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

Claudio Carvalho In the Eighteenth Century in France, the unemployed woodman Jean Valjean (Richard Jordan) is arrested for stealing a bread to feed his family and sentenced to five years in prison in Toulon. He tries to escape from prison due to the mistreatment of cruel Javert (Anthony Perkins), increasing his sentence. Nineteen years later he succeeds to escape and is helped by the kind Bishop Myriel (Claude Dauphin) that feeds and shelters him. However he steals his silverware in the dawn but he is arrested by two policemen and brought back to the bishop. The bishop tells that the silver objects were a gift and gives two additional candlesticks to Valjean. When the policemen leave the place, the bishop tells that he has bought his soul and now he should live an honest life. Jean Valjean becomes a well-succeeded businessman with the alias Madeleine bringing prosperity to a small town producing black beads that he had learnt in the prison and then the becomes the major. His life changes when Javert is assigned the chief of police of his town. Javert arrests the beggar Fantine (Angela Pleasence) accused of prostitution but Madeleine asks him to release her and brings her home. He learns that she sends money to a couple to raise her daughter Cosette. Meanwhile Javert travels to Paris to denounce Madeleine, but he learns that Jean Valjean is arrested. But Madeleine confesses the truth to the court and releases the man. Now Javert will take him back to Toulon. What will Jean Valjean do? "Les Miserables" is one of the saddest stories of injustice and obsession ever. The Victor Hugo's novel is a touching extensive novel and should be mandatory its reading for teenagers. This excellent film omits many details but it is very faithful to the novel as a whole. Maybe it is the best version ever made. Anthony Perkins is fantastic in the role of Javert and Richard Jordan has a great performance in the lead role of Jean Valjean. My vote is eight.Title (Brazil): "Os Miseráveis" "The Miserables")

Hotwok2013 Victor Hugo's "Les Miserables" is widely regarded as one of the greatest books of the 19th century. The reasons why literary critics consider it so is because the sprawling story covers a huge number of themes. Mans inhumanity to man, faith, redemption & just about every facet of human nature both good & evil. This 1978 television adaptation of the book is, for my money, the best. The central character is Jean Valjean who is superbly played by Richard Jordan. He is originally sentenced to 5 years imprisonment for stealing a loaf of bread to feed his starving family. His sentence is increased to life after several escape attempts. After serving 19 years he does succeed in escaping. Anthony Perkins is fantastic playing first a senior prison officer at Toulon where Valjean is incarcerated & later the cold-hearted policeman Inspector Javert. It was Alfred Hitchcock who cast him as Norman Bates in "Psycho" after he noted his ability to look shifty & suspicious as an actor. Those same acting qualities make him perfectly cast as Javert. He is not really evil but rather just ruthless about carrying out what he considers to be his duty. There are many overly-officious people like him around today usually referred to as "jobsworths". Really evil people are represented by the Thenardiers who maltreat a young girl Cosette put in their care by her poor prostitute mother Fantine, played by Angela Pleasance. She could hardly have chosen a worse couple.They eventually sell her off to Valjean after he changes his name to Mr Madeleine following his prison escape. He makes a solemn promise to her dying mother to take care of her daughter Cosette. She is not a prostitute out of choice, as the author makes clear, but because she is so poor & desperate she has nothing else to sell but her body. The Thenardiers realise how much Mr. Madeleine wants to take charge of Cosette & feigning their love & affection for her exact a huge price. The story is full of memorable characters like the kindly bishop Myriel who "buys" his soul after Valjean had escaped from prison & stole some of his silverware. After Valjean is caught he is taken back by soldiers under armed guard to the bishop who claims he gave them to him as a gift. He then gives him his two silver candlesticks telling him he forgot to take those as well. Valjean is deeply moved & from that moment becomes a changed man who resolves to do good in the world. He will treasure the candlesticks for the rest of his life as symbolic of his new-found faith in god. After changing his name to Mr. Madeleine, he becomes a successful respectable businessman in a small town. Javert later accepts a post as chief of police there. After witnessing an accident he sees Mr. Madeleine perform a feat of strength to free a man trapped under a wheel. He remembers that Valjean in Toulon prison had also shown great strength in releasing a man after a huge rock had fallen on him. He has noticed the similarity in looks between Mr Madeleine & Jean Valjean and begins to think that they may be one & the same person. The street-urchin boy Gavroche, a son of the Thenardiers, is another memorable character & a good sort. After an uprising in Paris he is killed by troops whilst bravely running around collecting ammunition from the dead bodies of some of the rioters for the use of those still fighting. Presumably, Victor Hugo is making a point that evil parents do not necessarily produce evil offspring. A great book was made into a great TV movie & I would recommend it to anyone.

BubbleSuit24601 I'm sorry to say that this did not live up to my hopes. Les Miserables is my favorite story and I love it to the point of obsession so I suppose that might make me a little bit hard to please but Anthony Perkins demeanor disappointing to say the least and his posture was so stiff as to not allow him to bend even when evading the hat rack brandished by Jean Valjean. And speaking of Richard Jordan, he seemed to overact quite a bit. His "innocent/confused stutter" is much too prominent and overused. All in all I was not too happy with the way it turned out.