Differences from the book

• Javert is not the son of a bohemian and a convict, but of a guard in the Toulon prison. He has only seen Valjean as a small boy.
• The bishop is presented after Valjean's release. However, he is introduced similarly as in the book.
• Valjean really robs Petit-Gervais. In the book, he accidentally puts his foot on the fallen coin and hardly realises what is going on and awakes from a sort of dream after the boy has left. In the movie, he snatches the boy's coin from the air and refuses to give it back.
• Fantine's backstory is only shown in flashback after her arrest and release and only shows her voyage from Paris to Montfermeil.
• Valjean wants to take Cosette already the evening after his arrival and Thénardier manages to persuade him to stay. The inn becomes a trap when Javert arrives. Valjean and Cosette have to escape from the inn.
• Valjean and Cosette go straight to the convent. They are admitted with the help of Sister Simplice, who told Valjean only to mention her name to get in.
• Valjean and Cosette get to know the Thénardiers/Jondrettes in Paris after paying a loaf of bread that Éponine stole.
• Valjean is sent away by Marius directly after confessing his true identity.
• The movie has a rather light atmosphere, the tragedy of the plot is not as underlined as in the 1985 adaptation. For example, Fantine looks surprisingly well and fit for someone dying of consumption.

Minor plots included

• A closer presentation of the bishop, more than just showing him long enough to forgive Valjean for stealing his silver
• Valjean's release is shown in detail.
• Valjean really has a black jet and bead factory.
• Valjean owns a file concealed in a coin.
• Javert arrests Jean Valjean after Fantine's death and meets Sister Simplice as he searches for the escaped Valjean in the latter's house.
• The local fairy tale from Montfermeil, that the devil has buried his treasure in the forest and will come from time to time to get or add some is mentioned. Also Valjean's role as being mistaken for this devil.
• Valjean fetches Cosette on Christmas Eve and buys the doll for her after watching the Thénardiers forbidding her to play with their daughter's doll.
• Marius father is introduced as well as Marius discovering the truth about his father.
• The love story between Cosette and Marius takes part mostly the same way as in the book: They only notice each other after some time, then Marius starts dressing better for his walks until Valjean remarks him, on which Marius falls for every trap set for him by Valjean.
• The attack on Valjean in the Gorbeau house is exactly as in the novel.
• Most of the barricade scenes are as in the novel.
• Thénardier meets Marius in a ridiculous disguise and proves to him with the help of newspaper clippings that all his thoughts about Valjean are wrong.

Cast

• Jean Gabin
  Jean Gabin
  -Biography:Born Jean-Alexis Moncorgé in Paris, he grew up in the village of Mériel in the Seine-et-Oise département, about 22 mi north of Paris. The son of cabaret entertainers, he attended the Lycée Janson de Sailly...
  
   – Jean Valjean & Champmathieu
• Bernard Blier
  Bernard Blier
  Bernard Blier was a French character actor. His rotund features and premature baldness allowed him to often play cuckolded husbands in his early career. He proved to be one of France's most versatile and sought-after character actors, performing interchangeably in comedies and dramas...
  
   – Javert (father and son)
• Danièle Delorme
  Danièle Delorme
  Danièle Delorme is an French actress and film producer....
  
   – Fantine
• Bourvil
  Bourvil
  André Bourvil, born André Robert Raimbourg was a French actor and singer best known for his roles in comedy, most notably in his collaboration with Louis de Funès in La Grande Vadrouille .-Biography:His father was killed in the First World War before Bourvil was born...
  
   – Thénardier
• Elfriede Florin – La Thénardier
• Giani Esposito
  Giani Esposito
  Giani Esposito was a Belgian film actor. He appeared in 50 films between 1951 and 1973.He was born in Etterbeek, Belgium and died in Neuilly-sur-Seine, Paris, France.-Selected filmography:* Black Dossier...
  
   – Marius Pontmercy
• Béatrice Altariba – Cosette
• Silvia Monfort
  Silvia Monfort
  Silvia Monfort was a French actress and theatre director. Daughter of the sculptor Charles Favre-Bertin and wife of Pierre Gruneberg....
  
   – Éponine
• Jimmy Urbain – Gavroche
• Serge Reggiani
  Serge Reggiani
  Serge Reggiani was an Italian-born French singer and actor. He was born in Reggio Emilia, Italy and moved to France with his parents at the age of eight...
  
   – Enjolras
• Fernand Ledoux
  Fernand Ledoux
  Fernand Ledoux was a French film and theatre actor of Belgian origin. He studied with Raphaël Duflos at the CNSAD, and began his career with small roles at the Comédie-Française...
  
   – Monseigneur Myriel
• Martine Havet – Cosette (child)
• Isabelle Lobbé – Azelma
• Jean d'Yd
  Jean d'Yd
  Jean d'Yd was the stage name of Jean Paul Felix Didier Perret. He was a French actor and comedian, and was born in Paris in the on 17 May 1880...
  
   – Mabeuf
• Jean Murat
  Jean Murat
  Jean Murat was a French actor. He was married to the French actress Annabella.-Selected filmography:* Carnival in Flanders * Les mutinés de l'Elseneur * On the Riviera * Alarm in Morocco...
  
   – Colonel Georges Pontmercy
• Lucien Baroux
  Lucien Baroux
  Lucien Baroux was a French actor. He began his career working in the theatre, moving on to a long career in films from the 1930s....
  
   – Monsieur Gillenormand
• Suzanne Nivette – Mademoiselle Gillenormand
• Jacques Harden – Courfeyrac
• Marc Eyraud
  Marc Eyraud
  Marc Eyraud was a French film actor. He appeared in 60 films between 1956 and 1995.-Selected filmography:* Diary of a Chambermaid * Happiness * Lamiel...
  
   – Grantaire
• Werner Dissel
  Werner Dissel
  Werner Friedrich Dissel was a German actor and director.-Biography:Dissel's began working as a newspaper photographer in the late 1920s. After the Nazis' rise to power, he became a member of an antifascist group headed by Harro Schulze-Boysen, and was involved in the resistance newspaper Wille zum...
  
   - Brevet.
• Beyert – Bahorel
• Hans-Ulrich Laufer – Combeferre
• Gérard Darrieu – Feuilly
• Pierre Tabard – Prouvaire
• Henri Guégan – Laigle
• Julienne Paroli – Madame Magloire
• Laure Paillette – Toussaint
• Madeleine Barbulée – Soeur Simplice
• Mireille Daix – Éponine (child)
• Christian Fourcade – Petit Gervais
• Bernard Musson – Bamatabois
• René Fleur – The cardinal
• Edmond Ardisson – A gendarme (as Ardisson)
• Jean Ozenne – The prefect of Montreuil
• Bernard Musson – A bourgeois
• Gerhard Bienert – The president of the court
• Harry Hindemith – Un bagnard