Jean Valjean (Welles) and his adopted daughter Cosette (Levy) escape police inspector Javert (Gabel) and his men by climbing a wall. They find themselves in a cloistered convent where Fauchelevent (Collins), the gardener and the only man allowed inside the convent, knows Valjean as the popular mayor of Montreuse. To avoid suspicion, he sneaks Valjean out of the convent in a coffin and then convinces the Mother Superior to hire his "brother" Valjean. Cosette and Valjean live peacefully for many years. But their lives are disrupted once more when Cosette's friend Marius (Johnstone) inadvertently reports to the police that Cosette and her father are missing, which alerts Javert to Valjean's new identity.
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All eighteen surviving broadcasts from the Mercury Theatre on the Air, free to listen to and download.
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Welles's interpretation of Hugo's epic tale, which inspired CBS to commission the Mercury Theatre.
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"We're born alone, we live alone, we die alone. Only through our love and friendship can we create the illusion for the moment that we're not alone."
Orson Welles
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