The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1923/I)

Director:

Wallace Worsley

Writers:

Victor Hugo (novel)
Edward T. Lowe Jr. (writer)

Release Date:

1924 (Austria)

Genre:

Drama | Horror

Plot:

Clopin bought Esmeralda from the gypsies when she was young. Dancing in the square at the festival, Esmeralda is spotted by Jehan...

Plot Keywords:

Self Destructive | Kidnap | Passion | Melancholy | Frame Up

Awards:

1 win

Cast

Lon Chaney	...	Quasimodo
Patsy Ruth Miller	...	Esmeralda
Norman Kerry	...	Phoebus de Chateaupers
Kate Lester	...	Madame de Condelaurier
Winifred Bryson	...	Fleur de Lys
Nigel De Brulier	...	Don Claudio (as Nigel de Brulier)
Brandon Hurst	...	Jehan
Ernest Torrence	...	Clopin
Tully Marshall	...	King Louis XI
Harry von Meter	...	Mons. Neufchatel (as Harry Van Meter)
Raymond Hatton	...	Gringoire
Nick De Ruiz	...	Mons. le Torteru (as Nick de Ruiz)
Eulalie Jensen	...	Marie
Roy Laidlaw	...	Charmolu
Ray Myers	...	Charmolu's assistant (as W. Ray Meyers)

Also Known As:

Bucklige von Notre Dame, Der (Austria) [de]
Corcunda de Notre Dame, O (Brazil) [pt]
Dzwonnik z Notre Dame (Poland) [pl]
Glöckner von Notre Dame, Der (Germany) [de]
Gobbo di Notre Dame, Il (Italy) [it]
Jorobado de Notre Dame, El (Spain) [es]
Jorobado de nuestra señora de París, El (Spain) [es]
Nossa Senhora de Paris (Portugal) [pt]
Notre Damen kellonsoittaja (Finland) [fi]
Notre-Dame de Paris (France) [fr]
Ringaren i Notre Dame (Sweden) [sv]

Runtime:

133 min | Canada:95 min (Ontario) | USA:98 min (Turner Library Print)

Country:

USA

Color:

Black and White | Color (tinted)

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Silent

Certification:

Canada:G (Ontario) | USA:Unrated | Spain:T

Filming Locations:

European Village set, Universal Studios - 100 Universal City Plaza, Universal City, California, USA

Company:

Universal Pictures

Trivia:

In many of the scenes where the Hunchback was climbing down it was not Lon Chaney but stuntman Joe Bonomo, who did much stunt work for Universal and later was a prominent bodybuilder.

Goofs:

After Esmeralda have given Quasimodo water (he's still chained down), the nose putty on Quasimodo's left cheek is coming loose -- there's a noticeable gap between Lon Chaney's face and the nose putty used to make the fake cheek.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in The Opera Ghost: A Phantom Unmasked (2000) (V)

For Whom the Bell Tolls

THE HUNCHBACK OF NOTRE DAME (Universal, 1923), directed by Wallace Worsley, takes an important step in cinema history. 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 bellringer named Quasimodo. Remade several times thereafter, with the most famous being the 1939 adaptation starring Charles Laughton and Maureen O'Hara for RKO Radio (interestingly not by Universal!), no two versions are exactly alike. 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.

The story is set in fifteenth century Paris. After title cards introduce various characters, including Quasimodo "deaf, half blind", it then gets down to business with the gathering of the Festival of Fools. Among the celebrants is Esmeralda (Patsy Ruth Miller), a gypsy girl, "a child of mystery," who enters the city of Notre Dame and dances for the crowd. Also at the festival is Gringoire (Raymond Hatton), a poet-playwright attempting to act out his allegorical play with little success. Esmeralda at one point comes to the aide of the poet as she prevents him from getting hanged by the bunch of sadistic executioners looking for a good time. The crowd encounters the hideous face of Quasimodo, and instantly acclaimed him as the King of the Fools. Normally regarded a monster, Quasimodo has his moment of glory becoming the center of attention before Dom Claude (Nigel De Brullier), the saintly priest, has the hunchback return to the cathedral. Jehan (Brandon Hurst), who notices Esmeralda, having one thing in mind, becomes overcome with lust for the gypsy girl, and later sends Quasimodo to bring her to him. Frightened by his hideous features, her abduction is then witnessed by Phoebus (Norman Kerry), a captain of the guards ("men yielded to his sword, and women to his smile"), and rescues her from the hunchback. When Quasimodo is captured and sentenced to punishment by flogging, he is whipped unmercifully while Jehan stands by. After the hunchback's punishment is carried out by which the sand in the hour glass has reached bottom, it is Esmeralda, no longer fearing him, who grants him his request for water. Jehan, however, continues his plot his abduction of Esmeralda. After seeing her embracing Phoebus, whom the girl now loves, Jehan stabs the soldier in a fit of jealousy and has Esmeralda arrested. Sentenced to be executed by hanging, it is Quasimodo against Paris by repaying Esmeralda for the kindness she had earlier awarded him, and the memorable highlight as he baptizes her tormentors from the top of the Cathedral with molten lead.

The other members of the cast of thousands include: Ernest Torrence as Clopin, "King of the beggars, enemy of the king" and Esmeralda's "foster father"; Tully Marshall as King Louis XI, "whose dungeons are always full, whose executioners always kept busy"; Kate Lester as Mademoiselle de Gondelaurier; Gladys Brockwell as Godule, the mysterious reclusive woman who feels gypsies should all be cursed; and Winifred Bryson as Fleur de Lys; among many others.

In spite of Chaney's many early works, hundreds of characters and thousands of faces, particularly in some nearly forgotten performances such as in THE MIRACLE MAN (1919), or THE PENALTY (1920), just to name a few, he actually didn't reach true star prominence until after achieving the kind of success long overdue him, beginning with THE HUNCHBACK OF NOTRE DAME. Unlike some other Chaney classics as THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA or THE MONSTER (both 1925), his character is seen almost from the start instead of making his introduction nearly a half hour into the story. Yet, in spite of his star billing, grotesque makeup and sympathetic gestures, Chaney's participation in this production appears to be a supporting one. The storyline does go through long stretches of screen time without his presence. But none-the-less, whether the focus is solely on the romantic lovers (Patsy Ruth Miller and Norman Kerry), or on the cast of thousands of extras on the streets of Paris, it is Chaney's vivid performance as Quasimodo whom is best remembered. Patsy Ruth Miller comes a close second with the one movie in her long list of movie credits during the silent era for which she is best known.

Much has been written about Chaney's makeup, a misshapen face with an eye that droops almost out of its socket, mouth with jagged teeth and twisted legs, wavey hair, but it's his character behind that makeup who really brings out his sympathy and human dignity. As with Esmeralda, viewers at first glance would become somewhat frightened by his fearsome appearance, but in time would come to understand him. Not essentially a horror film, but rather a love story of two misunderstood characters, Chaney's Quasimodo is actually a good-natured soul trapped in a monstrous, yet deformed, body. In fact, the true monsters in THE HUNCHBACK OF NOTRE DAME are the unsympathetic citizens of medieval Paris who watch with joy and laughter the flogging of this deformed hero as he is chained down in a kneeling position to a rotating wheel with his bare back, bruised with metal tipped whips, and adding even more pain to his displeasure with the hot burning rays of the sun beaming down on his back. Unlike Victor Hugo's novel, this screen version details very little about Quasimodo's background, yet, spends more time bringing out the true heritage of Esmeralda.

This carefully constructed production captures the simplicity of 19th century Paris, from the authentic Notre Dame cathedral down to the costumes worn by the actors. After watching this movie multiple times over the years, whether it be on television or by replaying one of my many collections of video cassettes, I cannot help but take notice on some of the similarities between this and DW Griffith's ORPHANS OF THE STORM (1921) starring Lillian and Dorothy Gish. Granted, both films were produced on a lavish scale, set in Paris around the same time frame, with interplays of unrelated characters, flashbacks involving the girl in question, in this case, Esmeralda, with her separation from her mother while still a child, climaxed with a trial leading to the accused girl found guilty and going to her execution with her neck placed in the noose as she is surrounded by an angry mob. In Griffith's version, minus any hunchbacks and bellringers, Lillian Gish's character is sent to her execution surrounded by a mob as she is to meet her executioner, Madame Guillotine. While a film such as this has some of the ingredients Griffith had used so well in his past productions, THE HUNCHBACK OF NOTRE DAME would not have turned out the classic it has become mainly because spectacle would play an important part instead of the character study, and the Esmeralda character would have been built up even more while Quasimodo would simply become a minor character, definitely not to Chaney's liking. Wallace Worsley, the director, had a handful of films to his credit, but none as memorable and well noted as HUNCHBACK.

THE HUNCHBACK OF NOTRE DAME and THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA (1925) remain two of Lon Chaney's most famous screen roles. During the early years of video cassette distributions, these two silent features, which have become public domain titles, were the easiest to obtain. Released through various distributors means alternate versions, ranging from bad video transfers with no musical scoring, to clear picture quality with various types of underscoring, ranging from organ to orchestral, with the majority with the average time frame of 97 minutes. Any avid film enthusiest would have to seek out many VHS or DVD copies in order to obtain that special copy that would be best suited for one's collection. One particular video distributor, Blackhawk, transferred on tape with clear picture quality, had released THE HUNCHBACK with an orchestral score along with the sounds of flutes, ringing church bells and chanting from the cathedral. After Blackhawk's merging with Republic Home Video, followed by another distributor, Critic's Choice Video, a different music track was used with an organ score by Lee Irwin from the Paul Gillian collection, along with new title cards used in the introducing moments of cast and credits, thus substituting this for the original 1923 opening, along with color tinted sequences. The only debit with this particular video transfer is that the final scene which finds the dying Quasimodo ringing the bell of the church of Notre Dame for the last time, abruptly ends in freeze frame just as the priest (De Brulier) is walking towards him, not showing what follows. The print with the abrupt ending happened to be the one presented on public television's 1971 13-week series of THE SILENT YEARS as hosted by Orson Welles. But at present, many of the other video copies, as well as DVD transfers, do include the original opening title credits and the restored closing showing what takes place after the priest approaches Quasimodo followed by the final focus of 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.