The Hunchback Of Notre Dame (1923)

The Hunchback of Notre Dame is a 1923 American drama film starring Lon Chaney, directed by Wallace Worsley, and produced by Carl Laemmle and Irving Thalberg. The supporting cast includes Patsy Ruth Miller, Norman Kerry, Nigel de Brulier, and Brandon Hurst. The film was Universal’s “Super Jewel” of 1923 and was their most successful silent film, grossing $3.5 million. The film premiered on September 2, 1923 at the Astor Theatre in New York, New York, then went into release on September 6.

The screenplay was written by Perley Poore Sheehan and Edward T. Lowe Jr., based on Victor Hugo’s 1831 novel, and is notable for the grand sets that recall 15th century Paris as well as for Chaney’s performance and make-up as the tortured hunchback bellringer Quasimodo. This was the seventh film adaptation of the novel. The film elevated Chaney, who was already a well-known character actor, to full star status in Hollywood, and also helped set a standard for many later horror films, including Chaney’s The Phantom of the Opera in 1925.

PLOT

The story is set in Paris in 1482. Quasimodo is a deaf, half-blind, hunchbacked bell-ringer of the famous Cathedral of Notre Dame in Paris. His master is a man named Jehan, the evil brother of Notre Dame’s saintly archdeacon Dom Claude. One night, Jehan prevails upon Quasimodo to kidnap the fair Esmeralda, a dancing Roma girl (and the adopted daughter of Clopin, the king of the oppressed beggars of Paris’ underworld).

The dashing Captain Phoebus rescues Esmeralda from Quasimodo, while Jehan abandons him and flees (later in the film, Quasimodo hates Jehan for abandoning him and is no longer loyal to him). At first seeking a casual romance, Phoebus becomes entranced by Esmeralda, and takes her under his wing. Quasimodo is sentenced to be lashed in the public square before Esmeralda and Dom Claude come to his aid.

Dom Claude restrains Quasimodo from violence.
To their dismay, Jehan and Clopin learn that Phoebus hopes to marry Esmeralda, despite being engaged to Fleur de Lys. Phoebus persuades Esmeralda to accompany him to a ball celebrating his appointment as Captain of the Guard by King Louis XI. He provides her with rich garments and introduces her to their hostess, Madame de Gondelaurier, as a Princess of Egypt.

Clopin, accompanied by his beggars, crashes the festivities and demands Esmeralda be returned. To avoid bloodshed, Esmeralda says that she does not belong with the aristocracy. Later, however, Esmeralda sends the street poet Pierre Gringoire to give Phoebus a note, arranging a rendezvous at Notre Dame to say goodbye to him. Phoebus arrives and is stabbed in the back by Jehan. After Esmeralda is falsely sentenced to death for the crime, she is rescued from the gallows by Quasimodo and carried inside the cathedral, where he and Dom Claude grant her sanctuary.

When Quasimodo finds Jehan attacking Esmeralda, he throws his former master off the ramparts of Notre Dame, but not before Jehan fatally stabs him three times in the back. Phoebus finds and embraces Esmeralda. Witnessing this, Quasimodo rings his own death toll, and Gringoire and Dom Claude enter the bell tower just in time to see him die. The last image is of the great bell swinging silently above Quasimodo’s corpse.

CREATORS

Directed by Wallace Worsley
Screenplay by Edward T. Lowe, Jr. & Perley Poore Sheehan
Based on The Hunchback of Notre Dame by Victor Hugo
Produced by Carl Laemmle
Restored and upscaled by moonflix, LLC

CAST

Lon Chaney as Quasimodo
Patsy Ruth Miller as Esmeralda
Norman Kerry as Phoebus de Chateaupers
Kate Lester as Madame de Gondelaurier
Winifred Bryson as Fleur de Lys
Nigel De Brulier as Don Claudio
Brandon Hurst as Jehan
Ernest Torrence as Clopin
Tully Marshall as King Louis XI
Harry von Meter as Monsieur Neufchatel
Raymond Hatton as Gringoire
Nick De Ruiz as Monsieur le Torteru
Eulalie Jensen as Marie
Roy Laidlaw as Charmolue
Ray Myers as Charmolue’s assistant
William Parke as Josephus
Gladys Brockwell as Sister Gudule
John Cossar as Judge of the Court
Edwin Wallock as King’s Chamberlain
Louise LaPlanche as a young Gypsy girl (extra)
Elmo Lincoln
Joe Bonomo (stunt double)
Harvey Perry (stunt double)
Cesare Gravina

Original release date:
September 6, 1923

Genres: New Arrivals, Movies, 1920's, Famous Stories, Drama Films, Famous Stories, Romance Films, Silent Films, Silent Films, Romance, American Classics, Drama Movies, Based on Novels, ALL Movies