prof-zebedee This film was made in 1923, when movie making was in its infancy. That doesn't just mean silent, or black and white - it means scripts, casting, sets, lighting, make-up and everything else.Praise be, they made a fantastic film here. It is what we would perhaps now describe as an "action drama" or maybe an "action thriller". There is plenty going on in the plot line and it's pretty compelling to watch, with huge chunks of pathos. Patsy Ruth Miller gives a wonderful lively take as Esmeralda; Lon Chaney is excellent as the poor afflicted Quasimodo, whether with slapstick fun, lonely despair, or untempered rage. But there are so many other wonderful convincing character portrayals, including gallant heroes and wicked villains that established a high benchmark for others to aim at down the years.And this is a hugely long film too, at more than 100 minutes duration. Astonishing for that era. Watch it with an awareness of movie-making history and you shouldn't be at all disappointed.

Fuzzy Wuzzy I purposely gave this film a somewhat lower rating than one might expect or think that it deserves.This was done solely because I don't enjoy a film that focuses in on the likes of grubby, low-life peasants, be they from the 15th Century or from the present.My aversion to bottom-of-the-barrel peasants is directly associated with the fact that I live within "a-hop-skip-and-a-jump" away from Canada's skid-row capital, which is located at the intersection of Main & Hastings streets in Vancouver, BC.I think that if you lived down in these dregs, as well, you'd be pretty damn repulsed and fed-up with the realities of what peasant life is really all about. You certainly wouldn't appreciate seeing it being somewhat glorified in a 100-year-old movie like this one.Anyways - This film's story is pretty depressing with Quasimodo (the hunchback) contemptuously spitting on the peasants and the peasants, in return, spitting back at him. And pretty, little Esmeralda, the sweetest gypsy girl (with a heart of gold), being forced into the middle of things and being spit on from both sides, while all the hot-blooded guys (including hideous Quasimodo) wantonly eyeing her.Yeah. There's plenty of treachery & betrayal & revenge & whatnot thrown into the mix (for good measure). But its too much of a focus on the truly ugly side of human nature. So, this film, in turn, fails to serve as viable entertainment after a while.The Hunchback Of Notre Dame's story is just too mean-spirited to sustain one's interest for very long and, with that, I cannot give this film more than a 4-star rating.

Dagon Dubbed "The Man of a Thousand Faces," Leonidas Chaney was a successful character actor in the realm of silent movies when the horror genre was but a mere fledgling. His adept talent at pantomime was a perfect fit for portraying poor or unfortunate souls; this level of dedication elevated him into the elite ranks of Hollywood and a valuable asset to Universal Studios. Aside from playing the role of Quasimodo in The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Chaney developed his own makeup techniques to transform himself into Erik the Phantom in 1925's The Phantom of the Opera. Chaney should be noted for other highly celebrated titles as well, but Hunchback and Phantom are his most widely recognized with the former being featured as Universal's top selling film of 1923, grossing over $3 million. The tale takes place in 15th Century France in which a deformed bell- ringer named Quasimodo is tasked with ringing the bell of the Cathedral of Notre Dame in Paris. Esmerelda, a young gypsy girl, is the adopted daughter of Clopin; a hero and "king" to an underground resistance group of beggars and peasants that tire of the rule and oppression of the aristocracy. Captain Phoebus, a womanizing commander in the King's army, rescues Esmerelda and forms an obsessive interest in her. With the dawn of the resistance approaching, and a love and attraction shared for Esmerelda between Quasimodo and Phoebus reaching an end, a disaster awaits on the horizon. This film was such a major achievement for Universal - just the set construction alone is awesome. You're left with the sense that each set is so vast...and here I thought some of the sets in Frankenstein and Dracula were huge! It's great to see even earlier films had this quality about them. It's unquestionable, even for naysayers, to admit that Universal was a driving force in cinema at the time...without their innovations and extensive talent pool, who knows how the film industry would have ended up. The Hunchback of Notre Dame also sports a tremendous musical score; a brilliant assembly of musicians and overall classic appeal to add to the film's ambiance. You may be surprised to learn that, while I did find some very impressive and wonderful things to discuss about this film, I did not rate it highly. This book-to-film adaptation barely classifies as horror, even by older standards. I am unfamiliar with the novel it is based from...a possibility exists that I could be wrong in saying this. In my opinion the pace of the film was slow and like I stated earlier, rather lengthy for a silent film...but whether this was silent or not, it holds no relevance to the drawn out aspects of the plot. It goes without saying that people prefer a film that's evenly paced and not one that is dragged through the muck and devoid of stimulation. I'm a horror enthusiast, and in my humble opinion, a person with an average amount of tolerance and a basic understanding of the genre would be completely uninterested in this version. While the sets are amazing and Chaney's tortured performance of a deformed man is intriguing it won't be enough to suck most audiences in nowadays...especially those looking for sheer horror.If you're hungry for knowledge and you would like to know how the earlier days of horror started out, then a film like this is perfect - it may not score highly on your list but it's important to recognize the groundwork laid by both Lon Chaney, Sr. and Universal in the early days.

lepoisson-1 This movie is an awesome production from start to finish. When there's a mob scene, it's a full tilt mob. The "Court of Miracles" is really populated by hundreds of Paris' "down and outs." Watching the hunchback navigate the façade of Notre Dame is breathtaking. Universal spared nothing making this picture, and it shows. And of course, Lon Chaney as the hunchback was both believable and repulsive.I cannot add much that hasn't already been said. I cannot recommend this movie highly enough, from viewpoints of both historical importance and pure entertainment. Finally, I recommend checking out Charles Laughton as the hunchback in the 1939 version; it too is a superb interpretation of Hugo's novel.