#robert hossein

[unknown171204]

Les Misérables 1980

I have already talked about Les Misérables , but I wanted to expand on the subject a little more, by detailing the three French versions as best I can !!

This strange idea of ​​adapting Victor Hugo's novel into a musical came from Alain Boublil after he attended a performance of the musical Oliver! play in London ( he reports having perceived in his mind a resemblance between Oliver Twist and Gavroche )

Carried away by what he considers (rightly) as a flash of genius, he will work in collaboration with Claude-Michel Schönberg and Jean-Marc Natel to compose the music and lyrics for the future album

Fortunately the album will experience its small success with the public, this victory will make the creators grow wings who will launch head first into the torrent of stage creation !

This heavy task will be entrusted to Robert Hossein , an French director, actor, screenwriter, dialogue writer , who will use his fame to the best of his ability to promote the show (which he would be criticized for and mocked , trample his enthusiasm)

The very first production of Les Misérables was created and then performed in Paris at the Palais des Sports in September 1980

Scheduled for a minimum of eight weeks, it will be played for sixteen weeks, with the Palais des sports no longer available beyond that With 107 performances, it attracted around 500,000 spectators

( I don't know how it works in the United Kingdom and the United States at the same time but in France it will be necessary to reach the end of the 90s for the musicals to travel throughout the country + outside of France )

DISTRIBUTION :

Maurice Barrier : Jean Valjean

Jean Vallée : Javert

Rose Laurens : Fantine

Yvan Dautin : Mr Thénardier

Marie-France Roussel : Mrs Thénardier

Maryse Cédolin / Sylvie Camacho / Priscilla Patron : little Cosette

( alternately the little girls also played little Eponine and Azelma )

Fabienne Guyon : Cosette

Marianne Mille : Éponine

Cyrille Dupont / Fabrice Ploquin / Florence Davis : Gavroche

Gilles Buhlmann : Marius

Christian Ratellin : Enjolras

René-Louis Baron : Combeferre

Dominique Tirmont : Mr Gillenormand

Anne Forrez : Mrs Gillenormand

Claude Reva : Storyteller

There remain too few archives of the original shows, unfortunately at the time filming in theaters and performance halls was not a common reflex ...

I did my best to find as much as possible :

Unreleased Javert song, not kept in the album and show ⤵️

The Full Live Audio Recording of the Show :

ANECDOTES :

If I'm not mistaken, this is the only version that uses the character of Azelma , the sister of Eponine and Gavroche

...

Cyrille Dupont, one of the three kids who played Gavroche, was known vocally for singing the theme song for Nobody's Boy : Remi

...

Florence Davis one of three actors playing Gavroche was a girl ?!

Strange artistic choice ? Or last-rescue liner ??

...

Robert Hossein was so marked by this show that two years later, he made a film adaptation of the original novel !!

Starring the legend Lino Ventura as Jean Valjean and the very young Emmanuel Curtil as Gavroche (this little boy is today an ICONIC voice actor in France : Jim Carrey, Mike Myers, Matthew Perry and many many others characters )

My Masterlist

[lafemmequiment]

Le voleur de crimes (Nadine Trintignant, 1969)

[checcotheperson]

A lot of Les Mis adaptations have their own excruciating way to portray the suffering of JvJ while in Toloun, but Lino Ventura's Valjean is obviously the one who has it worst because throughout he only has one wish; To consume soup. And they deny him that. LET HIM HAVE HIS SOUP.

[filmnoirfoundation]

Everyone who donates $20 or more to the Film Noir Foundation and signs up on our e-mail list, will automatically receive the digital version of NOIR CITY Magazine for a year! In our new issue Jake Hinkson takes a deep dive into film noir and the Southern Gothic, Imogen Sara Smith reveals her favorite neo-noir, Lynsey Ford explores Peter Lorre in Hollywood, and more! Hello Film Noir lovers and FNF supporters, I'm thrilled to bring you another stellar issue of NOIR CITY, the magazine of the Film Noir Foundation. Editors Imogen Sara Smith and Danilo Castro have cooked up quite a feast for this issue, with wide-ranging articles that span many decades and disparate locales. While keeping ourselves firmly planted in the mid-twentieth-century noir tradition, we are always enthused to explore new avenues and alleyways where the ethos and artistry of noir has unexpectedly appeared. Our latest edition of the NOIR CITY roadshow is winding down as I write this — but we're already deep into planning 2026 festivals, publications, and, most importantly, restorations. So, I offer a huge thank you because none of what we do would be possible without your dedicated and generous support. —Eddie Muller

[alexlacquemanne]

Le Casse (1971)

Réalisation : Henri Verneuil

Directeur de la photographie : Claude Renoir et Wladimir Iwanov

[bellark]

Angélique & Jeoffrey in Angélique, Marquise des Anges (1964)

[protectionsquad24601]

I don't think people understand how intrinsically Jewish the Les Misérables musical is. The writers of the original French musical were Claude-Michel Schönberg (Hungarian Jew), Alain Boublil (Sephardic Jew), and directed by Robert Hossein (Moldovian Jew). Schöneberg also composed the music. It was adapted into English by Herbert Kretzmer (Lithuanian Jew).

The lyrics include many references to Jewish beliefs and values. Schöneberg said in an interview, "When I’m writing a show there is always a part that is typically Jewish."

However, the one that sticks out to me especially is a line from the Epilogue:

"They will live again in freedom,

In the garden of the Lord;

They will walk behind the ploughshare,

They will put away the sword."

The origin of the phrase - specifically, the bit about 'ploughshares' and 'swords' - can be traced back to a nevuah (prophecy) by Yeshayahu (Isaiah), a Jewish navi (prophet) from the sefer Yeshayahu (Book of Isaiah). (Sorry, yes, I insist on the Hebrew words first.)

"The Torah will go forth from Tzion (Zion) and the word of Hashem from Yerushalayim (Jerusalem)... They will then cut their swords into ploughshares, and their spears into pruning knives. No nation will lift a sword against the other, and they will no longer learn warfare."

This is a quote about the 'end of days', and the idea of a peaceful paradise free from war was emulated in the song to convey a similar paradise for our barricade boys, the casualties of the June Rebellion. This is only one of the many examples of Jewish themes and references in the Les Misérables musical!

[manyother]

1964. Michèle Mercier and Robert Hossein in the cult French film "Angelique — Marquise of Angels".