L'évadé du bagne

This first installment in the two part 1948 Italian adaptation of Victor Hugo 's epic novel is not the most faithful to its source, of those versions that I have seen so far (only six out of an estimated 8O films) and the performers are merely serviceable rather than offering striking characterizations such as Baur and Vanel did in the 1930s French version. But of those that I have seen it is the most visually stunning.

The underrated genre craftsman Riccardo Freda, a specialist at the time in historical romance and later in horror, summons a variety of resources to bring scene after scene in the episodic story to vivid life: meticulous decor and costuming, moody chiaroscuro lighting, frequent dollying in and out from objects and persons of attention, frequent staging using rich depth of field, exciting cutting, and most interesting of all to me, the decision to set up a number of setups using height and verticality with the camera looking at a higher level above or looking down on things or dramatic use of staircases and street steps.

A flashback told to the hero, Valjean, by the suffering unwed mother Fantine, of her brief period of happiness with other young ladies on a Sunday picnic with who would prove to be frivolous young men, suddenly reminds us in its sweeping liveliness of Kenji Mizoguchi.

Than which there can be no higher praise.

Although Freda omitted pivotal scenes of the novel (the trial of innocent Champmathieu and the tempest in a skull,notably),his version of "les miserables " ranks among the best,;as far as the French movies are concerned it is second only to Raymond Bernard's (1933) and this Italian adaptation surpasses both Jean-Paul Le Chanois's (starring Gabin)(1958) and Robert Hossein's (starring Ventura ,who was outstripped by Michel Bouquet as Javert )efforts.(1982)

It was first released in France at a running time of 107 min , boiling down both parts to a mean digest ,but nowadays both parts were restored and one can see the director's cut.

This first part begins with the theft of the bread (which leads Valjean to hard labor )and ends when he takes refuge in Sister Sulpice's convent with Cosette .

The title chosen for this first part (= man hunt) is thoroughly justified because the movie enhances Javert's ruthless tracking ;Not really a wicked man ,but a man to whom duty is sacred : his icy look gives the jitters:Freda was also master of the thriller and it shows:the cop's shadow in Fantine's bedroom .Hans Hinrich gives the excellent Gino Cervi a run for his money .

Freda tells the story in very succint style ,but he always finds the pictures which impress the viewer : a starving Valjean looking at the window of the baker's shop, a close shot of the bread ; the shadow of the spit-roasted chickens in the inn where Valjean is not admitted : ex-convicts are pariahs for life ;the beaming face of Mgr Myriel (admirable Massimo Pianforini); the fall of the rose when Fantine dies; and last but not least , Cosette the battered child is the best I've ever seen,even outdoing Raymond Bernard's :Duccia Giraldi seems to carry on her shoulders all the trials ,all the poverty of the French ninetieth century ; the chase by Javert in the streets displays again Freda's flair for film noir and these scenes are the triumph of the cinema-in-the-studio .

The first part of Riccardo Freda's adaptation of Victor Hugo's greatest novel is better than the second part, with more imaginative cinematography and great innovations, the best of which is Fantine's flashback into her glorious happy youth, the best sequence of the film. Gino Cervi is convincing enough, Valentina Cortese is always adorable on screen, and her daughter Cosette is the most adorable of all, arguably the best Cosette of any film adaptation. Hans Hinrich is superb as Javert, the best Javert ever, at least of the ones I have seen, while the greatest asset of the film is the impressive cinematography, making every scene precious in its vibrating life. The novel is much shortened, they always did that even with the greatest novels in the 40s, and anyone who read the novel will miss the most important key scenes, like the trial at Arras. The film begins with the beginning of Jean Valjean's career down the drain, showing the ordeals of his first eighteen years under constant duress and mistreatment with hard prison labour in a quarry among other things, and then proceeds with the bishop Myriel episode, that changes his life, but also here you miss the most important points, as the bishop himself actually makes a point of buying Jean Valjean's soul. All Myriels I have seen have been outstanding, it's a role no one could fail in, and Cicognini's music also adds to the beauty of the film. This could be the best film version of the novel, no matter how much truncated it is.