(no subject)
Apologies to those who have seen me ramble on and on about the movies.
So now I've seen almost every Les Miserables movie available, so I'm gonna make a list, because that's always fun. I'm gonna start with the ones that I don't think are worth the effort, unless you also like watching every Les Mis movie for the heck of it.
1952: This one is horrible. It stars Michael Rennie and Robert Newton and they play the dullest Javert and Valjean ever. I don't think I could even bring myself to pay attention to most of it. Debra Paget as Cosette was okay. Marius is horrible, fugly and too old for the part, especially since Cosette looks 12, the worst next to the guy from the 2000 mini-series. The thing is, they put this on the other side of the disc for the 1935 version, so you're drawn to watch it out of a sense of curiousity. (Sucks so much no one put it up in youtube, even.)
And that's it. I thought there was another one I didn't like at all, but apparently not. Yes, that's right, I even really like the 1998 version.
-1978: This one I didn't pay much attention too, but it's probably the most accurate of the English speaking versions. I just found it kinda dull. If I hadn't seen much better versions, I would have liked it better. But it has Anthony Perkins as Javert, who is really good. And Flora Robson, who always makes everything better simply by being in a scene. The rest of the actors are good too.
-1995: This isn't a straight-up adaptation, but a WWII story that compares itself to Les Miserables. I didn't pay attention much, but what I did see was good.
-1935: The only reason I think fans don't criticize this one as much as the 1998 is because it's not as well known. It's a good movie, bad adapatation like 1998 as well. If anything, though, I'd say it's a worse adaptation because 30s standards forced it to sanatize pretty much everything. Also, most critics seemed to like Charles Laughton's Javert, but they're crazy. He stinks in the role. He always looks like he's about to burst into tears.
-1998: I really like it, okay? I mean, I haven't watched it in years so I guess I don't like it THAT much, but if I saw it on TV I'd probably stop and watch a bit. Geoffrey Rush is fantastic, even though they made Javert way too brutal. And that goes for Valjean too. I can accept a lot of changes, but I cannot accept that he would slap Cosette. Ever. Even in the context of the movie, it seems unlikely that he would slap her, let alone if you've read the book. I just, I really hate that slap. But otherwise, I like all the actors and I think the movie has a good pace and is engaging. It's too bad that they didn't make it a longer movie. That probably would've helped.
-1957: (Link is only a clip to hear the dub of doom.) This is available with an awful, awful dub. I thought when it came out on DVD they would have the option of with or without dub, but no, they came out with just the dub, to mock me. I've caught some snippets here and there of it in French, and it is much better, but it's still not my favorite, despite being very accurate. Eponine has the weirdest hair ever, I get Marius and Enjolras confused (Enjolras is slightly fuglier), they don't go into detail with Fantine (I'm biased towards Fantine - I think she's really important and I hate when movies make her into a walk-on role), and I feel kind of evil for saying this, but I'm not that fond of Jean Gabin as Valjean. I do not know why. I think it's cause he's not scruffy enough, maybe? Okay, now it seems like I've eviscerated the movie, but I do like it. I was just listing the reasons why it's not my favorite, despite the accuracy. I like Cosette. The Thenardiers are good. And props to the Gavroche dub, the only person who doesn't sound like they're going to fall asleep.
-1982: I just saw this one, and it's good, but I have mixed feelings. They did a good job with Enjolras and the friends of the ABC, realistic living conditions and weather, and the Thenardiers and their life in the Parisian criminal world, but otherwise there were a lot of weird choices in directing and music. This was in French with no subtitles, so maybe I missed something, but there was no dialogue to confuse me in this particular part. This is what happened: It's the end of the movie, and Valjean is walking down the street and then gets robbed. I think. But then we see him in bed, and then he staggers up, and he walks towards some windows and then the shutters blow open and the glass breaks in them, and meanwhile Cosette and Marius rush in (as fast as they can in slo-mo) but Valjean has already died. Meanwhile, choral music is playing really loudly in the background. It's all very odd. I admire the director for trying to do something different but he didn't really pull it off. Also, Gavroche sings "Little People" from the musical a LOT. And Cosette and Marius have awful 80s hair.
-2000: This was a mini-series with Gerard Depardieu. People don't really like it for a lot of reasons, varying from large to small: Valjean is in love with Cosette, Eponine has a fancy red dress on, Marius is hideous and too old for the role, they botch up the episode in the barricades even though it's a running time of about 6 hours, Jeanne Moreau and John Malkovich have weird random scenes that weren't in the books. I still like it however. Valjean being in love with Cosette annoys me because he tells Marius, which, fine I can accept they decided that Valjean has romantic feelings for Cosette, but he wouldn't tell Marius, and probably he wouldn't admit it to himself. I don't mind Eponine's dress, I fanwank that she stole it. They don't show the fall of the barricades but they show Fauchelevent come and stupidly get shot even though Valjean tells him to stay away. Yeah, this is kind of weird movie. I still like it though. Once again I like Cosette, she's played by a lovely actress and her character is fleshed out nicely. Eponine is also played by a lovely actress and in this movie it makes no sense that they fell in love with Marius. And they have scenes together too, so it is even more ridiculous that they did not go and run away together.
1934: (Some people say 1933, I go back and forth but mostly stick to 1934 because that's when the movie came out according to imdb. Very important detail, I know.) My favorite! It's not the most accurate, but it's just so well made. And I make it sound worse than it is when I say it's not the most accurate film: part 1 (it comes in three parts) is ridiculously accurate. Later on, it gets muddled, but unlike other films I can understand why they made the changes they made, although I would have preferred less from part 1 if it meant they could have squeezed in Thenardier in the sewers. I spend so much time praising this one I'll list some of the bad things about it: overuse of tilting the camera, hammy acting (at times), leaving out Thenardier in the sewers/Marius finding out about Valjean from him. And sometimes they don't explain things properly, and I think it would be confusing if you didn't already know what was going on. But mostly the acting, the costumes, the music, and the direction are incredible.
So now I've seen almost every Les Miserables movie available, so I'm gonna make a list, because that's always fun. I'm gonna start with the ones that I don't think are worth the effort, unless you also like watching every Les Mis movie for the heck of it.
1952: This one is horrible. It stars Michael Rennie and Robert Newton and they play the dullest Javert and Valjean ever. I don't think I could even bring myself to pay attention to most of it. Debra Paget as Cosette was okay. Marius is horrible, fugly and too old for the part, especially since Cosette looks 12, the worst next to the guy from the 2000 mini-series. The thing is, they put this on the other side of the disc for the 1935 version, so you're drawn to watch it out of a sense of curiousity. (Sucks so much no one put it up in youtube, even.)
And that's it. I thought there was another one I didn't like at all, but apparently not. Yes, that's right, I even really like the 1998 version.
-1978: This one I didn't pay much attention too, but it's probably the most accurate of the English speaking versions. I just found it kinda dull. If I hadn't seen much better versions, I would have liked it better. But it has Anthony Perkins as Javert, who is really good. And Flora Robson, who always makes everything better simply by being in a scene. The rest of the actors are good too.
-1995: This isn't a straight-up adaptation, but a WWII story that compares itself to Les Miserables. I didn't pay attention much, but what I did see was good.
-1935: The only reason I think fans don't criticize this one as much as the 1998 is because it's not as well known. It's a good movie, bad adapatation like 1998 as well. If anything, though, I'd say it's a worse adaptation because 30s standards forced it to sanatize pretty much everything. Also, most critics seemed to like Charles Laughton's Javert, but they're crazy. He stinks in the role. He always looks like he's about to burst into tears.
-1998: I really like it, okay? I mean, I haven't watched it in years so I guess I don't like it THAT much, but if I saw it on TV I'd probably stop and watch a bit. Geoffrey Rush is fantastic, even though they made Javert way too brutal. And that goes for Valjean too. I can accept a lot of changes, but I cannot accept that he would slap Cosette. Ever. Even in the context of the movie, it seems unlikely that he would slap her, let alone if you've read the book. I just, I really hate that slap. But otherwise, I like all the actors and I think the movie has a good pace and is engaging. It's too bad that they didn't make it a longer movie. That probably would've helped.
-1957: (Link is only a clip to hear the dub of doom.) This is available with an awful, awful dub. I thought when it came out on DVD they would have the option of with or without dub, but no, they came out with just the dub, to mock me. I've caught some snippets here and there of it in French, and it is much better, but it's still not my favorite, despite being very accurate. Eponine has the weirdest hair ever, I get Marius and Enjolras confused (Enjolras is slightly fuglier), they don't go into detail with Fantine (I'm biased towards Fantine - I think she's really important and I hate when movies make her into a walk-on role), and I feel kind of evil for saying this, but I'm not that fond of Jean Gabin as Valjean. I do not know why. I think it's cause he's not scruffy enough, maybe? Okay, now it seems like I've eviscerated the movie, but I do like it. I was just listing the reasons why it's not my favorite, despite the accuracy. I like Cosette. The Thenardiers are good. And props to the Gavroche dub, the only person who doesn't sound like they're going to fall asleep.
-1982: I just saw this one, and it's good, but I have mixed feelings. They did a good job with Enjolras and the friends of the ABC, realistic living conditions and weather, and the Thenardiers and their life in the Parisian criminal world, but otherwise there were a lot of weird choices in directing and music. This was in French with no subtitles, so maybe I missed something, but there was no dialogue to confuse me in this particular part. This is what happened: It's the end of the movie, and Valjean is walking down the street and then gets robbed. I think. But then we see him in bed, and then he staggers up, and he walks towards some windows and then the shutters blow open and the glass breaks in them, and meanwhile Cosette and Marius rush in (as fast as they can in slo-mo) but Valjean has already died. Meanwhile, choral music is playing really loudly in the background. It's all very odd. I admire the director for trying to do something different but he didn't really pull it off. Also, Gavroche sings "Little People" from the musical a LOT. And Cosette and Marius have awful 80s hair.
-2000: This was a mini-series with Gerard Depardieu. People don't really like it for a lot of reasons, varying from large to small: Valjean is in love with Cosette, Eponine has a fancy red dress on, Marius is hideous and too old for the role, they botch up the episode in the barricades even though it's a running time of about 6 hours, Jeanne Moreau and John Malkovich have weird random scenes that weren't in the books. I still like it however. Valjean being in love with Cosette annoys me because he tells Marius, which, fine I can accept they decided that Valjean has romantic feelings for Cosette, but he wouldn't tell Marius, and probably he wouldn't admit it to himself. I don't mind Eponine's dress, I fanwank that she stole it. They don't show the fall of the barricades but they show Fauchelevent come and stupidly get shot even though Valjean tells him to stay away. Yeah, this is kind of weird movie. I still like it though. Once again I like Cosette, she's played by a lovely actress and her character is fleshed out nicely. Eponine is also played by a lovely actress and in this movie it makes no sense that they fell in love with Marius. And they have scenes together too, so it is even more ridiculous that they did not go and run away together.
1934: (Some people say 1933, I go back and forth but mostly stick to 1934 because that's when the movie came out according to imdb. Very important detail, I know.) My favorite! It's not the most accurate, but it's just so well made. And I make it sound worse than it is when I say it's not the most accurate film: part 1 (it comes in three parts) is ridiculously accurate. Later on, it gets muddled, but unlike other films I can understand why they made the changes they made, although I would have preferred less from part 1 if it meant they could have squeezed in Thenardier in the sewers. I spend so much time praising this one I'll list some of the bad things about it: overuse of tilting the camera, hammy acting (at times), leaving out Thenardier in the sewers/Marius finding out about Valjean from him. And sometimes they don't explain things properly, and I think it would be confusing if you didn't already know what was going on. But mostly the acting, the costumes, the music, and the direction are incredible.