The Hunchback of Notre Dame
About The Hunchback of Notre Dame
Paris, 1482. Jehan orders Quasimodo, the deaf, half-blind bell-ringer, to kidnap the Roma dancer Esmeralda. Captain Phoebus takes her back. Quasimodo is whipped in the square. Esmeralda brings him water. Dom Claude, the archdeacon, is there. Phoebus means to marry her. Jehan stabs Phoebus. Esmeralda is condemned for the stabbing. Quasimodo carries her into the cathedral and claims sanctuary. Clopin’s people storm Notre Dame. Quasimodo fights them, is stabbed, and throws Jehan from the ramparts. He rings the death knell and dies. Phoebus holds Esmeralda.
Cast & crew
More about The Hunchback of Notre Dame
Wallace Worsley directed. Perley Poore Sheehan and Edward T. Lowe Jr. wrote the screenplay from Victor Hugo’s 1831 novel. Carl Laemmle and Irving Thalberg produced. It was Universal’s Super Jewel of 1923 and, by the studio’s figure, its most successful silent, grossing $3.5 million. The premiere was 2 September 1923 at the Astor Theatre in New York. General release followed on 6 September. Another date on file is 19 November 1923. A listed running time is 133 minutes. Lon Chaney is Quasimodo. Patsy Ruth Miller is Esmeralda. Norman Kerry is Phoebus. Nigel de Brulier is Dom Claude. Brandon Hurst is Jehan. Ernest Torrence is Clopin. Robert Newhard, Tony Kornman, Virgil Miller, Stephen S. Norton, and Charles J. Stumar photographed. Cecil Copping wrote music. It was the seventh film of the novel.
Themes
Making
Thalberg and Laemmle built a Notre Dame square for Chaney’s Quasimodo rather than a small horror picture. The sanctuary, the storming, and the throw from the gallery are what the sets are for.
Look
Five cameramen, led in the credits by Robert Newhard, shot the square, the whipping, and the cathedral front Chaney defends.
Music
Silent. Cecil Copping is the music credit.
Preservation
Public domain in the United States since 1951. Surviving prints, taken from 16mm copies, lack at least 15 minutes of the 1923 35mm release.
Notes
- Chaney’s makeup puts the hump, the warted face, and hair on the chest and back on one body. He designed it.
- The claimants did not renew the copyright in the 28th year. It entered the public domain in the United States in 1951.
- Prints in circulation were copied from 16mm sources and are missing at least 15 minutes of the 1923 35mm release.
- Kate Lester, Winifred Bryson, Tully Marshall, and Raymond Hatton are also billed.
- An Internet Archive copy is filed as The_Hunchback_of_Notre_Dame.
Scenes
- Quasimodo is lashed, and Esmeralda gives him water.
- He swings her into the cathedral when the court condemns her.
- From the gallery he throws Jehan down, rings the knell, and dies.
Influenced by
- The Hunchback of Notre Dame (Victor Hugo, 1831)
Also available
- Internet Archive (The_Hunchback_of_Notre_Dame)
- Wikimedia Commons (The Hunchback of Notre Dame (Wallace Worsley, 1923).webm)
