The Hunchback of Notre Dame (Wallace Worsley, 1923): USA

Reviewed by Diego Moreno. Viewed at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival 2020.

The Hunchback of Notre Dame is an intriguing film because it’s an almost one hundred year old piece from 1923, and it’s interesting to see how films were created back then. It’s a silent film, so you’ll never hear any actual audio for the movie except for the music that plays throughout to replace the lack of sound. Despite no audio, Don Laney’s performance is a standout part and is the best actor in the film.

I viewed The Hunchback of Notre Dame as a free screening at the Arlington Theatre as it was one of the many events at SBIFF 2020. The Hunchback of Notre Dame is directed by Wallace Worsley and is based on the novel by Victor Hugo titled Notre-Dame de Paris. It stars Lon Chaney, Patsy Ruth Miller, Norman Kerry, Kate Kester, Winifred Bryson, Nigel De Brulier, Brandon Hurst, Ernest Torrence, Tully Marshall, Harry von Meter, and Raymond Hatton. The film is about a hunchbacked bell ringer named Quasimodo, who is disregarded by society because of his disfigured appearance. His master, Jehan, who keeps him as a slave, is after a woman named Esmeralda. Jehan uses Quasimodo in an attempt to kidnap Esmeralda, which results in Quasimodo being  captured and punished. The aftermath of Quasimodo’s punishment causes Esmeralda to sympathize with him, leading to an unlikely bond.

Since The Hunchback of Notre Dame is a very early piece of cinema, the narrative, shots, acting, editing etc. is quite different to much later films. The acting stands out and holds up surprisingly well, especially for a silent film, where acting had to be more exaggerated to express actions and emotions due to the lack of sound. Especially from Lon Chaney (who you may know from the acclaimed classic The Phantom of the Opera), who plays Quasimodo. The scenes with Chaney’s character are my favorite in the movie. Despite a lot of makeup and prosthetics put on him, he is able to express his emotions and actions very, very well. Chaney’s performance is just awesome, and so are the rest of the actors.

The Hunchback of Notre Dame is a very enjoyable movie, but not for everyone, because it’s a silent film from an early era, and those types of films are usually not to everyone’s taste. If you do have a taste for silent/old films however, I recommend it and is well worth the time. If you’re interested in seeing one of the few film adaptations of The Hunchback of Notre Dame (yes, there are others aside from the 1996 Disney animated film of the same name), I recommend this and you might find it interesting. It’s a great story followed by great performances and is an interesting cinematic piece because of the type of film it is and the fact it’s almost a century old. A couple of small issues, however, is that the film ends very abruptly, and a character’s arc isn’t entirely fulfilled and wish I could have seen how that storyline wrapped up.