In 1923, this staggeringly expensive production (it cost $1.8million) of the classic Victor Hugo novel, Notre Dame de Paris from 1831, became one of Universal’s most prestigious pictures and biggest hits. Watching it a century later, it’s easy to see why.
Set in Paris in the 15th century, the story centres around Esmerelda, a beautiful Gypsy dancer, who is the object of desire for both an honourable King’s guard and a lustful man, Jehan. Jehan is the master of Quasimodo, Notre Dame’s bell-ringer, a deaf, part-blind man with physical deformities who has a life within the cathedral but whose knowledge of the outside world is limited. When Jehan orders Quasimodo to seize Esmerelda on his behalf, a chain of events is set into motion which results in a peasant revolt. Along the way, kindness, compassion, lust, depravity and the structure of society are all touched upon.
The story is, of course, iconic – it has been filmed over a dozen times – but this version is one of silent cinema’s true epics. So vast and detailed in its production is it that you’d be forgiven for thinking that it had been filmed on actual locations but no, it’s all sets recreating Paris and Notre Dame, with hundreds of people fighting it out as the angry mob. It’s a spectacular feat of design and direction.
But despite the impressive scale, what makes the film linger is what makes the novel so enduring – a morality tale in which the plight of the underdog, of the oppressed, of the marginalised, is the emotional core of the story.
Conveying that emotion under a ton of state-of-the-art for the times make-up is an extraordinary Lon Chaney, The Man of a Thousand Faces as he would come to be known, in his first starring role. At once maniacal, then tender, fierce and compassionate, his is a superb performance that grounds the story very much in the heart.
A few years later he’d achieve even greater heights as the Phantom of the Opera but this Masters of Cinema release from eureka is a welcome reminder of how early cinema established the language of the epic to this day. For enthusiasts of the story, the 1939 version starring Charles Laughton is superior, but that’s no reason not to consider this a must-have disc.
Quality wise this is as good as it gets but no actual negative of the film exists and any restorations over the years have come from 16mm prints that were used for the film to be watched at home. Extras include a full commentary from Kim Newman and author Stephen Jones, Newman is interviewed separately as is film historian Jonathan Rigby and there’s a nice collector’s booklet too.
Essential viewing.
The Hunchback of Notre Dame is out now on Blu-ray from Eureka! Entertainment.
