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LES MISERABLES
Production: Pathe-Natan. Direction: Raymond Bernard. Photography: J. Kruger. Scenario: Andre Lang and Raymond Bernard. Art Direction: Jean Perrier. Music: Arthur Honegger. With Harry Baur, Charles Vanel, Henry Krauss, Marthe Mellot, Gaby Triquet. Length: 9080 feet.
Hugo's vast novel has been filmed in two parts; this first instalment takes the plot down to M. Madeleine's escape from prison after the exposure of his convict past. Even so, there is more than enough material here for one picture; and the special merit of Raymond Bernard's direction is that he covers a lot of ground without ever seeming to be in a hurry. Naturally, there must be large omissions, obvious even to someone who, like myself, has not read the book. For instance, the transformation of Jean Valjean, the brutalized convict, into M. Madeleine, the generous, wealthy and respected Mayor of Montreuil, has to be taken for granted ; and there are various other rather abrupt transitions. But the main lines of the story are given; and a solid, deliberate treatment is essential to the atmosphere.
The central theme is a contrast between human feeling and legal justice — or between love and revenge — and it is important to avoid rhetorical over-emphasis. The assize-court scene, when M. Madeleine reveals his identity in order to save an old peasant from conviction as Valjean, might easily have fallen into crude melodrama; Bernard saves it by insistence on precisely realistic detail. Much of the film's success, however, is due to the performance of Harry Baur, a massive figure of a man whose acting has, nevertheless, the delicacy which often goes with great reserves of strength under assured control. As Valjean-Madeleine, he stands like a mountain in the midst of the turbulent action ; and something of the heroic scale of Hugo's conception receives in him a credible human form. The supporting parts are all well played — the Bishop and the police inspector are particularly good — and the photography is forcible and clear.
Les Miserables is said to be the most expensive picture ever made in France; it is, nevertheless, the best French production seen here for many months.
Charles Davy.
Ill