Les Misérables (1934)
★ ★ ★ - Very Good
Harry Baur is a mountain of a man, physically unlike any Jean Valjean I'd ever seen before. I initially wondered if he could pull off the change into Champmathieu. Well, of course he can. A performance doesn't become this famous for nothing. While most adaptations focus in on Jean Valjean and Inspecteur Javert, Baur is working on an Emil Jannings scale, which makes Javert a supporting player at best, no more important than Thénardier. Instead Baur wisely only gives some room to Cosette (at all her ages), which works better for the story. Plus, from what I know of oldkid, the redemption of Valjean and the relationship with his daughter seem like they would hit close. (By redemption, I'm referring to the early scene where Valjean is given shelter and a priest (or Bishop) lights the spark that leads to Valjean becoming a great man.)
This version has made me realize that the further the story moves from the central characters, the less invested I am. As a writer, I like how the narrative slowly expands to encompass more characters while pulling them into our core conflicts, and I understand the need for a story this big to eventually go epic with the revolution, but I started wishing we could go back to the simple drama of Valjean out-thinking the scheming Thénardier and doing great things while staying out of the clutches of Javert.