paris with her father, but she becomes involved in a shipboard romance with Gifford Rogers (Robert Wagner), a Purdue student, and Julia encourages this relationship. There is a strong bond between Richard and Norman, but, when Richard learns that Norman is not actually his son, he brutally severs his ties with him. Also on board is George Healey (Richard Basehart), recently defrocked by the Vatican for alcoholism, who agonizes over how he can relate his situation to his family. For their part, members of the Titanic's crew are confidently treating this as a routine voyage. The huge tragedy forces all these characters to look into themselves and act on the basis of their deepest emotions and commitments.

The 1953 movie focuses on the lives of passengers--the initial two-thirds of the film reveal the personal issues of the major characters; over an hour passes before the ship strikes the ice berg. The film blurs class lines (would the Purdue students be able to associate so freely with first-class passengers?). And, as the vessel sinks, the passengers remain rather dignified, and, arrayed almost as a choir, join in singing the American version of "Nearer My God to Thee." On the other hand, in the 1958 British film (A Night to Remember), only half an hour elapses before the ship collides with the ice berg; this film is more concerned with the fate of the ship and its crew as they have to deal with this disaster. Like the 1953 movie, the 1958 film does have some fictitious characters-among others, the Lucas family, and a newly-wed couple. But its primary focus is on the ship and its impending doom. Although it is more faithful to historical facts than the American film, the British film does contain some factual errors, for example, a dramatic christening of the ship (surprisingly, no such ceremony actually took place), and references to passengers on the "Californian" (which in fact carried no passengers). In contrast to the American film, the British film shows terrified passengers climbing Titanic's steeply sloping decks attempting to escape the rising ocean water. Unlike the 1953 film, the 1958 version includes such important persons as Thomas Andrews and Bruce Ismay. And it follows developments on the "Californian" (whose crew, though in sight of the sinking Titanic, were oblivious to her situation), and the 'Carpathia," which received the Titanic's distress call and rushed to the scene, arriving only after the Titanic went down, but in time to save hundreds in life boats who might otherwise have perished.

Filming when they did, Twentieth-Century Fox did not have access to all the information Walter Lord presented in his book, "A Night to Remember" (published in 1955). The studio claims that the navigational details and related incidents and conversations in the film were reproduced verbatim from the published reports of the Senate Committee and the British Board of Trade. These records are extensive, but the inquiries were conducted hurriedly soon after the disaster, failed to raise some significant questions, and yielded testimony that was somewhat contradictory. The leading characters, Clifton Webb and Barbara Stanwyck are powerful actors who are very effective in their roles. Brian Aherne, as Captain Smith, and Thelma Ritter, as Maude Young (a character based on real life Molly Brown) also do well. Audrey Dalton and Robert Wagner, both early in their careers, are satisfactory in less demanding parts. Although uncredited, young Harper Carter is convincing as Norman. The studio's sets and use of miniatures and special effects (in the days before CGI) are impressive. And, although it is mainly about certain passengers, the film is fairly faithful in its coverage of the ship and its unfolding disaster.

This film, generally faithful to Hugo's novel, was the first full-length, wide-screen, color (Technirama) theatrical epic version of Hugo's story. No subsequent screen presentation of Les Miserables has displaced the 1958 film as a full-length theatre epic.

Through the story of Jean Valjean, Hugo sought to demonstrate that every soul contains a "divine element . . . which evil can never entirely extinguish." Valjean, released from prison after serving 19 years for stealing a loaf of bread, is inclined to hate human law, and is enmeshed in a struggle between hatred and goodness. His character is largely shaped by the Bishop of Digne, who befriends him when no one else does, and saves him from another prison sentence after Valjean steals the bishop's silverware.

An oddity in this film is that, when he first sees Valjean, Javert is the young son of a prison official. Presumably, the producers worried about the 12-year age difference between Jean Gabin (Jean Valjean) and Bernard Blier (Javert). In fact, this departure from Victor Hugo's novel is confusing and unnecessary. When they encounter each other in Montreuil, Javert is about 40 years old, and Valjean is about 55. In other words, the age difference between Gabin and Blier was almost exactly that between Valjean and Javert.

Remorseful after he robs a young boy, Valjean decides to turn his life around. He assumes a new identity ("M. Madeleine"), but he is pursued by police inspector Javert. The conflict between these two men is the central theme of the novel. Javert is not cruel. But, born in prison to a fortune teller mother and a convict father, he is ashamed of his origins, and compensates for them through an exaggerated respect for authority and hatred of rebellion. He is devoted to the literal letter of the law (in today's terms, a "textualist," or "strict constructionist"), whereas Valjean seeks to abide by the spirit of the law. Troubled by the fate of Fantine, a young woman unjustly fired from his factory, he promises to assist her and her daughter Cosette, who is with the Thenardier family (a situation explained in a flashback). Later, Valjean provides assistance to this family, but M. Thenardier responds by attempting to rob Valjean.

Applying the letter of the law to himself, Javert, having denounced "Madeleine" to authorities as the real Valjean, demands that Valjean dismiss him, because an innocent man (Champmathieu) has been mistaken for Valjean, and is about to be sentenced. Valjean feels compelled to sacrifice his successful new life in order to save this innocent man. (In the subsequent trial, Gabin plays both Valjean and Champmathieu). Valjean soon escapes from jail, rescues Cosette from the Thenardiers, and flees to Paris, where he and Cosette live in a convent. After she graduates from its school, Cosette meets Marius and they fall in love.

Marius is then living next door to the Thenardier family. Perhaps the various Les Miserables films differ most in their treatment of the Thenardiers' daughter Eponine. Hugo may have created her as a foil to Cosette (who was a very different person), or to demonstrate that good can emerge from depraved circumstances. Eponine has scarcely any food or clothes, is periodically pursued by the police, beaten by her father, and (perhaps to avoid him) occasionally sleeps in ditches. On the other hand, she travels around Paris soliciting money for her father, she is educated, is fascinated by books, adjusts her appearance in a mirror, attends theatrical shows, sings love songs, worries about Marius' hair and clothes, and, even as she is dying, fears that he did not pick up a coin she dropped. The 1958 film, like some others, emphasizes her unrequited love of Marius; but neglects the rest of her story. Marius does not return her love, or even sense it, but Eponine adopts a surprisingly protective attitude toward him. The 1958 film largely overlooks this part of the story. It fails to reveal that it is Eponine who guides Marius to Cosette's house. And it omits Eponine's admonition to Marius, as she is guiding him, to pretend that he is not with her, because "It won't do for a fine young man like you to be seen with a woman like me." Knowing she has no chance of romance with Marius, she not only takes him to Cosette's house, but repeatedly acts to protect Cosette, even to the point of risking her own life.

In view of their childhood antagonism, a conversation that grown-up Cosette and Eponine might have had if they recognized each other would be interesting. In the 1958 film (unlike the novel) they do meet. Valjean and Cosette provide a big meal for Eponine in their home, and arrange to take food to the Thenardier family. Cosette even gives Eponine a new dress. But the young women never recognize each other. In the film (as in the novel), when Marius shows up in her garden, Cosette never asks, "How did you find me?" That question also could have produced an interesting conversation. And, after he has survived the barricade battle, he never tells Cosette how Eponine saved his life there. In each of these situations, Hugo could have given more depth to Cosette's personality.

When Valjean plans to move, Cosette writes a note for Marius with news about the move and her new address, and hands it to Eponine (then disguised as a boy) to deliver to Marius. In Hugo's improbable narrative, Eponine, driven by jealousy, plans to separate Marius from Cosette and lure him to the barricade so they can die there together. So Eponine withholds Cosette's note from him, and yells to him to join his friends at the barricade. Thus, in one paragraph, Hugo makes it appear that Eponine's actions send Marius to the barricade. But the real problem, not explained in this film, is that Marius is financially unable to marry Cosette, having for years chosen not to work, and having failed to obtain money from his grandfather. Marius is responsible for his own misfortune; and now he must fulfill his "sacred" oath to die if Cosette moves away. He probably would have gone to the barricade even if he had received Cosette's note. Hugo's description of Eponine's handling of Cosette's note provides a mystery. A jealous person would read the note. Eponine doesn't. A vengeful person would destroy it. She doesn't. To separate Marius and Cosette, she should certainly dispose of it. She doesn't do that either. Jealousy doesn't begin to explain Eponine's handling of Cosette's note. Obviously, she still has the option of delivering it to Marius.

In the 1958 film, Eponine takes the note from its hiding place, reads it, crumbles it angrily, hides it under her blouse, and tells Marius that Cosette has gone to London. Thinking he has lost Cosette, Marius no longer fears death. As he heads for the barricade, Eponine tells him, "Let me come with you. We'll have a laugh." Apparently oblivious to what might happen, she accompanies Marius to the barricade. When a soldier aims at Marius, Eponine grabs his rifle and points it at herself. Mortally wounded, she gives Cosette's note to Marius, telling him, "I can't see you unhappy." She asks him to kiss her after she dies. When she appears to die, Marius gives her a long kiss on her lips. Then she revives and says, "I think I was a little in love with you," and dies.

After reading Marius' note to Cosette, Valjean first considers concealing it, hoping that Marius will die and Cosette will remain with Valjean. But Valjean's conscience compels him to go to the barricade to save Marius. At the barricade, Valjean assumes responsibility for killing Javert, but then frees him. Later, Javert says he cannot understand Valjean's action. Valjean says, "I pity you." Valjean carries Marius through the sewer and takes him home. Then Javert goes to the river. We do not hear his final thoughts. A little boy walks away from him, looking back apprehensively. A derelict old man, apparently dozing or drunk, jumps up and hurries away. Javert cuffs his wrists and falls into the river.

Like the novel's Valjean, Jean Gabin is rather unemotional, and the emotional moments he experiences often involve internal struggles. Gabin always appears clean shaven with hair neatly combed. As with Hugo's Javert, Bernard Blier always seems "Impassive" and "perfectly calm." Daniele Delorme, portraying Fantine after she has lost her hair and her teeth and been reduced to prostitution, provides powerful emotion. Bourvil, noted for comic roles, was a poor choice for Thenardier, whom Hugo describes as resembling "vulture and shyster," a man steeped "in an intensifying viciousness." There was no humor in Hugo's Thenardier. Giani Esposito displays very little emotion as Marius, often with a vacant stare thinking about Cosette. Even in romantic scenes he seems rather stiff. The script limited Beatrice Altariba's performance as Cosette. On the other hand, the script gave Silvia Monfort wide latitude to develop Eponine's character. Monfort, most famous for her stage performances, is very compelling as a sultry-voiced, red-haired, and barefooted Eponine, and is perhaps the most highly regarded actress ever cast in this role. 35-year-old Serge Reggiani seems well suited to the role of insurgent leader Enjolras, although Hugo's Enjolras is only 22 (and appears even younger). Jean Topart provides voice-over commentary.

The 1958 film was very successful in France, but was not screened in the U.S. until 1989. It was filmed in studios in former East Germany and France; and some scenes (e.g., at the Luxembourg Garden) were filmed on location. East German soldiers served as extras in the Waterloo and barricade scenes.

Unlike some screen versions, this movie shows how the desperate hunger of Jean Valjean's sister's children impels Valjean (Richard Jordan) to break into a bakery window to steal a loaf of bread. He is pursued, captured, tried, convicted, and taken to prison in Toulon. Again, unlike most screen versions, this film devotes considerable time to Valjean's prison experiences, and his escape attempts, in the last of which (unlike the novel) he succeeds. His reception on the outside is hostile until Bishop Myriel gives him food and shelter. Valjean repays the bishop by stealing his silverware-the bishop, who is not asleep, witnesses the theft (unlike the novel), but does not prevent it. When the local gendarmerie bring Valjean back with the stolen silverware, the bishop tells the officers that he had given the silverware to Valjean, and he gives Valjean two silver candlesticks, hoping that these will help him become an honest man. The bishop tells him that if his heart is filled with kindness and peace, rather than hatred, he will be truly worthy. In response to this kindness, Valjean has a conversion experience, and falls on his knees weeping.

The story resumes five years later. Valjean has taken the alias "M. Madeleine," and established himself in Monteis sur Monteis, operating a bead-making factory so successfully that he has been selected as the town's mayor. In this capacity, he meets Javert, a police officer who has been pursuing him relentlessly since he escaped from Toulon, and who now asks him, "Have we met before?" Here we are introduced to Fantine (but this film does not show her tragic previous life). She is charged with soliciting, and Javert plans to imprison her, but Madeleine intervenes to save her and promises to care for her daughter, Cosette. Valjean's conscience forces him to give up his new life and turn himself over to the authorities in order to prevent an innocent man who has been mistaken for him from going to prison.

Faithful to his promise to Fantine, Valjean frees Cosette (Joanna Price) from the Thenardiers, who have been abusing her, and takes her to Paris. In a long chase scene, they elude the police and surreptitiously enter a convent. At this point, some events, especially the smuggling of Valjean out of the convent so he can return publicly, have apparently been cut out of the DVD version of the film. After Valjean and Cosette (Caroline Langrishe), now an adolescent, leave the convent, they hear rebel speakers demanding reform. At a later reform gathering, Cosette and Marius (Christopher Guard) exchange meaningful glances. Shortly thereafter, Marius and Cosette meet, but upon learning that Cosette will soon go to England, Marius promises to die if she leaves. When Gillenormand (John Gielgud), his grandfather, refuses to provide money for Marius to marry Cosette or follow her to England, Marius decides to go to the barricade.

After reading the note that Marius sends to Cosette, Valjean Valjean goes to the barricade. Curiously, when Valjean arrives at the barricade, all the combatants hold their fire. Valjean tells Marius that he has come to take Marius' place; but Marius says that is impossible, "You're one of us now." Valjean frees Javert, who has been captured by the insurgents. After the barricade falls, Valjean carries Marius through the sewer, pursued by Javert, who catches him as he is about to climb out of the sewer, and asks him, "Why did you let me go?" Valjean responds, "I had no choice. . . . a remarkable man bought my soul. He removed from it all evil thoughts and gave it to God." Javert says, "There is no God. There is only the law. Guilt and innocence do not exist outside the law." In that case, Valjean says, Javert must kill him. Following Javert's command, Valjean faces the wall; but when he turns around, he does not see Javert, who watches from the shadows as Valjean climbs out of the sewer. After this, Javert sets down his gun beside the river and allows himself to fall into the water.

In the final sequence, Marius and Cosette are married, while Valjean and Gillenormand watch. Marius and Cosette ride away in a carriage. Gillenormand confesses to Valjean, "I've been a fool." Valjean responds, "We're all fools, most of our lives. It's unavoidable." As Valjean walks through the church yard, the camera zooms back and over Valjean to view the sky and the surrounding countryside. Thus the movie ends.

It is possible for viewers to be quite satisfied with a screen version that deviates significantly from the novel, as many do. But, since some reviewers consider this one criterion by which to evaluate a screen version of Les Miserables, it is appropriate to note that this movie omits much of Hugo's story. Moreover, this film's use of the limited time available is open to question. It opens with roughly 23 minutes on the theft, trial, imprisonment, and escapes of Valjean (which the novel covers in only 5 pages). Apparently 30 minutes are missing from the DVD release. These reportedly included the episode in which Valjean, having entered the convent surreptitiously over the wall, must be smuggled out of the convent so he can make a legitimate entrance and take a job as gardener there. Thus, circa 20% to 30% of the original film was devoted to these episodes, and could not be employed to tell more interesting and relevant parts of Hugo's story.

In some respects, this movie follows the novel fairly closely. But in its concentration on Valjean and Javert, the 1978 film neglects other aspects of the story. We never see George Pontmercy, the Battle of Waterloo, Petit Gervais, or Tholomyes. Hugo meant the novel to reflect the transition from evil to good, from darkness to light. He applies the term les miserables only to the Thenardier family, which is the apotheosis of evil. But of this family, only M. Thenardier puts in an appearance, which is very brief. In the novel, he appears repeatedly -"saving" Marius' father at Waterloo, abusing Cosette when she was a child, attempting to kidnap Cosette and rob Valjean, and seeking to extort money from Marius after his wedding. Of the Thenardier family, only their daughter Eponine seems to make the transition from evil to good, but she is entirely absent from the film.

This film was originally produced as a two-part series for British television. Like some other versions of Les Miserables (2000 & 2018), it reflects the growing quality of TV movies. The 1978 movie benefits from being filmed on location, from the quality of its cast, which includes some highly regarded actors, and from Allyn Ferguson's unobtrusive music. Richard Jordan's performance as Valjean is good. His appearance as a bearded, long-haired convict is credible, but, even with make-up, Jordan (41 when this was filmed) looks too young as the 62-year-old Valjean. As Javert, Anthony Perkins, with sideburns and hair over his forehead (as in the novel), is appropriately grim, dour, and focused. He gives one of the best portrayals of Javert. Angela Pleasance, thin, pale, pathetic, ill clothed, and really wretched, is powerful as Fantine. Other noteworthy actors include Claude Dauphin, Ian Holm, and John Gielgud. But many cast members are given insufficient screen time to make an impression

20th Century's 1935 (Fredric March) version of this story was so successful that the studio (by then 20th Century Fox), as early as 1941, intended to produce a sequel. But initial plans for this new version fell through. Filming of this version finally began in 1951. Richard Murphy's script was to some extent derived (in some scenes it seems almost plagiarized) from the 1935 movie. But the 1952 film focuses on Valjean and Javert, and differs in major ways from its predecessor. And while it leaves out a great deal of Hugo's story, it inserts some characters and events that are absent from the novel.

Like the earlier version, the 1952 film begins with Valjean's trial and hard time on a galley. After facing discrimination as an ex-convict, Valjean finds food and shelter with a Bishop. He steals the Bishop's silverware, but the Bishop excuses this act and even gives Valjean two silver candlesticks, telling him, "It is the giver who receives the gift, . . . he feels he has done something generous and noble that sets him above other men." Valjean sells some of the silverware, but not the candlesticks. In a small town, he stops a runaway carriage, saving the life of the owner's grandson, who was riding in it (an event not in the novel). Valjean chooses to disregard his parole's reporting requirements, remain in town, assume the name "Madeleine," and purchase the local pottery factory. In the factory, he encounters its foreman, "Robert" (a character not found in Hugo's novel), who becomes Valjean's alter ego.

As a reward for his successful management of the factory, the town selects Madeleine as its mayor; and in this role he encounters Police Inspector Javert, whom he met while a prisoner. In this film, Javert (in a manner reminiscent of TV's Columbo) seems suspicious of Valjean from their first meeting. While on the galley, Valjean demonstrates his great strength by lifting a large beam. In many screen versions of the story, Javert remembers this exploit, and becomes suspicious when Madeleine/Valjean lifts a heavy cart to save a man trapped under it. But, curiously, the 1952 movie does not include the cart-lifting scene. In this film, we do not meet Fantine until, fired from her job at Valjean's factory, she is desperately worried about her daughter Cosette, whom she has left with an unnamed innkeeper and his wife. This movie omits the sacrifices--selling her hair, her teeth, and her body--that Hugo ascribes to her in the novel. Instead, we watch her walking along the street, and see her as she fights with a drunk who accosts her. For this, she is apprehended by Javert, who intends to imprison her, but Valjean insists that she be released. In a significant exchange, Javert says, "This is a matter of law." Valjean responds, "This is a matter of justice." After learning about Cosette, Valjean brings her to Fantine, with no mention of the Thenardiers or Cosette's life with them.

Javert, still suspicious and watching Valjean carefully, informs the mayor that he will be going to Arras in connection with the case of Champmathieu, who has wrongly been identified as Valjean, and is about to be sent to the galleys. Valjean's conscience compels him to attend the trial to prove Champmathieu innocent (Rennie plays the part of Champmathieu). Prior to his confession, Javert continues to eye Valjean. As Valjean tells Fantine that he will be going away, and assures her that Robert will care for Cosette, Javert arrives to arrest Valjean. The trauma of this encounter leads to Fantine's death. Valjean chokes Javert and escapes.

The film jumps ahead to the time of Cosette's last year at the convent, where she is a student and Valjean is a gardener. Following a disturbance outside the convent, Marius appears, jumping over the convent wall to avoid the police, and nursing a minor wound from a saber. Valjean conceals Marius in his cottage, where Cosette discovers Marius and attends to his wound. Somehow, Cosette knows Gavroche (perhaps from her time with the Thenardiers, although this is not explained) and sends him to the university to arrange a meeting between herself and Marius. Thereafter, they meet a number of times. The police are watching Marius as a possible revolutionary. And Javert is assigned to investigate Cosette, who may be implicated in his activities.

Valjean fears that, if Marius visits his house, the police may follow him and discover Valjean's presence. When Marius comes to the house, and announces his plan to marry Cosette, Valjean objects strongly, "She's a child." Marius responds, "Whether you know it or not, you're in love with her and you want her for yourself." But Cosette feels an obligation to Valjean and plans to accompany him to England. Later, Marius sends a note to Cosette, begging her not to sacrifice herself to Valjean's selfishness. He promises to follow her wherever she goes. But Gavroche delivers this note to Valjean, who reads it, and is forced to reconsider his attitude toward Cosette. Consequently, he goes to the barricade to see Marius, followed by Javert. He tells Marius that he loves Cosette, but not in the way Marius thinks. In fact, Valjean loves her too much to stand in the way of her happiness, so he says Marius is free to go to her. But Marius now feels obligated to remain at the barricade. "What Paris does tonight, France does tomorrow."

Then, finding that Javert has been seized by the rebels, Valjean seeks permission to deal with him. He levels a pistol at Javert, apparently intending to shoot him, but then releases him instead. Marius is wounded in the melee, and Valjean, pursued by Javert, carries Marius through the sewers and all the way to his house. Here, Javert confronts him. As in the 1935 film, Javert attempts to absolve himself of personal responsibility: "I am an officer of the law doing my duty. It makes no difference what I think or feel or want. It has nothing to do with me. Nothing. Can't you see that?" But, when Valjean, exhausted from his efforts, can't move Marius by himself, Javert assists him, and then waits while Valjean says goodbye to Cosette. While Javert is waiting to take Valjean into custody, Robert remarks that Valjean will be sent back to the galleys for life, and asks Javert bitterly, "How does success taste after all these years, Inspector?" Ready to surrender himself to Javert, Valjean discovers that the inspector has disappeared. He looks down the street just in time to see Javert jump into the river, then he returns to his house and embraces Cosette.

Many of the novel's characters and events are absent from this film: Gillenormand, George Pontmercy, Eponine and the Thenardiers (except for Gavroche, whose role is minimized), Fantine's relationship with Tholomyes, Eponine's relationship with Marius, the Gorbeau House ambush, Eponine's thwarting of Thenardier's attack on Valjean and Cosette, Gavroche's death, Marius' discovery that it was Valjean who carried him through the sewers, Javert's suicide, and Valjean's death.

There are some issues with the casting and the script. Because of the film's focus on Valjean and Javert, most cast members are not given sufficient screen time in which to portray their characters. Michael Rennie was 42 when Les Miserables was filmed. With appropriate make-up, his appearance as a convict is credible; but he is not convincing as Valjean in later years, when Vajean would have been in his early 60s. As Javert, Robert Newton is extremely focused and unemotional. (He has a similar role as Inspector Fix, who pursues Phileas Fogg in Around the World in 80 Days.) Sylvia Sidney was 41 when this movie was produced, perhaps a little old for Fantine; but she puts a lot of emotion into her performance. Marius and Cosette come across as rather superficial. Debra Paget, at 18, was about the right age for grown-up Cosette; but this makes her a bit old to be the little girl rescued by Valjean (in the novel, Cosette was then 8 years old). At 33, Cameron Mitchell was too old to be Marius--in some scenes, he looks older than Valjean. More importantly, the script has this character completely wrong. In the movie, Marius is a well-dressed, dogmatic, outspoken leader; in the novel, he is none of the above.

The film employs 81 sets, including the interior of a French galley, 2 villages, the Bishop's rectory, a pottery factory, a convent, Paris streets, and a 1/8-mile sewer system. Some sets are more realistic than others. Alex North's music is sometimes overbearing and occasionally bizarre, as with the almost playful piccolo parts we hear in the barricade scenes, and the snare drum that anticipates Javert's suicide as if it were a circus act.

The film begins with the trial, at which Jean Valjean is sentenced to 10 years for stealing a loaf of bread for his sister's children. While serving time on a galley, he displays extraordinary strength, lifting a beam to free a trapped convict. In so doing, he makes a lasting impression on Javert, one of the guards. Released from the galleys, Valjean is unwelcome nearly everywhere, until Bishop Bienvenue offers him food and shelter. His heart hardened by his experiences in prison and out of it, Valjean steals the bishop's silverware; but, when the police drag him back with the pilfered items, the bishop says that he gave the silver to Valjean, hands him two silver candlesticks, and tells him, "Life is to give and not to take."

Several years later, Valjean has transformed himself into a shaved, and well dressed factory owner and mayor under an alias (M. Madeleine). The factory supervisor dismisses Fantine, one of the factory workers because she is an unwed mother. When her appeals for Javert's assistance are unavailing, Fantine confronts Madeleine, complaining that he threw her out without considering her situation, and spitting at him. In this movie, Fantine does not get into a fight with a drunk, and there is no indication that she has sold her hair and teeth and engaged in prostitution in order to acquire money for her daughter Cosette's upkeep. Javert intends to imprison Fantine, but Madeleine intervenes, and promises to bring Cosette to her. After his authority is thus challenged, Javert initiates inquiries into Madeleine's background. And when Madeleine lifts a heavy cart freeing a man trapped under it, Javert remembers the earlier incident and his suspicions are aroused. Madeleine finds that the family (the Thenardiers, although they are never named) to whom Fantine has entrusted Cosette, have been mistreating her. He takes her to her mother, then seriously ill in a hospital.

Demonstrating his adherence to the law, even when it is directed at him, Javert demands that he be dismissed for denouncing Madeleine as Valjean, since he has just been informed that the real Valjean (who is actually Champmathieu) is soon to go on trial in Arras. After much anguish, Valjean/Madeleine decides to turn himself in so Champmathieu can be released. (Fredric March plays both Valjean and Champmathieu). Expecting to be sent back to the galleys, Valjean says farewell to Cosette, but as he is speaking with Fantine, Javert suddenly arrives to arrest him, causing Fantine to die of shock. Valjean overpowers Javert and races out of town on a carriage with Cosette, pursued by Javert in a long chase scene (which is not in the novel).

Valjean and Cosette, distrusting the landlady, decide to leave the Paris tenement where they are staying, and move to a convent. Valjean writes a note (over the signature of Madeleine) introducing himself and Cosette as M. Duval and his daughter Cosette. Armed with this note, they are welcomed into the convent, Valjean as gardener and Cosette as a student.

After Cosette graduates from the convent school, she and Valjean move to other quarters. One day, their carriage passes a street gathering which Marius is addressing a crowd in the cause of prison reform. Marius steps up to the carriage and hands Valjean and Cosette leaflets. Marius seems to be the leader of the Students Society (for) Law Reform. Valjean writes a check for this group, which Cosette delivers, partly for a chance to see Marius. Here she meets Eponine (whose relationship to the Thenardier family is not mentioned). Portrayals of Eponine perhaps differ more widely than those of any other character in this story. The 1935 film makes major changes in both her appearance (here she is as well-dressed and well- coiffed as Cosette) and activities (she is Marius' secretary). This film puts her into the somewhat hackneyed role of a gal Friday, who devotes herself to the boss she loves, although her love is not reciprocated. This is a major departure from Hugo's Eponine, but it does capture her spirit. Marius is attracted to Cosette, and they meet several times in a park. Javert is ordered to spy on Valjean and Cosette, since they seem to be connected to Marius' group. But Valjean sees Javert observing them, and plans to move immediately. When he comes to visit, Marius finds their house empty. The insurgents are planning a demonstration, although a police crackdown is anticipated. Needless to say, their strategy of a violent confrontation with the authorities in order to bring about prison reform is implausible, to say the least. Eponine tells Marius that he should skip this demonstration and return to his studies as a law student. But Marius plans to attend, although his thoughts are on Cosette.

Valjean's domestic servant Toussaint attempts to deliver Cosette's note telling Marius her new address, but failing to find him, she gives the note to Eponine. On learning this, Cosette is apprehensive, she does not yet understand that Eponine is now her ally, not her rival. Cosette has never told Valjean about her feelings for Marius. Now, desperate, she tells Valjean that she loves Marius and cannot leave him. Valjean resents Cosette's love for Marius. He asks her, "Have you nothing for me?" Valjean suggests that they can make inquiries about Marius after they are in England. Unexpectedly, Eponine bursts through the door. She says she has a message from Marius to Cosette, and laughs bitterly that she, who loves him, must deliver a message expressing his love of Cosette, and, his intention, if he lives, to pursue her to the ends of the earth. Eponine asks Valjean, "What are we going to do about this, you and I?" and suggests that he might be able to get to the barricade to rescue Marius. "Don't you want to save him for your daughter?" Valjean responds, "Why should I? She's all I have." Eponine says, "I know just how you feel. . . . You don't want to give her up, and I don't want to . . . " At the word "give," Valjean remembers the Bishop's words, and decides to go to the barricade with Eponine. Cosette wishes to accompany them, but Valjean tells her it would be too dangerous. She watches them depart, but there is no indication of her thoughts on seeing Eponine risking her life to save Marius.

Javert follows them to the barricade, where he is seized as a police spy. Given permission to take care of Javert, Valjean leads him away from the crowd, evidently thinks about killing him, but then releases him. Javert is highly displeased to owe his life to Valjean. Meanwhile, Eponine reaches Marius and tells him that she has found Cosette, who is now waiting for him. Then, seeing a soldier aim at Marius, she throws herself in front of him and takes the bullet intended for him. Moments later, Marius is wounded, and Valjean carries him through the sewer, pursued by Javert. Valjean carries Marius to his house. As he is standing in an outer room, Valjean senses Javert's presence and turns to see him standing in the shadows. Javert almost apologizes to Valjean: "It isn't me. It's nothing to do with me. It's the law that wants you. It's the law, see." He allows Valjean to say farewell to Cosette. But when Valjean returns, Javert has gone. Valjean runs down the street only to find that Javert has plunged into the river. Thus the film ends.

Somewhat surrealistic are the barricade scenes in which Valjean, Eponine, and Javert dash about, seemingly oblivious to the gunfire going on around them. Apparently the studio was reluctant to present the young protesters as revolutionaries. In fact, they were revolutionary only in the sense of wanting to bring down a monarch (which a similar, but larger, uprising had done two years earlier). What they wanted was a democratic system without a monarch. In any case, it is not credible that advocates of prison reform would launch an insurrection. Similarly, for the studio, Fantine's prostitution was also taboo. In this version Valjean does not die. Among the persons and events not shown: M. Gillenormand, George Pontmercy, Gavroche, Fantine's relationship with Tholomyes, and Eponine's relationship to the Thenardiers. Also absent are several dramatic scenes: Valjean's robbery of Petit Gervais, the Gorbeau House ambush, Eponine's thwarting of Thenardier's attack on Valjean and Cosette, Gavroche's death, Marius' discovery that it was Valjean who carried him through the sewers, and Javert's suicide.

Fredric March gives a convincing performance, especially when made up to look like a convict or the half-witted Champmathieu, but March, who was 37 when Les Miserables was filmed, appears too unlined and youthful to portray Valjean as the 62-year-old he was in 1832. As Javert, Charles Laughton Is effective, but perhaps a little more emotional than Hugo's Javert. March's real life wife, Florence Eldridge, is appropriately emotional as Fantine. Like Hugo's Fantine, Eldrdge is blond (many actresses cast for this role have been brunettes). Rochelle Hudson, 18 when filmed as Cosette in this movie, grows from being an ingénue as she deals with Valjean's flight from the police, his jealousy of Marius, and the consequences of the insurgency. Frances Drake is effective in an unusual interpretation of Eponine. Most of the other characters have insufficient screen time to establish their characters. For example, John Beal has little chance to impress as Marius. The prison scenes include inmates from the Midnight Mission on LA's Skid Row, who were paid $10/day for filming that lasted a week.

Like some other Darryl Zanuck products, Les Miserables had social implications. Film was expensive, costing nearly $1,000,000. The filming took 34 days. It opened in New York on the 50th anniversary of Hugo's death. The movie drew large crowds and had good reviews and award nominations.

The beginning of this movie finds its hero, Jean Valjean, as a prisoner in Toulon, where he has been incarcerated for stealing a loaf of bread. As in Hugo's novel, Valjean demonstrates his strength by lifting one of the caryatids supporting the balcony of the Toulon City Hall. When freed from prison, Valjean faces discriminatory treatment as an ex-convict. He finally finds food and shelter with a bishop. But he repays this hospitality by stealing the bishop's silver ware. When local police capture him and bring him back to the bishop with the silver ware, the bishop exonerates him, gives him two silver candlesticks, and tells him to become an honest man. Valjean assumes a new identity as M. Madeleine, and makes a new life for himself as an entrepreneur and Mayor of Montreuil.

Fantine, an innocent young woman, engages in an abortive affair with a man and the result of their dalliance is a daughter, Cosette, whom she leaves with the Thenardier family, while she works in Valjean's factory. But she is fired when the supervisor discovers that she is an unwed mother. Without a job, she resorts to desperate measures-selling her hair, her teeth, and finally her body-to raise money for Cosette. She is arrested after getting into a fight with a man who has abused her, and faces a prison sentence. But Valjean saves her, and promises to care for her and Cosette.

One day, a man is caught under a large cart, and Valjean releases him by raising the cart. When police inspector Javert witnesses this amazing display of strength, he begins to suspect that the Mayor is actually Valjean. Javert's suspicions are put to rest when an innocent man, Champmathieu, is mistaken for Valjean. Following a long scene in which he anguishes over the fate of Champmathieu and the custody of Cosette, Valjean testifies in court to save Champmathieu, then visits the Thenardiers and rescues Cosette.

There is a gap in the movie at this point. When the story resumes, the action has moved to Paris. Cosette, still living with Valjean, has developed a love interest in Marius, but has yet to tell Valjean. Marius asks his grandfather, M. Gillenormand, for financial support so he can marry Cosette; but Gillenormand says, "Never." When the Thenardiers plan to ambush Valjean, Marius overhears their plan, and unsuccessfully tries to warn him, then warns Javert. The Thenardiers carry out their plan, but Valjean is saved by the arrival of the police.

In the 1934 movie, unlike others, Cosette persuades Valjean not to go to England. He even plans to speak to M. Gillenormand on behalf of Marius and Cosette. But this film does little to show Eponine's feelings for Marius. In the novel, but not in the film, Eponine agrees to find Cosette's house, diverts her father's gang from attacking the house, leads Marius to it, risks her life to protect Cosette and Valjean from the gang, and later warns Valjean of a possible further attack. In short, her actions are never inspired by jealousy. From Hugo's previous narrative, we might expect Marius to go to the barricade, not because of Eponine, but because his previous decision to be poor prevents him from marrying Cosette or following her to England. He has sworn to kill himself if he cannot be with her. Now he is going to the barricade to fulfill that promise, and Eponine follows him, and reflexively grabs the barrel of a gun aimed at him. But, perhaps feeling that Eponine has become too admirable, instead of this logical denouement, Hugo pens a hasty and dubious narrative in which Eponine, driven by jealousy, plots to lure Marius to the barricade so he and she can die together there. When a soldier aims his weapon at Marius, Eponine grabs its muzzle and directs it at herself. Dying, she gives Marius Cosette's note, and says it was she who lured him to the barricade where she wanted to die with him.

In the novel, Cosette gives Eponine (disguised as a boy) her note to Marius. Eponine does not read it or destroy it. What will she do with it other than deliver it to Marius? But in this film, Cosette sends her note to Marius' room, and Eponine finds it, reads it, and removes it, replacing it with another note telling Marius to join his friends at the barricade. In Hugo's novel, Cosette's note includes her new address, and warns Marius that her father intends to be in England within a week. But in the film, her note reads, "I spoke to my father. He gives his consent. Forget his anger. He's expecting you. Come back quickly." Marius reads the note and says, "It's too late." Just then, Valjean appears and tells Marius, "Come. She sent me." But Marius says, "I can't." Valjean responds, "It will kill her."

When the battle seems inevitably lost, the insurrectionists blow up their barricade. Two of them die before an impromptu firing squad. Valjrean carries wounded Marius through the sewers to the river, where he is intercepted by the police; and Javert, who has softened considerably, provides a carriage for Valjean to take Marius to Gillenormand's mansion. Then Javert allows Valjean to make a brief visit to his own house. While Valjean is inside, Javert walks off wondering out loud why he is not arresting Valjean.

In this film, Gillenormand speaks with Vajlean who has just brought Marius home to his mansion. Presumably, Marius and Cosette learn of Valjean's heroism from Gillenormand, thus this film lacks a dramatic scene in which Marius and Cosette discover the identity of Marius' rescuer. And there is no drama associated with Javert's suicide. All we see of his death are bubbles rising to the surface of the river. Back at headquarters, two police officers discuss his suicide, and one remarks that Javert was "a little blinkered." Meanwhile, Marius and Cosette are married and feted at a large celebration. Valjean avoids the wedding and watches the celebration from outside. On the following day, he reveals his true identity to Marius, and almost immediately succumbs to his final illness. He gives the two candlesticks to Cosette, and says, "I hope he that gave them to me is satisfied with me. I did the best I could." He provides an obiter dictum for the entire story: "God is just. It is man who sometimes is unjust." Asked by Cosette if he wants a priest, he remembers the bishop and tells her, "I have one."

Roughly 30 minutes of the original film have been lost, so current copies cannot be regarded as complete. We do know much of what is missing on the Criterion film-all the approximately eight years from the time Valjean rescued Cosette from the Thenardiers until Cosette's 16th birthday. During these years, Valjean takes Cosette to Paris, where they are driven out of the Gorbeau House by a police raid, escaping to a convent, where Cosette spends the rest of her childhood. Also missing are their move from the convent to Rue Plumet, Cosette's initial meeting with Marius, the activities of Eponine in locating Cosette, guiding Marius to her, and thwarting Thenardier's attempt to rob Valjean and Cosette. Perhaps the missing film would explain how Marius knows Javert, how Cosette knows Marius' address, and how Valjean and Cosette know Eponine.

Harry Baur gives a dominant performance as Valjean. Baur looks like a man who has done hard time and suffered constant fear of discovery, and gives a powerful emotional performance, not only as Valjean, but also as the slow witted Champmathieu. He may be the best of those who have played this role, and deserves the respect he is generally accorded.

Charles Vanel, with bushy sideburns like Hugo's Javert, effectively portrays the French police inspector as unemotional, gruff, unsympathetic, and driven by the law-even when it is directed at him. His suicide is not pictured in this movie, so Vanel is denied that dramatic scene. As Fantine, Florelle delivers some of the most emotional moments in the movie. Unlike many actors who have played Thenardier, Charles Dullin fully captures his shifty and sinister nature in one of the best portrayals of this character. Whereas Hugo's Eponine was thin and tall, Orane Demazis is short and stocky, but her elfish performance seems to fit this character. Her role was limited because the movie omits many of her activities described in the book. Josseline Gael and Jean Servais are effective as Cosette and Marius. Emile Genevois, who was 15 during the filming, but looks younger, has a large and impotant role as Gavroche, He went on to a long film career. Gaby Triquet did not, but she is convincing here as young Cosette.

Subsequent years were unfortunate for two members of the cast. When his wife, suspected of espionage, was arrested in Berlin in 1941, Harry Baur sought her release. The Germans arrested Baur and tortured him. He died mysteriously shortly after his release in 1943. During the war years, Gael broke up with her husband, actor Jules Berry, and kept company with Antonin Saunier, who worked with the French Gestapo. After France was liberated, both Saunier and Gael were arrested. He was convicted and executed. Gael, evidently thanks to the pleas of Berry (who was more loyal to her than she was to him), was fined and barred from French citizenship.

The 1934 movie is noteworthy for its length, its scale, its acting, and its cinematography. Most of the filming was done in specially constructed sets near Nice; these sets are impressive, but they don't look lived in. On the other hand, the Luxembourg Gardens scenes were actually shot in the Luxembourg Gardens. But Bernard's film still contains vestiges of earlier years in which many of these actors had honed their skills on the stage or in silent films. Thus they occasionally overact, exaggerate physical gestures, and register surprise with wide open eyes. Despite these shortcomings, many still regard this movie as the best screen presentation of Les Miserables.

The initial scenes in Wooden Crosses--soldiers marching in formation and myriad wooden crosses on a field--convey a sense of foreboding. Then we see enthusiastic crowds welcoming the coming of the war, cheering as troops march by, and waving happily at soldiers on a train heading for combat. Large crowds of eager men surge toward a recruiting station. Thereafter, the movie follows the soldiers in one unit of the French 39th Infantry Regiment. At first, they are in a jovial mood. Thinking the fighting is over, they indulge in wine and celebratory dancing. But soon they are marched off to the front, singing confidently. From their bunker at the front, a night patrol is sent to inspect the German positions. They hear a German soldier singing. There is a German attack, and Vairon, a member of the patrol, is killed. Later, a letter addressed to Vairon arrives, and Gilbert Debachy (a law student and a principal character in the story), who is from Vairon's home town, takes the letter and tears it in pieces which he places on Vairon's grave.

Even before they have much experience of combat, the men hear the sounds of German sappers digging under their bunker. They conclude that the Germans are about to lay explosives that will destroy the bunker and its inhabitants. One soldier nearly has a nervous breakdown. A relief group arrives and this unit moves out, minutes before the German explosives go off. In a church, we hear a man singing Ave Maria, as the camera cuts to a hospital where seriously wounded men are being treated. A soldier offers a simple prayer: Let us live. There follows a ten-day battle, as French soldiers go over the top facing machine gun and artillery fire. Two soldiers use the body of a deceased comrade as a parapet. The film of these scenes, with gun and artillery fire under a dark and overcast sky, is remarkably like actual wartime footage. It is after this battle that a soldier sings, "Oh yes, you'll get your cross. If not the Croix de Guerre, then a wooden cross." Later, as the soldiers put on a military parade, we see ghostly images of soldiers crossing the sky.

In the ensuing battle, Demachy, who was about to go on leave, is wounded in no man's land. In great pain, he calls for a medic. But a responding medic is hit by an artillery shell. Other soldiers are also calling for medics. Demachy tries to stay conscious, hoping a medic will come after dark. A double exposed image reflects his recollections of happier times--singing marching songs, and dancing at home. But the medics never reach him.

Although the various soldiers were from different social classes, they were not important as individuals. They all were simply components in a military machine. All the actors had seen combat in the war. Pierre Blanchar, who plays Gilbert Demachy, had been gassed at Verdun. It is not clear if the film depicts actual battles. Early in the war, there were two major battles in the area where it was filmed. In their initial attack, the Germans made their encircling movement too soon, and thus suffered a major defeat when the French attacked their exposed right flank at the First Battle of the Marne. It is evidently at this time that Demachy joins the unit, along with other reinforcements, expecting combat. The other soldiers laugh at him and tell him that the fighting is over. They are quickly disabused of this notion, and marched off to the front to engage in what was apparently the First Battle of Champagne, which lasted from late 1914 to early 1915, with the French seeking to break through the German lines and cut the railroad which brought their supplies. This attack failed, but the French attempted the same tactic a year later in the Second Battle of Champagne. The Germans detected French preparations, and called up reserves and established a second defensive line (the first in this war). The French broke through the first line, and were slaughtered by the second, which had not been affected by the initial French attack. This battle seems to be the second one portrayed in Wooden Crosses.

Wooden Crosses follows the story and the dialog in the novel by Roland Dorgelès, who fought in the war. Filmed in the Champagne region of France, the film is noteworthy for its innovative cinematography and powerful sound effects. The filming took place on World War I battlefields, and explosives intentionally set off for the film occasionally triggered unexploded shells buried in the area. The film had a great impact when it was released. Significantly, it was first screened for delegates at the Geneva Disarmament Conference. It was next shown to veterans of the 39th Infantry Regiment, and then to the public "at a gala performance" attended by the President of France. After viewing the film, one veteran asked,"will any one dare, after this, dupe us and abuse us with falsely heroic daubings intended to depict the war?"

Given the length of Hugo's novel (over 1,400 pages in some editions), a definitive screen version would have to be 15 to 20 hours long. This film, based on the musical, preserves most of Hugo's story, actually adding scenes that could not appear in the musical (some employing computer-generated imagery), such as the elephant statue where Gavroche hides out, General Lamarque's funeral procession, and Valjean's trip through the Paris sewers, and presents modified versions of scenes taken from the musical, such as the deaths of Eponine and Valjean.

A few characters, e.g., Petit Gervais, Felix Tholomyes, Fauchlevent, and Mabeuf, are absent. Marius' grandfather Gillenormand puts in brief appearances to hint at Marius' family background. But Marius' father George Pontmercy is omitted, as are M. Thenardier's encounter with George at Waterloo, and Marius' troubled relationship with his father. But the Thenardier family (the inspiration for the title, "Les Miserables"), which has disappeared entirely from some adaptations of Hugo's novel, does appear in this film.

One virtue of the musical is that it rescues Thenardier's daughter Eponine from the oblivion into which some versions have cast her. But it dwells almost entirely on her unrequited love for Marius; this is only half of Eponine's story. In the novel, although jealous of Cosette, who is obviously the object of Marius' romantic interest, Eponine guides Marius to Cosette's house, but only after hesitating, biting her lip, and "going through a kind of internal struggle." As she explains her decision, "Who cares, it makes no difference. You look sad, I want you to be glad." Thus, Eponine strives to make Marius happy, even though she knows she can never be part of his life. As she is leading Marius to Cosette's house, Eponine admonishes him, "You're following me too closely, Monsieur Marius. . . . It won't do for a fine young man like you to be seen with a woman like me." Her jealousy of Cosette occasionally emerges, especially after she sees Marius enter Cosette's garden, and sits in the shadows muttering "sullen and threatening" comments. Then her father's gang appears, planning to kidnap Cosette and demand ransom from Valjean. If she wishes for retribution, Eponine can merely stand back and let the gang implement its plan, instead she overcomes her jealousy and risks her life to protect Cosette and Marius. The film shows this scene, without showing Eponine's mixed feelings or the real danger posed by the gang (in the novel it consists of six heavily armed thugs).

In the film, Eponine intercepts Cosette's note to Marius, reads it, and keeps it from him; consequently, Marius, desperate because of Cosette's unexplained disappearance, goes to the barricade. But even if he had received Cosette's note, Marius probably would have gone to the barricade after finding his access to Cosette barred by Valjean. In Hugo's novel, Cosette hands her note to Eponine (then disguised as a boy); and Eponine never reads it. Nor does she destroy it. This film may be the only one that follows the novel in showing how Eponine dies by deliberately taking the bullet intended for Marius. As she is dying, she gives Marius Cosette's note, and tells him that she had not wanted him to receive it. But if so, why did she not destroy it? What will she do with the note except give it to Marius? In Hugo's novel, after reading the note, Marius writes a "farewell" message to Cosette, making no mention of Cosette's note or her disappearance. Instead, he tells Cosette that he cannot marry her or follow her to England because his grandfather has disapproved of their marriage and .won't provide Marius with the needed money. This would not have mattered except that Marius has no money of his own because he found legal work boring and deliberately chose to be poor, "curtailing labor to give (time) to thought." Thus, Marius, and not Eponine or his grandfather, is really the author of his own misfortune. If Eponine's romantic aspirations are frustrated, her life invalidates Marius' assumption that there is nothing in the world for a woman like her, "neither liberty, nor virtue, nor responsibility." Love makes Valjean possessive, and Marius insensitive. It has the opposite effect on Eponine. She is the hero of the middle chapters.

The film devotes a half an hour to events at the barricade, in which the rebels exchange fire with army troops before succumbing to their superior numbers. Thereafter, it adheres fairly closely to the novel, following Valjean through the sewers, witnessing Javert's suicide, and Marius' reunion with his grandfather and his reconciliation with Valjean. In the final scene, Fantine escorts Valjean to heaven where he is greeted by the Bishop of Digne, who had tried to make a good man of Valjean many years earlier.

The cast is strong. Hugh Jackman is perhaps the best Valjean, and.Russell Crowe is convincing as Javert. But Anne Hathaway's performance as Fantine is arguably the best in the film. For the role of Cosette, director Tom Hooper wanted someone who could project "tremendous intelligence," and selected Amanda Seyfried-he may have been seeking a portrayal in which Cosette's restraint reflected her sheltered life and convent education. (In an alternative approach Ellie Bamber's performance in the 2018 BBC version stressed Cosette's exuberance as a person excitedly entering into womanhood, Paris life, and romantic expectations.) Eddie Redmayne effectively portrays Marius' mood swings; and Aaron Tveit puts in a strong performance as Enjolras, leader of the student rebels. Because the film, like the musical, introduces M. Thenardier (Sacha Cohen) and Mme. Thenardier (Helena Bonham Carter) as rather clownish buffoons (in a tasteless sequence that adds nothing to the story) their subsequent attempts to appear sinister lack credibility. Samantha Barks, having played Eponine on stage in Queen's Theatre (London), in the 25th Anniversary Concert, and now in this movie, is probably more associated with this role than any other actor (Hooper says she is "really very, very special"). And there are effective performances by two young actors: 11-year-old Daniel Huttlestone (Gavroche), and 10-year-old Isabelle Allen (young Cosette). The acting required serious personal commitments. Jackman lost 30 pounds and engaged in daily 3-hour weightlifting sessions. Almost unbelievably, Hathaway lost 25 pounds, and allowed her real hair to be cut. Barks also lost weight.

The initial draft of the screenplay called for spoken dialogue to be interspersed with the musical numbers. But Hooper chose to have almost the entire performance sung. He worried that "constant gear shifts between dialog and music . . . (would be) like two different orders of realism," in which singing might seem "less naturalistic than spoken dialog." Presenting everything in song, he felt, would "honor the musical itself." Most filmed musicals reject this approach.

The singing is mostly good. Singing into a camera is naturally more subdued than singing on a concert stage. Hathaway's rendition of "Dream" makes up in emotional impact what it lacks in volume. The same can be said of Redmayne's singing of "Empty Chairs." Jackman has a surprisingly powerful voice (though sometimes with distracting vibrato). But Crowe often fails to sustain notes, and sometimes sounds like a patient with emphysema. Apparently, some of Jackman's songs were transposed down by as much as a third. This could have been done with some of Crowe's songs-he does noticeably better when in his comfort range (e.g., his performance of "Stars"). Seyfried's singing voice seems to be rather weak-Katie Hall (Cosette in the 25th Anniversary Concert) who has a strong voice, actually appears in this film in a very minor role; one wonders if she auditioned for the role of Cosette in this film.) Viewers should bear in mind that actors sang some songs as many as 20 or more times. Barks, whose singing is among the best in the film, had to sing under a rain machine that left her shaking and her teeth chattering (when she dried out, the filming crew doused her with more water!).

Awards reflect the high regard in which this film is held. Wikipedia, summarizing the actions of 24 organizations, reports that Les Miserables received 66 nominations and 32 awards. Individual awards went to Hathaway (she received 11), Jackman, Barks, and Isabelle Allen, and there were other awards, including one for cast as a whole.

The film offers optional English, French, and Spanish subtitles, and DVS (Digital Video Service)-audio description of unfolding events for the vision impaired. Extras include (1) "Stars of Les Miserables" (approximately 11 minutes): Director Tom Hooper and cast members discuss casting, and interpretation of characters. (2) "Creating the Perfect Paris" (approximately 3 minutes): Describes the planning and construction of the set. (3) "The Original Masterwork: Victor Hugo's Les Miserables" (approximately 11 minutes): Brief biographical sketch of Hugo and commentary on Les Miserables. (4) "Feature Commentary With Director Tom Hooper": Voice-over commentary on the entire film, regarding production decisions, casting, directing, cinematography, audio, and symbolism.

Those unfamiliar with Victor Hugo's novel may be able to view this movie with satisfaction. It covers in a general way the experiences of the novel's hero, Jean Valjean, including his incarceration (through a flashback), his meeting with the bishop. his success as a factory manager (having broken his parole), and his efforts to help Fantine (who was fired unjustly from his factory) and care for her daughter Cosette. It follows him as he confesses his true identity in order to save a man about to be convicted in his place, and when as a fugitive, he hides out in a Paris convent. All the while, he is pursued by Inspector Javert, whose fixation on Valjean recalls that of Ahab on the great white whale. Eventually, Cosette meets Marius, and they fall in love. During the Paris rebellion of 1832, Marius is wounded at a barricade, and saved by Valjean, who then surrenders to Javert. Thus, this film is true to the broad outlines of Victor Hugo's story.

Given the length of Hugo's novel (over 1,400 pages in some editions), a definitive screen version would have to be 15 to 20 hours long. In any case, screenplay writers are free to create their own versions of novels, and screen versions of Les Miserables inevitably deviate in significant ways from Hugo's story. But Rafael Yglesias' movie takes more liberties than most with Hugo's book. So, as some reviewers have noted, while this film may be viewed as a good story on its own, it differs from what Hugo wrote. The differences are substantial.

These are some of the major changes: Valjean, discovered by the bishop while stealing his silverware, knocks him out. After being apprehended, Valjean knocks Javert out by smashing Javert's head against a wall. During an argument with Cosette, Valjean slaps her viciously in the face. Seeking evidence against Valjean, Javert plans a census. Valjean has an almost romantic relationship with Fantine. Javert writes a note warning Valjean that Cosette is being seduced by Marius, whom he considers to be a dangerous radical. But when Cosette tells Valjean that she loves Marius, Valjean is understanding. Marius' friends (Enjolras, Courfeyrac, Grantaire) appear in the film, but Marius, not Enjolras, is their leader. Hence Marius has no trouble choosing between revolution and romance. When Cosette suggests that she and Marius go to England, Marius exclaims, "Cosette are you crazy? Tomorrow we're going to fight! We're going to restore the republic. I can't run away now!" After Javert captures Marius and ties him up, Marius manages to kick Javert, knocking him down, and Cosette grabs Javert's gun and turns it on him. While the battle is in progress, Valjean goes to the barricade and tells Marius to go to Cosette. When the street urchin Gavroche is shot in front of the barricade while gathering ammunition from fallen soldiers, his two young friends (aged circa 4 and 5 years old) are watching from the barricade (in the midst of gun and cannon fire). Marius is conscious while Valjean is carrying him through the sewer-so Marius is not mystified by the identity of his rescuer. As Javert commits suicide by falling into the river, Valjean calmly stands aside and watches, making no attempt to stop him or rescue him. The movie ends with Valjean walking happily along the river bank while music swells.

Some important characters are entirely absent: Marius' grandfather Gillenormand and his father George Pontmercy are omitted, so Marius' troubled relationships with them are missing. The Thenardier family (who were the inspiration for the title, "Les Miserables") appear only when Valjean takes Cosette from them. Their daughter Eponine appears only as a child. Grown-up Eponine, who puts Marius in contact with Cosette, repeatedly acts to protect Cosette and Valjean (once risking her life to do so), and eventually sacrifices her life to save Marius), has been left out of this film--this is somewhat like leaving Sydney Carton out of A Tale of Two Cities.

The cast is strong. Geoffrey Rush (as Javert), and Uma Thurman (as Fantine), put in strong performances. Liam Neeson is convincing as Valjean, although, as noted, Yglesias' screenplay makes him rather more aggressive than Hugo's character. And, whereas others who have played Valjean (especially Hugh Jackman and Dominic West) appear to have suffered 20 years in prison, Neeson looks like he has spent 20 years behind a desk. This is a make-up issue. Claire Danes (as Cosette) and Hans Matheson (as Marius) are somewhat hampered by the script. Danes comes across more as a 21 year old than as 16 year old whose ebullience reflects her simultaneous entry into adolescence and big city life. Matheson has little chance to give depth to the personality of Marius.

Viewers of this film can choose either English or French audio; and there are corresponding subtitles in English or French. The cinematography is effective, and the film is presented in wide screen (2.35:1). The only extra is a trailer. "Parents (are) strongly cautioned" about the film's violence and sexual content.

This six-hour film gives a fairly complete rendering of Victor Hugo's novel. Unlike the novel, it puts events into chronological order. It makes various changes in Hugo's story, but most are minor. Some events that do not occur in Hugo's book are inserted-most problematic is the portrayal of Eponine as a prostitute.

The scenes showing Valjean's work as a prisoner in the quarry, under the supervision of Inspector Javert, were created for the film; they do not appear in the novel. In treating Javert's fixation on Valjean, the film follows the novel.

Fantine, a young unwed mother, finds it nearly impossible to raise enough money to care for her illegitimate daughter, Cosette. The film leaves little to the imagination when portraying the desperate measures Fantine takes after losing her job, which include selling her hair, her teeth, and her body. Valjean's efforts to help Fantine come too late.

This film devotes more time than perhaps any other to the Thenardier family. Significantly, when Hugo uses the term, "Les Miserables" in the novel he applies it specifically to the Thenardier family, which has fallen into such poverty that "the moral light dies out within" and "man meets the weakness of woman and childhood and compels them to disgraceful uses. Then every horror is possible." M. Thenardier in the novel and the film is not the comical buffoon we see in the musical; he is "a mixture of vulture and shyster." In keeping with his evil character, Thenardier undertakes an "ambush" in which his gang attempts to kidnap Cosette and hold her for a ransom from Valjean. In the film, Valjean overcomes the thugs and makes his getaway. In the novel, the thugs are about to kill him, and he is saved only by the arrival of the police.

Thenardier's daughter Eponine is one of the most fascinating characters in the novel. In Hugo's account, referring to her sister, she tells Marius, "We weren't always what we are now." Under other conditions, she might have been pretty and charming. Now she is quite the opposite, but, "The grace of her youth was still struggling against the hideous old age brought on by debauchery and poverty." The mystery of Eponine's character goes back to Hugo, who shows a surprising lack of interest in her. Her situation is usually seen as a case of unrequited love; but this is not the whole story. She does not follow the usual pattern of someone disappointed in love. Although Eponine clearly sees Cosette as her rival for Marius' affection, she acts to protect Cosette and to facilitate her romance with Marius.

In a significant episode omitted from the film, Eponine responds to a request from the gang, which is planning a new ambush, by reconnoitering the target house. She sees Cosette there, which affords Eponine an opportunity to get Cosette out of her life, by encouraging the gang to attack, or by persuading Valjean to relocate. She does neither, instead she acts to protect Cosette by diverting the gang from the attack. Having thus learned Cosette's address, she sets off to find Marius.

The film gives a somewhat misleading impression of Eponine's subsequent conversation with Marius. Contrary to what the film seems to imply, she has undergone a transformation that has nothing to do with her appearance-she has been living on the street and sleeping rough. Hugo seems to be referring to something else: "Strangely, she had become more impoverished and more beautiful, . . . She had accomplished a double progress, toward the light and toward distress." Apparently, the "grace of her youth" is overcoming the effects of debauchery and poverty. As Hugo makes clear, Eponine understands the consequences of giving Marius Cosette's address: "She bit her lip; she seemed to hesitate, as if going through a kind of internal struggle. At last, she appeared to decide on her course." And she guides Marius to Cosette's house, thus uniting him with Cosette when she could have kept them apart. Why? Perhaps she realizes that a relationship between Marius and herself would be inappropriate. In an important comment omitted from the film, Eponine tells him, "You're following me too closely, . . . It won't do for a fine young man like you to be seen with a woman like me."

When her father's gang attempts to ambush Valjean and Cosette, Eponine confronts the hoodlums (there are six in the novel, but only three in the film). She physically challenges the gang, risking her life. "What is it to me whether somebody picks me up tomorrow on the pavement of the Rue Plumet, beaten to death with a club by my own father?" In the film, she screams a warning; in the novel, she intimidates the gang through sheer audacity, and gang members suspect witchcraft and move off. When the gang plans another ambush, Eponine warns Valjean to move out. Once again, she is attempting to protect Cosette. The scene of Eponine in the garden watching Marius and Cosette embrace and kiss does not occur in the novel. In fact, in all their garden meetings, Marius and Cosette kiss only once-their conduct is governed by chastity and innocence.

Perhaps the most important matter in which the film departs from the novel is its portrayal of Eponine's final hours. In Hugo's book, she wants to separate Marius from Cosette and lure him to the barricade, so she and he can die there together. But up to this point, Eponine has consistently acted to protect Marius and to unite him with Cosette. Why should she now wish to separate him from Cosette and lead him to his death? Hugo says she was motivated by jealousy; but she has always been jealous of Cosette, so this explanation is not convincing.

It seems that BBC folks were dissatisfied with Hugo's account. In their film, Eponine tries to prevent Marius from going to the barricade; but he goes anyway. The conventional view seems to be that Eponine's failure to give Cosette's letter to Marius causes him to go to the barricade. But the film suggests that, even if he had the letter and had gone to Cosette's new address, Valjean would likely have prevented him from seeing Cosette. When he finally gets her note, he sends a farewell message telling her that, because of his grandfather's disapproval, their marriage is impossible, and therefore he intends to die at the barricade. All is lost, not because of Eponine's actions, but because of his grandfather's attitude. If she wishes to separate Marius and Cosette, Eponine should destroy Cosette's letter; she doesn't. Hugo tells us that Eponine does not plan to deliver it; but what else can she do with it? And, once in Marius' hands, it will certainly reconnect him with Cosette. In view of all this, it is hard to believe that Eponine is trying to separate Marius and Cosette.

The film graphically portrays the gunfire and bloodshed at the barricade. Nearly all of the story's characters are involved. Most poignant is the death of Eponine. In this film, she is shot when she leaps in front a soldier who is firing at Marius. It happens so quickly that viewers cannot tell what has happened. More effective is the 2012 film, which, like Hugo's account, shows Eponine putting her hand on the muzzle of a musket pointed at Marius and aiming it at herself. The film does not clearly reveal what led Valjean to go to the barricade. The novel describes how his reading of Cosette's note to Marius caused him to fear his loss of her, and to experience feelings of selfishness and hatred of Marius. Then his reading of Marius' farewell letter at first evokes satisfaction that Marius is about to die. But Valjean is overcome by guilt and rushes to the barricade, presumably to save Marius. In the film, Valjean tells Marius that he went to the barricade with half a mind to kill Marius. But this does not ring true, since Marius' last message indicates that he is about to die at the barricade without Valjean's intervention.

Dominic West is convincing as Valjean. David Oyelowo effectively brings out Inspector Javert's morbid obsession with Valjean. Lily Collins conveys the whole range of emotions experienced by Fantine. Adeel Akhtar's portrayal of the deviously malevolent Thenardier is chilling; and Olivia Colman as Mme Thenardier is almost equally unpleasant. Josh O'Connor (Marius) portrays a young man in search of his identity. Ellie Bamber is outstanding as the sheltered and ingenuous Cosette. Casting Eponine, a character whom Hugo describes, on the one hand, as repulsive, and on the other hand as beautiful, was perhaps a challenge-Erin Kellyman was an inspired choice, her freckles and unkempt red hair made her a natural for this role, enhanced for this film with dirty bare feet, unwashed hands and threadbare clothes; and she is equally persuasive when being vulnerable and when being assertive.

Reasonable criticism can be directed at some aspects of this film. And, of course, it cannot include every event and subplot in the book. But no other screen presentation gives an equally complete version of Hugo's novel.

This film about "Grimley" and its band is loosely based on the experiences of the miners and musicians of Grimethorpe, a small village in South Yorkshire whose economy was heavily dependent on coal mining. Characters in Brassed Off continue to feel the effects of the 1984 strike that tried and failed to prevent the closure of 20 mines. The bitterness that arose between those who continued to strike and those who returned to work still remains. In the period reflected in this movie (1992), most miners were less militant, and were willing to accept mine closure and severance pay, rather than an assessment of the mine's potential profitability as a private venture. After the mine was closed, Grimethorpe suffered from a loss of jobs and hope. All of this is reflected in the movie.

The announcement of the mine's closing came just days before the 1992 National Brass Band competition. The fate of the local band after the mine is closed is the central question posed by the film. The Grimethorpe Colliery Band (which plays all the music heard in the movie) was one of many sponsored by various British communities and industries, and one of just a small handful of these bands that have been perennial contenders for national honors. In the years since 1970, the Grimethorpe Colliery Band has won the National Championships 4 times, the ITV Granada Band of the Year title 6 times, and the UK Brass in Concert Championship 14 times. Its success was partly based on recruitment of such super stars as Alan Morrison (its top cornet player) who was deemed the best lead cornet in Brass in Concert Championships in each of the five years from 1990 to 1994. (Morrison has said that his "only regret in life" is that he left the band too early and thus did not appear in the film.) His successor, Shaun Randall (who plays the cornet solo on the William Tell Overture in the movie) was named best lead cornet in the 1995 Brass Concert Championships. Although the Grimethorpe mine was closed, the Grimethorpe Colliery band has carried on. In November 2017, one organization ranked it the 10th best brass band in the world.

Apart from the fate of the band, Brassed Off focuses on the personal situations of a few main characters. Incredibly, the publisher described the movie as a "delightfully entertaining comedy." This is emphatically not a comedy—unless you are inclined to chuckle at families being evicted from their homes, victims of black lung collapsing in the street, or an angry man cursing God in a church. The film stresses the tension between Danny, the band leader who considers music more important than anything, and his trombonist son Phil, who seems likely to lose everything with the closure of the mine. There is also the ambiguous romance between Gloria, who has returned to town in a mysterious role, and her old admirer Andy. Pete Postlewaite (Danny) and Stephen Tompkinson (Phil) are especially convincing. Tompkinson's role is perhaps the most challenging in the movie. Tara Fitzgerald and Ewan McGregor effectively portray the on-again, off-again, relationship between Gloria and Andy. (Viewers may recognize "Harry" as Jim Carter who played the butler "Carson" in Downton Abbey.) Although 80 per cent of the miners voted to accept closure of the mine and take severance pay, Brassed Off might lead viewers to sympathize with those who wanted to keep the mine open. But, work in the mines was not an unmixed blessing—like Danny, many miners suffered from various respiratory diseases. The movie blames mine closures on Margaret Thatcher and the Tories. Actually, the reduction in British coal production had been continuous since the 1910s, and cannot be attributed to particular leaders or political parties. The decline of British manufacturing, the development of new home heating technologies, and the switch to cheaper imported coal and to cleaner and renewable forms of energy were contributing factors. But, in a broader perspective, the film relates, not just to miners, but to the plight of all workers who are being rendered "redundant" by modern technology.

It is April 1945, the final weeks of the Third Reich, and the small town of Bad Tölz in southern Germany, midway between Munich and Innsbruck, is bracing for an attack by the American army. Bad Tölz is divided into western and eastern sections by the River Isar, which is spanned by a narrow bridge. Although German army officers plan to demolish the bridge soon to impede the American advance, seven 16-year-old German boys are sent to defend it—at first, their commanders expect that the boys will go home before the fighting starts; later, the officers intend that the boys will offer token resistance (forcing the Americans to bring up reinforcements), and then retire so a German demolition team can blow up the bridge before the American reinforcements arrive. Most of the adults—whether parents, teachers, or army officers—are surprised when the 16 year olds are drafted, and are convinced that these youths are putting their lives at risk for no purpose. But the boys themselves have grown up under the Nazi regime and absorbed its values. To them, military duties offer a chance to show their courage and to follow orders. At first, it is still like a game—one boy suggests using as an observation post a "fort" they had used when playing cowboys and Indians. But, when the firing starts, they discover that it is not a game.

This film is based on Gregor Dorfmeister's (penname Manfred Gregor) novel which grew out of his real life experiences as a teenage German soldier. In the novel the story begins when the boys are already in the army, and employs a dozen flashbacks to provide personal information about each of the boys and some of the army officers. Wrestling with this unwieldy framework, Dorfmeister wrote and re-wrote the novel seven times before submitting it to the publisher. Understandably, director Bernhard Wicki considered this format inappropriate for the movie, and chose instead to tell the story more or less chronologically. This required him to omit many details, and to foreshorten time, placing in several days events that actually took place over several years. For example, in the film, the boys were in the army for only a single day; in the novel, they had 14 days' military training.

Each of the seven boys has a distinctive personality—some are more mature than others. The movie gives us a good understanding of some of the boys—Jürgen's desire to be an army officer, Walter's resentment of his Nazi father—but it fails to capture the character of Hans Scholten (who is Ernst Scholten in the novel). This is unfortunate, because Scholten, as the most mature, the most outspoken, and perhaps the most sensitive of the group, may be the most important character in the story. In the book, Scholten is an outsider. He loves music, plays the flute, consistently avoids Hitler Youth meetings, and has once been arrested for vandalism. More than the other boys he resents military regimentation; and he is the only one who dares to talk back to army officers. His only motive for fighting the Americans is avenging the death of one of the other boys. Even so, he does not hate all Americans; and when one GI pleads with the boys to go home, Scholten feels a grudging admiration for him, and avoids shooting him. But Karl, one of the other boys, shoots the American, and Scholten is furious that the "stupid ass" had shot him. When Lieutenant Hampel, who has come to demolish the bridge, tells Scholten to convey the General's compliments to the other boys, Scholten, his eyes "burning with hatred," waves his arm at the battle scene, where five of his friends lie dead, and tells Hampel, "There they are, Herr Leutnant, waiting—for the General's compliments!" If you get a chance, read the book—Dorfmeister has packed a great deal of emotion into its 140 pages.

"The Bridge" was shot with black and white film. This gives it the appearance of a World War II era newsreel. The dialogue is in German, with English subtitles. In some respects, "The Bridge" is not very realistic. It is highly improbable that a small squad of seven teenagers would be equipped with two machine guns, multiple panzerfaust anti-tank weapons and liberal amounts of ammunition—especially if they were not originally expected to do any serious fighting. When "The Bridge" was filmed, the German army did not have large battle tanks. And U.S. Army officers, reading in the script how American tanks were to be shot up by German teenagers, declined to provide American tanks for the movie. So Wicki had to employ dummy tanks. But these technical discrepancies do not reduce the dramatic impact of the story.

This DVD includes some informative extras. (1) Author Gregor Dorfmeister (22 minutes, in German with English subtitles) describing the real life events on which this film was based. (2) Excerpts from a 1989 television interview (15 minutes, in German with English subtitles) with director Bernhard Wicki. (3) A 2015 interview of director Volker Schlondorff (9 minutes, in English), in which he discusses "The Bridge," its place among German war films, and its impact on viewers. (4) Excerpts from a 2007 documentary about Wicki (9 minutes, in German, with English subtitles), produced by his widow, which give viewers an idea of how "The Bridge" was filmed.

As a young German officer, Lothar-Gűnther Buchheim was assigned to join a U-boat patrol in the Atlantic and write a morale-boosting account of its mission. This experience provided the basis for his 1973 novel, Das Boot, which inspired this film.

In its day, Das Boot was one of the most expensive films ever produced. Most of the money went into the sets. Especially noteworthy is the set for the U-boat's interior, which was carefully constructed to replicate all the equipment of a real submarine, and mounted on a gimbal that could impart movements to simulate waves, dives, and depth charges. The set was engineered so that water could rush in and fire could break out in its confines. The camera man was forced to work in very restricted spaces and dash through the set filming the actors with his special gyro-stabilized camera. As portrayed in Das Boot, sailors were a diverse lot, but in crises they set their varying personalities and political philosophies aside and assume their assigned roles. They take some satisfaction from sinking ships, but this is tempered by discomfort or remorse over the merchant seamen they killed. U-boat existence was dispiriting, with long periods of boredom alternating with sheer terror as crewmen fought against an unseen enemy for their very lives. Casting is excellent, especially compelling is Jurgen Prochnow as the steely-eyed captain. Herbert Grönemeyer as the young correspondent Werner (i.e., Buchheim), and Klaus Wennermann as the Chief Engineer give strong performances. Hubertus Bengsch and Martin Semmelrogge give credibility to the First and Second Watch Officers, respectively—two very different characters. The sound effects, enhanced in the most recent versions, make you feel you are actually on the boat.

Several versions of Das Boot have been released. The 150-minute theater version (1981), the 209-minute Director's Cut version (1997), and the 293-minute version (2004) from which a six-episode television series was derived. The 293-minute version provides more information about individual crew members and everyday life on the ship. The 209-minute version gives insights into the officers' personalities (but neglects the other crewmen). The 150-minute theater version concentrates on action scenes. The nature of your interests may determine which version you prefer.

In one of the peripherals (The Making of Das Boot), star Jurgen Prochnow asserts, "The whole thing happened. That's a true story—exactly like it was." That is not exactly true. The U-96 actually sailed from St. Nazaire, not La Rochelle. If the U-96's crew were optimistic in setting out at the beginning of the film (October 1941), it was not due to their inexperience, but because the U-96 had already survived six patrols. A patrol was not yet the semi-suicidal venture it was later to become. British anti-submarine measures had become much more effective by late 1941, but the U-boats responded by moving their operations away from the most heavily patrolled seas. Sinkings by U-boats peaked in November 1942. The decisive turning point in the Battle of the Atlantic actually came in May 1943, when over 40 U-boats were lost (compared with 4 lost in November 1941). In real life, U-96's periscope would have been raised to a level at which the captain's view was not obscured by waves; and almost every encounter with British anti-submarine vessels would have featured the pinging of the asdic apparatus they used to locate submerged U-boats. In the film, messages are decoded with a four-rotor Enigma machine; but the German navy actually continued using three-rotor machines until February 1942.

But all this is small-minded nitpicking. Das Boot is not intended to be a reenactment of a particular patrol; it is, rather, a microcosm of the whole U-boat war. Yet, in many ways, the film closely follows the U-96's seventh patrol (Oct. 27, 1941-Dec. 6, 1941). The U-96 was an actual ship; and it really had for its emblem the laughing sawfish that appears on the conning tower of the movie vessel. The harbor scenes were shot in World War II era German submarine bunkers. Bread and fresh produce customarily were tucked into every available space when a U-boat was provisioned. Bucheim really did take thousands of photographs while on board. The unscheduled encounter with another U-boat actually did take place—Buchheim's photo of the event is reproduced on the cover of Time-Life's The Battle of the Atlantic (1977). And many U-boats were ordered to the Mediterranean (by Hitler himself) to protect ships carrying supplies to German forces in Africa.

As far as we can tell, the film's principal characters were closely based on their real-life equivalents. "Leutnant Werner" represents Buchheim himself, a young man who found U-boat life much more harrowing than he imagined. The captain is based on Heinrich Lehmann-Willenbrock, one of the top U-boat "aces," who had joined the navy in the pre-Nazi years and may have been among the navy officers who were not imbued with Nazism. The First Watch Officer was clearly patterned on Gerhard Groth, who was born in Mexico. The film portrays the Second Watch Officer, who evidently represents Werner Hermann, as a rather irreverent and mischievous person—and Hermann's cadet class was remembered for its pranks. Bengsch (cast as Groth) and Semmelrogge (cast as Hermann) may have been selected for their physical resemblance to the characters they portrayed. The Chief Engineer was probably based on Friedrich-Wilhelm Grade. In real life, all of these men survived the war.

From a German perspective, only 10 U-boats were more successful than the U-96. After 11 patrols, it became a training vessel, and it survived until it was destroyed by American bombs in March 1945. In the course of the war, not a single crew member died in combat on the U-96. In real life, U-96 was a lucky boat.