The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1923) Director: Wallace Worsley

★★★☆☆

The Hunchback of Notre Dame presents a mix of gothic horror as well as pity for the underclass of medieval Paris, particularly in the figure of the deformed character Quasimodo. The medieval set constructions for this film are extraordinary, it took Universal nearly a year to build the massive sets, most notably the Cathedral at Notre Dame which was actually constructed to scale. It was a far more lavish affair than was typical for Universal at the time (apparently producer Irving Thalberg took advantage of Carl Laemmle’s vacation to secretly make the picture). The film was Universal’s “Super-Jewel” that effectively made Lon Chaney a star, before he and Thalberg moved onward to complete their famous series of monster-horror films. Lon Chaney “The Man of a Thousand Faces” delivers a terrific performance, much like his performance in 1925’s The Phantom of the Opera. I thought this was an all-around terrific film.

In the film, Lon Chaney plays Quasimodo, the odd ringer of the bells at Notre Dame Cathedral. The film mostly stays true to the novel’s description of Quasimodo as hideously hunched with one eye swollen shut. Apparently it took Chaney upwards of 5 hours to son his costume each day. In this way, the film mirrored Victor Hugo’s “cult of grandiosity” in the novel. It takes place, like the novel, in Paris in 1482 during the reign of the unjust King Louis XI. Quasimodo’s master is Jehan, the evil brother of the saintly priest of Notre Dame. He tells Quasimodo to kidnap a fair dancing gypsy girl, but she is rescued by Captain Phoebus who pursues a romance with her by convincing the aristocracy she is a princess of Egypt. However, Esmerelda eventually disowns the aristocracy and returns to her life in the underworld. Phoebus is stabbed in the back by Jehan but Esmerelda is wrongly blamed until Quasimodo rescues her from gallows. He hides her in the Cathedral at Notre Dame. Jehan and the mob storm the Cathedral and Jehan tries to take Esmerelda, but Quasimodo throws his former master from the top of the Cathedral to his death. In the fight Jehan fatally stabs Quasimodo. Esmerelda finds Quasimodo as he rings the bell, his own death knell. The film closes with scenes of the bells ringing.