The Hunchback of Notre Dame [PG]

In the cathedral of Notre Dame lives a deaf, half blind, and physically deformed creature named Quasimodo, but which the Parisians call the ‘Hunchback of Notre Dame’. Feared and ridiculed for his deformity, he has developed a bitter hatred for all humanity. But that changes when, during a punishment for attempted kidnapping of the beautiful Esmeralda on behalf of his master the evil brother of the archdeacon, Esmeralda show him kindness and he becomes devoted to her. This proves heroic in her most dire hour of need when Quasimodo rescues her from the hangman’s noose and protects her with the church’s law of sanctuary. 

Undoubtedly a much closer adaptation of Victor Hugo’s classic gothic novel than Disney’s version, which is the only one that I have ever seen to date, this silent version of The Hunchback of Notre Dame is, in a word, stunning. Just stunning. Boasting beautiful performances, wonderful achievements in makeup, and some great steps forward in sound editing, this is a really, really beautiful movie! 

The first thing that struck me was the achievements in makeup and costume design that this movie harbours. The physical horror of the movie can well be described as manifesting itself in the form of Quasimodo’s deformity. With an elongated nose, false chipped and sharpened teeth protruding from his mouth in a terrific overbite, one eye completely closed and swollen, and prominent swollen cheekbones, you feel guilty for staring at him, but at the same time that’s where the power of the movie lies. 

Through all his makeup and prosthetics, Lon Chaney delivers this beautiful performance conveying so much emotion through his facial expressions in his mouth and one good eye. When he’s spiteful and hateful, we see it in his mouth: the way his tongue works furiously and the way in which his lips work drawing more attention to the horror of his teeth. When he’s feeling emotions of tenderness or sadness or even happiness, we see it literally shine through in his eye and it really makes you melt. 

I mentioned before that there were some great steps forward in sound editing depicted in this movie. As far as I know, the sounds of silent films were all in the music that accompanied and mirrored the atmospheres of the events depicted on screen. Here we have a wonderful instrumental score, but we also have the sounds of the rallying mob, the bell tolls, and the thuds of axes and battering rams during the climax, all done in sync with the events on the screen. Considering this movie was made in 1923, I think that’s really impressive, I cannot say what the earliest film to do something like this was, but for all I know it very well could have been this one. At any rate, for a silent movie, the sound editing really stood out for me and I was much impressed by it. 

What is particularly wonderful about this film is that it is, I assume, a close adaptation of Hugo’s gothic novel. I have never read the original tale, but I imagine that the duelling stories of forbidden romance, tyranny, class struggles, and revolution all feature very heavily and seeing it all depicted beautifully on screen makes this movie a bit like a Shakespearean drama with the performances being very grandiose but mesmerising all the same and the central dramas all vying to outdo each other. There is also a little bit of the commedia dell’arte that comes into play with the long list of characters we have: all are made up in a slightly caricatured type of way to depict the type of character they are. For example, the romantic hero Phoebus has his neat moustache and his long wavy hair, Jehan the evil brother of the archdeacon has a prominent nose and pointed features, and Gringoire the poet is scrawny with shapely features and thick eyeliner. There are a lot of theatrical genres and elements that work in this film to make it the stunning depiction of a gothic classic that it is. 

Starring Lon Chaney, Patsy Ruth Miller, Norman Kerry, Kate Lester, Winifred Bryson, Nigel De Brulier, Brandon Hurst, Ernest Torrence, Tully Marshall, Harry Von Meter, and Raymond Hatton, The Hunchback of Notre Dame is just an absolutely stunning movie that, I believe, stands the test of time. Not many silent films can invoke an emotional response from a modern audience, but this one did. Filled with action, revolution, drama, comedy, horror, romance, and tragedy, it’s just beautiful!