Michel Audiard did not write a line for this film. He is not even in the credits. He was perhaps originally approached to collaborate in the writing, notably because of his affinity with Jean Gabin, finally did not contribute to it. Jean-Paul Le Chanois makes this clear in his interviews with Philippe Esnault: I liked Hugo's work very early on, I'd written the screenplay with René Barjavel (who had worked with me a bit on "Le Cas du docteur Laurent").
In the "Battle of Waterloo" flashback, English soldiers can be heard singing "The British Grenadiers," one of the most famous UK martial songs.
Original literary source: "Les Misérables", novel by Victor Hugo, published by Editions Pagnerre, Lacroix & Verboecken, Paris & Brussels, 1862, 10 volumes.
Fernand Ledoux, who play Monseigneur Myriel in this version will play Mr. Gillenormand (Marius's grandfather) 24 years later in the Robert Hossein version.
Italian visa # 26483 delivered on 30-7-1958.