Watch the '35 version with March and Laughton. Laughton's performance as Javert is absolutely astonishing, it more than compensates for how violently the story is truncated. A friend of mine saw this yesterday, said that Hathaway has the Oscar in the bag, and that the first half is very good, but Hooper shifts the emphasis to the uprising and Valjean is lost in the mix, which you can't quite get away with in a narrative film.
I mean, that's how the structure of the play is, so that shouldn't really be a surprise, though. If you're going to include all or most of the songs, it's going to shift to focusing quite a bit on the students.
Yes, he said that's why it does that, it's just that for a narrative film you're arguably a little bit more restricted in what you can do.
I remember when some friends forced me to watch the Liam Neeson movie (many years before I ever saw the play) and we get through the whole thing and my comment was, "I thought Les Mis was a musical?" I was a little slow... After I finally got around to seeing the play, I went out and read the book (Paris sewer chapter and all.) Love both versions. I think the two are more similar than Musical!Wicked and Book!Wicked (never did like that book) but there are a few major differences.
Les Mis is definitely a musical worth seeing. But yeah, basically the whole thing is sung ... I need to get a copy of the soundtrack, which I"m guessing is a couple hours long.
I have like... 5 different cast recordings. Original London Cast, Original Broadway Cast, 10th Anniversary, Symphonic, French Concept Album, Original Paris Cast, 25th Anniversary as well I think.... okay that's more than 5
I'll be in for a treat, then. I think I've watched most of the musicals readily available in DVD, from Old School (The King and I, My Fair Lady) to modern (Jackman's Oklahoma, West Side Story) to contemporary (Phantom fo the Opera, Chicago, Moulin Rouge), and even animated (The Prince Of Egypt, and, yes, Disney movies). I guess it won't hurt, either, that I'm fond of Classical music and Opera... And as far as adaptations go, I'm aware that some material will necessarily be compressed or even eliminated, akin to what Peter Jackson did with the LOTR trilogy. I'm just curoius to see how they went about it and to know whether or not the spirit of the original will be preserved. So far I'm rather encouraged by the trailers. Cheers, Lauré
I have the Broadway cast recording, as I love Terrence Mann to death (even if people don't think he was the best Javert, he's my Javert).
Norm Lewis of the Broadway Revival cast and the 25th anniversary concert is my favorite Javert. I got to see that version in person, third row I mean, come on... this makes me so sad for what this will be like in the film:
I'd disagree with that to some degree. It's just a matter of how well the film handles the transition. Then again there's actually an interesting history of this in films about French revolutions. In Abel Gance's Napoleon there are several points where Napoleon disappears so that we can do stuff like, say, spend two hours with Danton and Robespierre (the movie is upwards of six hours long, though). EDIT: My big interest at this point is to see whether or not Tom Hooper's wacko off-kilter camera aesthetic will translate to the material or not.
I'd prefer a reduced version of Les Mis, the book is a 1400 page slab and the original run of the musical was 3hrs30 which fortunately got cut down. Most adaptation will take liberties with the story, either for dramatic effect or because the makers feel certain things don't work so well or can be done better on film. I'm fine with that so long as it's good. Look at Phantom of the Opera. Lloyd-Webber's stage show, despite the various changes it makes from the book is pretty much the most faithful adaptation since the 1925 silent movie with Lon Chaney (which also differs somewhat from the book but mainly due to the limitations of silent movies at the time). The 10 or so other adaptations of the story vary significantly in plot aspects and some characters, as do the many versions of The Three Musketeers for example. Heck the MGM Wizard of Oz film is a lot less dark than the book it is taken from.
For those of you who've never seen Les Mis, because you've been living under a rock,, here's the 25th anniversary concert. Enjoy.
Merci beaucoup, monsieur. C'est bien gentil. Though I may watch it only after I've seen the movie... They're totally different beasts, but I'm wary of demanding too high expectations of the one after having seen the other. And maybe I want to keep some surprises in store, too. We'll see... I've still got time to change my spots on that issue. Cheers, Lauré
If you don't wanna watch the whole anniversary concert, here's a much abridged (amateur) alternative. Fair warning: the guy does all the voices. Like, all of them. Shouldn't really affect your expectations for the film, I think.
That actually wasn't bad. He took the most difficult parts of the play and performed them fairly well.
Oh yeah, that guy! I've seen some of his renditions of Disney music. Fantastic video. Is it weird that I kind of like his Eponine the best? Or maybe Enjolras. In any case, that was awesome.
