The Hunchback Of Notre Dame (1923)

It's another glorious Sunday during the Covid-19 Era, but we have to make the most out of everything the best we can and that means another Sunday At The Classics. For today's classic film, we are taking the time machine to the roaring 20's and we are checking out the silent classic The Hunchback Of Notre Dame which starred the one and only Man of 1000 faces Lon Chaney (The Phantom Of The Opera). Chaney complete transforms himself in the film to play Quasimodo, a the hunchback who has sanctuary in the cathedral of Notre Dame in France. It's the fifteenth century and things are rocky in Paris for King Louis XI (Tully Marshall) so the brother of the archdeacon Jehan (Brandon Hurst) plots with the gypsy king to create a peasant revolt. Meanwhile, Quasimodo falls in love with the gypsy queen, but he'll have to prove someone sinister was responsible for an attempted murder on a captain of the guards in order to save her. The film also stars Patsy Ruth Miller (Fools In The Dark) as Esmeralda, Norman Kerry (The Phantom Of The Opera) as Phoebus de Chateaupers, Kate Lester (The Gay Lord Quex) as Madame de Condelaurier, Nigel De Brulier (Adventures Of Captain Marvel) as Don Claudio, Raymond Hatton (Below The Border) as Gringoire, and the film was directed by Wallace Worsley (The Ace Of Hearts).

One of the disadvantages of the silent era was the fact that you had to be an "Actor" and not someone who thinks they can because you couldn't use your words. It was all based on your movements and facial expressions that helped tell a story because of course the words would come up on a screen, but the actors needed to convey those feelings. One of the bigger stories of this film is obviously the one and only Lon Chaney and how he did in the film. The one answer I can give you on that is that he was masterful as usual from the makeup which I believe he would do himself or at least part of it all the way to the stunts that he was performing even with the makeup and the costume. Lon Chaney was the real deal in Hollywood in those days and this film is just another prime example of why he was adored by so many today. One thing that kind of bothered me was it seemed like they were trying to have two different stories in the film that would coincide with one another, but in the end they just tied together anyways. Other than that, the film was really good for it's time, but the copy that HULU is suffering a little bit as it's getting a little grainy and hard to focus on. I could imagine that it's probably the best they could do especially seeing that most film stock wasn't meant to stay perfect for so long. If you are a film connoisseur then definitely give this one a watch, but for right now I am going to give the film an A- for a final grade.