The Hunchback of Notre Dame

Plot synopsis:
The gypsy Esmeralda captures the hearts of many men, including those of Captain Phoebus and Pierre Gringoire, but especially Quasimodo and his guardian Archdeacon Claude Frollo. Frollo is torn between his obsessive lust for Esmeralda and the rules of the Notre Dame Cathedral. He orders bandits to kidnap her, but the hunchback is captured by Phoebus and his guards, who save Esmeralda.
The following day, Quasimodo is sentenced to be flogged and turned on the pillory for one hour, followed by another hour's public exposure. He calls for water. Esmeralda, seeing his thirst, approaches the public stocks and offers him a drink of water. It saves him, and she captures his heart.
Later, Esmeralda is arrested and charged with the attempted murder of Phoebus, whom Frollo actually attempted to kill in jealousy after seeing him trying to seduce Esmeralda. She is sentenced to death by hanging. As she is being led to the gallows, Quasimodo swings down by the bell rope of Notre-Dame and carries her off to the cathedral under the law of sanctuary, temporarily protecting her from arrest.
Frollo later informs Gringoire that the Court of Parlement has voted to remove Esmeralda's right to sanctuary so she can no longer seek shelter in the cathedral and will be taken away to be killed. Clopin, the leader of the Gypsies, hears the news from Gringoire and rallies the citizens of Paris to charge the cathedral and rescue Esmeralda.
When Quasimodo sees the Gypsies, he assumes they are there to hurt Esmeralda, so he drives them off. Likewise, he thinks the King's men want to rescue her, and tries to help them find her. She is rescued by Frollo and her phony husband Gringoire. But after yet another failed attempt to win her love, Frollo betrays Esmeralda by handing her to the troops and watches while she is being hanged.
When Frollo laughs during Esmeralda's hanging, Quasimodo pushes him from the heights of Notre Dame to his death. Quasimodo later goes to Montfaucon, a huge graveyard in Paris where the bodies of the condemned are dumped, where he stays with Esmeralda's dead body until he dies. About eighteen months later, the tomb is opened, and the skeletons are found. As someone tries to separate them, they crumble to dust.

Tags: insanity, flashback, murder, romantic, melodrama

Review:
Deaf and half-blind, THE HUNCHBACK OF NOTRE DAME, feared & rejected by the people of Paris, becomes the unlikely protector of a poor gypsy girl.Lon Chaney, master of disguise, solidified his celebrity with his portrayal of Quasimodo, the deformed bell-ringer, who is forever cut off from any semblance of a normal life.
Both performers do very well with their 'normal' roles -- her innocence contrasting well with his initial lust -- even though the viewer is doubtless anxious for the return of the Hunchback.A handful of excellent character actors from the era add their assistance: gaunt Nigel de Brulier as the saintly Archdeacon, defender of the Hunchback; beefy Ernest Torrence as Clopin, King of Thieves, ruling over the Court of Miracles; prissy Raymond Hatton as the effete poet Gringoire; and feeble Tully Marshall as a suspicious Louis XI.Special mention must be made of Universal's splendid attention to detail which they lavished on the film.
To see Chaney clamber down, swinging from pinnacle to gargoyle to statue; or, to watch Quasimodo defend Esmeralda from the crowd of beggars he thinks has come to kill her, dropping stones, beams and molten metal on their heads below from the Cathedral's ramparts, is to enjoy two of Silent Cinema's great visual moments..
The highlight of the movie is clearly Lon Chaney's performance as Quasimodo, the hideously deformed resident of Notre Dame cathedral in Paris in the 15th century.
Director Wallace Worsley does a good job of building up sympathy for the Hunchback throughout, and the image of Chaney gleefully swinging off the rope to ring Notre Dame's bells is one that will stay with anyone who has ever seen this film.Although Quasimodo is the title character, much of the story actually revolves around Esmeralda, who is the object of the affection (some romantic, some fraternal) of almost every male character in the story.
Ernest Torrence is especially convincing as Clopin, the "King of the Poor" in Paris, and foster-father to Esmeralda, who feels betrayed when Esmeralda falls in love with a member of the nobility (an "aristocrat" as Clopin contemptuously calls him.)The movie suffered a little bit from what I found at times to be a less than appropriate musical score, and the quality of the film is not especially good (at least when I saw it) but that is hardly surprising given its age.
This classic silent version of the often-filmed story of "The Hunchback of Notre Dame" features good atmosphere and one of Lon Chaney's many fine renderings of an unusual character.
While Victor Hugo's classic novel, published in the 1830s, had been transferred to the screen on several occasions prior to this 1923 adaptation, one of mention titled THE DARLING OF Paris (Fox, 1917) featuring Theda Bara, this production ranks one of the first lavish spectacles Universal had produced thus far, as well as a truly challenging performance for Lon Chaney (1883-1930) in the role of the deformed bell-ringer named Quasimodo.
In fact, the more recent adaptation transferred to the screen became the 1996 feature length animation musicalized version, but many of the remakes then and now do owe a lot to Chaney's artistic achievement of long ago.Set in fifteenth century Paris, Quasimodo "deaf, half blind", is a deformed soul attending the gathering of the Festival of Fools.
Jehan continues his abduction plot on Esmeralda, but because of her love for Phoebus, makes her the accused and sentenced through execution for the stabbing of Phoebus, leading Quasimodo to repay the favor by coming to Esmeralda's aide.The other members of the cast of thousands include: Ernest Torrence (Clopin, "King of the beggars, enemy of the king" and Esmeralda's "foster father"); Tully Marshall (King Louis XI, "whose dungeons are always full, whose executioners always kept busy"); Kate Lester (Mademoiselle de Gondelaurier); and Gladys Brockwell (Godule, the mysterious reclusive woman who feels gypsies "should all be cursed").With Chaney's many early screen performances starting in 1914, along with hundreds of characters and thousands of faces, he actually didn't reach true star prominence until after achieving the kind of success long overdue him with THE HUNCHBACK OF NOTRE DAME.
At present, many other video and/ or DVD transfers, do feature the original opening title credits and the complete finish focusing on the bell as it slowly stops swinging back and forth before stopping with the THE END (or rather FIN) title card reaches the screen.THE HUNCHBACK OF NOTRE DAME occasionally appears on cable television's Turner Classic Movies as part of its weekly Silent Sunday Night presentations hosted by Robert Osborne.
Due to a renewed interest into the life and career of Lon Chaney, "The Man of a Thousand Faces," this best known version to the Victor Hugo classic should be the one film to consider and study.
This superior silent movie (even when viewed in a substandard print as the one I saw) blossoms as one of the finest literary adaptations to appear on the screen.Quasimodo, the repulsive deaf hunchback who rings the bells for Notre Dame Cathedral, is played by the multi-faceted Lon Chaney, and he puts the different aspects of the character across very well - fear, hatred, betrayal, longing, kindness.
This is a misunderstood 'freak' who has much of the human spirit intact within him despite the betrayals of those who should protect him.Patsy Ruth Miller is an effective Esmeralda, pretty and compelling whether in her gypsy dance or at the finale where she watches the battle between the turrets of the Cathedral and the square below as her people try to battle their way into Sanctuary.Also of note are Nigel de Brulier as Claudio, Ernest Torrence as gypsy king and Esmeralda's foster father Clopin, Tully Marshall as a bored Louis XI, Norman Kerry as a posturing Phoebus, Brandon Hurst as a cunning Jehan, and Raymond Hatton as a twittery Gringoire.There are nice touches in the staging, too - as Esmeralda and Phoebus lunch at an inn, a spider sucks a fly into her web; while the gypsy band at the steps of Notre Dame get showered with a rain of molten lead as Esmeralda hides in safety in the cathedral tower.The version I saw used music and sound effects to accompany the pictures and titles, which was done very well.
"The Hunchback of Notre Dame" is the often filmed Victor Hugo classic tale of the tragic Quasimodo and his love for the lovely Esmeralda in 15th century Paris.
After almost 80 years, Lon Chaney's "The Hunchback of Notre Dame" remains the definitive version and a true classic of American cinema..
In this the first movie version of the immortal novel, the classic role of Quasimodo is performed in film for the first time by another legend, "The Man of a Thousand Faces", Lon Chaney Sr.Set in the 15th Century, the movie starts as just another day in the simple life of Quasimodo (Lon Chaney), the bell-ringer of the famous Cathedral of Notre Dame in Paris who has spend most of his life inside the Cathedral because most people fear his gruesome deformity.
While the focus is certainly on Quasimodo (and he is indeed made a more prominent and sympathetic figure), the screenplay remains an epic tragedy about life and death in Paris, and takes its time to introduce and develop every character, surprisingly including many of the novel's subplots that became forgotten in subsequent versions of the story.
With a cast of thousands and enormous sets, Worsley makes 15th Century Paris to come alive once again and, just like Victor Hugo would wanted, the Cathedral of Notre Dame is made another character of the story thanks to the beautiful cinematography that gives an ominous atmosphere to the building.Lon Chaney is without a doubt the star and highlight of the movie, delivering one of the best performances as Quasimodo (second only to Charles Laughton), and creating one of his most amazing works of make-up.
Not only Lon Chaney's magnificent performance as Chaney (as well as his outstanding work of make-up) is a true highlight of the film, the lavish sets built for the movie are definitely one of the most amazing works done in silent films, with the reconstruction of Notre Dame's Western facade being extremely detailed and actually very accurate.
As a side note, among the many assistant directors who helped Worsley in this project, there was a young man named William Wyler receiving his first work in the movie industry.Depsite its flaws, this first version of "The Hunchback of Notre Dame" remains as one of the best movies of the silent era, and one of the best versions of Victor Hugo's classic.
The performances are very good on the whole, with Lon Chaney stealing the show as a grotesque and poignant Quasimodo, and Patsy Ann Miller as a beautiful and understated(if perhaps not quite sexy enough) Esmeralda and Ernest Torrance as Clopin faring best in support.
Victor Hugo's classic "The Hunchback of Notre Dame" receives a grand send-up from Universal Pictures, and superstar Lon Chaney (as Quasimodo).
Chaney was responsible for pulling viewers into the cinema for several high-level productions; before his "Hunchback" even reared its ugly head, he was sitting comfortably with Douglas Fairbanks and Rudolph Valentino inside the annual "Quigley Poll" of "Box Office Stars" (at #9 for the year 1922).Universal added some of the best supporting actors in Hollywood, beautiful Patsy Ruth Miller (as Esmeralda), director Wallace Worsley of Chaney's "The Penalty" (1920) to the mix, and spent a fortune on the sets.
It's enjoyable for those who appreciate the genre, but this "Hunchback" can be seen more as a documentation of lavish setting, and for Chaney's towering titular performance.******** The Hunchback of Notre Dame (9/2/23) Wallace Worsley ~ Lon Chaney, Patsy Ruth Miller, Norman Kerry, Ernest Torrance.
The story is overall pretty interesting and it follows the novel much closer than the majority of movie adaptations out there although there are still a few key differences.The acting in this picture is a mixed bag with Lon Chaney stealing the show as Quasimodo.
this is the second filmed version of Victor Hugo's classic novel,the first one being The Darling of Paris in 1917.in this version,Lon Chaney plays the title character whose name is Quasi Modo and judging by how the character looks,Chaney endured quite a bit for the character.Quasi Modo is a deformed slave and bell ringer.this movie isn't as much about the hunchback as it is about one woman who has stolen the hearts of a few men,and what they do to try and win her love.what follows is lust,deception betray and tragedy.caught up in the middle of it all,through no fault of his own,is Quasi Modo.but the movie isn't all sadness and despair.at the beginning,it is lite hearted and comical.i enjoyed most of the film,though it does have its slow moments.the acting is quite good though,as is the musical accompaniment.i give The Hunchback of Notre Dame 7/10.
The film's overwhelming sets (designed by E.E. Sheeley and Sydney Ullman) are, perhaps, its one outstanding achievement; the inter titles give a satisfactorily detailed breakdown of the plot which can be easily followed (though the framing is off throughout, as these are often lost to over scan - and characters' heads lopped off!), and the dialogue itself is often quite literate (and very rarely falls on archaic medieval colloquialisms).While there's no doubting the quality of Chaney's performance on a technical level, his conception of the role (or maybe the script's) emerges as somewhat unsympathetic: he never quite affects us emotionally the way Charles Laughton does in the 1939 version and, in any case, he is dwarfed by the massive sets - as well as being relatively subservient to the romantic leads, despite the film's title!
Apart from all this, I feel that Chaney here is more constrained than abetted by the heavy (indeed, excessive) make-up he has created for himself!Patsy Ruth Miller as Esmeralda is surprisingly animated (in contrast to the usually stiff heroines of Silent films) though Maureen O'Hara in the remake was altogether more believable as a gypsy - and the subplot wherein she is shown to be of noble birth (not present in the 1939 version and, perhaps, thankfully so) is somewhat pointless, as she never discovers this fact for herself anyway!
His supposedly lustful desire for Esmeralda never convinces for a second, feeling as merely a bit of lechery on the side - whereas Hardwicke is almost pitiable in his blinding (and, perhaps, genuine) obsession towards the gypsy girl!Clopin, the self-titled 'King of Beggars', gets a more rounded characterization here than in perhaps any other version (including Thomas Mitchell in the RKO film) and Ernest Torrence gives quite a fine performance in the role.
The rest of the cast in this silent film classic is also great - wonderful performances.If you liked this movie then try to find copies of 'London after Midnight' and 'The Phantom of the Opera' - both starring Lon Chaney, Sr.9/10.
This early adaptation of The Hunchback of Notre Dame shares much in common with Universal's later film, The Phantom of the Opera: the sets are great and Lon Chaney is great, but everything else is subpar, including the pedestrian direction of Wallace Worsely.Lon Chaney never gave a bad performance and his performance as Quasimodo was one of his finest moments, both as an actor and as a make-up artist.
His is the only fully realized performance in the film and unfortunately, he gets little screen time in comparison to the bloodless love affair between Esmeralda and Phoebus, played by Patsy Ruth Miller and Norman Kerry.
Miller does pretty well, though Kerry is pallid and underwhelming, just as he was opposite Chaney in Phantom and The Unknown.I'm not too sure why this is often classified as a horror picture, though it does have its creepy moments, such as Quasimodo stalking Esmeralda at night, intent on kidnapping her for his lecherous master.Overall, this is an alright movie, but nothing compared to the 1939 version, which has more depth and feels more iconic..
That Esmerelda's Got Something Going For Her. This silent version of The Hunchback of Notre Dame gets a lot closer to what Victor Hugo intended in his novel though by no means is it faithful to the plot.
Lon Chaney did a remarkable job it's hard to say which of his performances are his greatest because I really love them all,, it seems in this movie there are so many characters running around constantly, I don't know how many extras were used in the making of this film but it appears to be a lot.
this film has all of the old world classic stuff that you want to see, sort of the medieval time period ,, kings queens and stuff like that, the Cathedral of Notre Dame is much like a character in this movie,, I would definitely recommend this to anyone who is a fan of great early silent movies..
The first screen adaptation of Victor Hugo's novel isn't quite as good as the later adaptation with Charles Laughton, but it's still worth seeing, mainly for Lon Chaney Sr.'s performance as the deformed but magnanimous bell ringer in the famous Parisian cathedral.
Now that I've seen both, Hollywood's first talkie version of the story is the superior of the two, in my opinion, but this 1923 silent version certainly isn't a huge disappointment (this is coming from someone who hasn't read the book, mind you).Set in Paris, France, ten years before Christopher Columbus discovered America, Quasimodo is a severely deformed bell ringer of the Notre Dame Cathedral.
Lon Chaney is excellent, the sets are impressive, and Norman Kerry as handsome Phoebus isn't bad, although the script doesn't offer him a lot of complexity in his character; but I can't help wondering if Universal wore out their resources in getting this far, for the rest of the production left me somewhat disappointed.Patsy Ruth Miller plays Esmeralda as a generic leading lady with a contemporary cupid-bow mouth, eyes and hair, and poses that owe everything to the 1920s and nothing to a foster-daughter of the 'Court of Miracles'.
Despite Victor Hugo's disapproval, since 1832, many popular English-language translations of 'Notre Dame de Paris' have appeared under the 'Hunchback' title, promoting the supporting character of Quasimodo to the leading role.
Pushed to production by emerging "Boy Wonder," Irving Thalberg, the ceaseless willpower of its star, who shrewdly optioned the rights to Victor Hugo's epic novel, The Hunchback of Notre Dame became a lasting milestone of silent era Hollywood and transformed Chaney from a brilliant character actor into a superstar.The grotesque and lonely Quasimodo (Chaney), cathedral bell-ringer of medieval Paris, rescues Esmeralda (Patsy Ruth Miller), a beautiful gypsy girl, from public execution for a crime she did not commit.
VIctor Hugo's original literary classic is renown for writing the locations of his book, particularly the Notre Dame de Paris itself, as characters all to themselves.Wallace Worsley's direction carries as much weight, beauty and menace as any displayed in the German expressionist Horror films of the time.
Also not many versions tend to show Quasimodo's acrobatic skills of jumping from one gargoyle to another, but this film has one amazing scene where he literally climbs down from the bell tower to the streets of Paris.19 years old Patsy Ruth Miller is both beautiful and innocent in her demanding role as Esmeralda, and her performance just might be the most closest to Hugo's book.
Both men are fine in their roles and I think either one could have also survived a more faithful performance as Frollo, if the character had been kept like in the book.But seriously, the true star of this movie is Lon Chaney as Quasimodo.
Yet he does deserve equal amount of good credit from his role as Quasimodo.Although often marketed as "early horror film", the silent version of "Hunchback of Notre Dame" is most of all a historical drama.
The Hunchback of Notre Dame isn't Lon Chaney's best picture or performance but it is most definitely his finest showcase of his mastery of film make-up.