The Hunchback of Notre Dame 1923
Dir: Wallace Worsley
Starring: Lon Chaney
with: Patsey Ruth Miller
To say The Hunchback of Notre Dame is a horror movie is in reality a stretch. It should be considered more rightly a historical drama. Nevertheless, it has been thought of as a horror movie for some time. I even had the Aurora monster model of the Hunchback as a kid. Need there be more proof.
The story takes place during the reign of Louis the IX in Paris. The Hunchback is the bellringer at the cathedral of Notre Dame. As the title cards declare, he is "Deaf- half blind-shut off from his fellow men by his defornities. The bells were the only voice of his groping soul." Another card declared "To the townspeople he was an inhuman freak, a monsterous joke of nature-- and for their jeers he gave them scorn and bitter hate." Lon Chaney did a remarkable job playing both of these Quasimodo traits. He was able to aptly portray the tortured sympathetic hunchback and at the same time give Quasimodo a resultant hatred for those he was in conflict with.
Chaney's makeup for Quasimodo is famous including a reported 40-70 pound hump he carried on his back. Chaney's athleticism again is showcased as he climbs ropes and leaps around with the added weight-- a truly remarkable performance.
The film tries to include the many subplots of Victor Hugo's novel, including the mad woman who 's child had been kidnapped by gypsies and turns out to be Esmeralda's long lost mother.
Another subplot centered around Clopin the "King of the Beggars" who leads the townspeople to a revolt and a stampede of the cathedral.
But the main crust of the film surrounds the beautiful Esmeralda, played by Patsey Ruth Miller, and the trio of men who all desire her.
Jehan lusted after Esmeralda, Quasimodo loved her for the kindness she showed him and Phoebus, a soldier, fell in love with her at first sight and she returned her love to him.
A particularly famous and moving scene involves Quasimodo after being sentenced to flogging is chained to a wheel in the center of town and he is beaten. The scourging and Quasimodo's cry out of "I Thirst" might cause some to recall Christ's scourging. It is Esmeralda who takes drink to the beaten hunchback.
The story depicts the injustice of the king's court again when after Jehan stabs Phoebus, Esmeralda is framed for the crime and she is "put to the question" as was synonomous with middle ages torture. She eventually confesses to the crime under torture and it is up to Quasimodo to rescue her from her fate.
The movie was considered a "Super Jewell" for Universal and became a super success in 1923.
Irving Thalberg was behind the production and he "had to convince Carl Laemmle to approve a number of Cinematic firsts: a six month shooting schedule; nineteen acres of sets, including streets with real cobblestones and a cathedral facade built to last; the hiring of a thousand technicians and the rental of every arc light in Hollywood for the filming of hundreds of extras in the biggest night-for-night scenes yet staged; a weekly salary of $2,500 for Chaney; and the unheard of budget of $1,250,00."1
1. Hollywood Gothic from Gothic to Cosmic, Mark A Vieira, 2003, Henry N Abrams Inc.
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