MovieChat Forums > Les Misérables (1935) Discussion > Frederic March was too young and too hot

Frederic March was too young and too hot

posted 15 years ago by BillieDove
4 replies | jump to latest

I think he's a wonderful actor, but he was miscast here as Jean Valjean. He looked way too young for the role. Why, when Cosette was a teenager, he looked like he could have been her lover! I also have a problem with the fact that he wasn't... dignified, grave and tragic enough, if you know what I mean. I still like him, but an older, more experienced actor could have made the film more accurate and interesting. I had a hard time identifying this fresh-faced pretty boy to the rugged, self-sacrificing Jean Valjean.

If you want to see a really good and sadly pretty unknown interpretation of the character, check out Harry Baur's in the Les Misérables french version that came out the year before. It's my favorite up to date. Truely an excellent film.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0025509/

P.S. I also have to mention the cinematography was pure gorgeousness. Greg Tolland knew his stuff.

I don't pray, really, because I don't want to bore God.

[–] 15 years ago

[deleted]

[–] BillieDove 15 years ago

I'm not talking about a remake. I'm talking about a film that came out a year before. If you saw it, you wouldn't have any doubts about who portrayed Jean Valjean the most convincingly.

We're the heirs to the glimmering world.

[–] eebyo 15 years ago

This is a great movie, anchored by two great stars. March is, I think, far too easily forgotten and underrated generally; he's great in this. Laughton -- well, it should go w/o saying that here he racked up another bad guy to haunt your dreams.

March's first scene, in the courtroom dock, took my breath away. How youthful and Adonis-like he looked! He's a '30s ringer for Orlando Bloom -- not a comparison that's ever come to mind when I watch his thinner-haired, less skinny, but still good-looking and megatalented self in later films.

[–] Sylvie17 10 years ago

I never thought of Frederic March as young and hot. I thought he looked 40ish is this and comparable to Hugh Jackman's Valjean. He is a handsome man though, when I look at him objectively. I haven't read the book, so I don't know what he was really supposed to be like.