In 15th century Paris, the beautiful gypsy Esmeralda (Patsy Ruth Miller) is in love with the captain of the guards Phœbus (Norman Kerry). Deceived by Jehan (Brandon Hurst), brother of Don Claude, Archbishop of Notre-Dame, and condemned for a crime she did not commit, she is saved by Quasimodo, the deformed bellringer (Lon Chaney). This version of Notre Dame de Paris, made in 1923, became a landmark of the silent era ‘fantasy’ genre, despite the many liberties taken with Victor Hugo’s novel. The centrepiece of the film is the astonishing and heartbreaking performance of Lon Chaney, who went on to star in The Phantom of the Opera the following year. Victor Hugo’s story has been adapted in several other ways, from William Dieterle’s The Huntchback of Notre Dame (1939), starring Charles Laughton, to Jean Delannoy’s The Huntchback (1956), starring Anthony Quinn, not to mention the 1996 Disney animated film.
subject: Victor Hugo
script: Perley Poore Sheehan, Edward T. Lowe Jr, Chester L. Roberts (uncredited)
photography: Robert Newhard, Tony Kornman, Virgil Miller, Stephen S. Norton, Charles J. Stumar
mounting: Edward Curtiss, Maurice Pivar, Sydney Singerman
scenography: Elmer Sheeley, Sidney Ullman
other titles: The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Notre-Dame de Paris, Il gobbo di Notre Dame
color: Bianco & Nero
taken from: NOVEL "NOTRE DAME DE PARIS", BY VICTOR HUGO
production company: UNIVERSAL PICTURES
Su gentile concessione dell'Ente dello Spettacolo
