{"id":44557,"date":"2019-09-04T14:33:35","date_gmt":"2019-09-04T21:33:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=44557"},"modified":"2021-01-23T22:44:58","modified_gmt":"2021-01-24T05:44:58","slug":"hunchback-of-notre-dame-the-1923","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=44557","title":{"rendered":"Hunchback of Notre Dame, The (1923)"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>&#8220;All Quasimodo knew was that this girl had once been kind to him.&#8221;<\/strong><\/p>\n<table>\n<tr>\n<td>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/Hunchback-of-Notre-Dame-Poster.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/Hunchback-of-Notre-Dame-Poster-200x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"200\" height=\"300\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-44646\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/Hunchback-of-Notre-Dame-Poster-200x300.jpg 200w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/Hunchback-of-Notre-Dame-Poster-85x128.jpg 85w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/Hunchback-of-Notre-Dame-Poster.jpg 666w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 200px) 100vw, 200px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>Synopsis:<\/strong><br \/>\nA deformed bell-ringer (Lon Chaney, Sr.) in Notre Dame Cathedral provides sanctuary to a young gypsy woman (Patsy Ruth Miller) falsely accused of killing a nobleman (Norman Kerry) who was actually stabbed by the jealous and unscrupulous brother (Brandon Hurst) of an archdeacon.\n<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>\n<p>\n<strong>Genres, Themes, Actors, and Directors:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Disabilities<\/li>\n<li>Falsely Accused<\/li>\n<li>Gypsies<\/li>\n<li>Historical Drama<\/li>\n<li>Lon Chaney, Sr. Films<\/li>\n<li>Misfits<\/li>\n<li>Silent Films<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Response to Peary\u2019s Review: <\/strong><br \/>\nPeary recommends that film fanatics see this &#8220;first of many screen adaptations of <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/The_Hunchback_of_Notre-Dame\">Victor Hugo&#8217;s classic<\/a>&#8221; before any others. He notes that it&#8217;s an &#8220;impressive production with large sets and hundreds of extras&#8221;, &#8220;beautifully photographed, ambitiously staged by director Wallace Worsley, and marvelously acted&#8221; by Chaney and Miller. He points out that the &#8220;key to Chaney&#8217;s definitive performance as Quasimodo is that his expressions and gestures are subtle, not demonstrative as one would expect in a silent picture&#8221;; he argues that while &#8220;later actors who played the hunchback hammed it up and worked too hard to get our pity&#8221;, &#8220;Chaney realized that the make-up alone was strong enough to make viewers feel sympathy for the hunchback &#8212; he wanted to show that Quasimodo&#8217;s personality was opposite of his monstrous exterior&#8221;. Peary concludes his review by noting that &#8220;the finale is extravagant and exciting, then poignant.&#8221; While I&#8217;m suitably impressed with how lavishly well-mounted this early silent flick is, I share less of Peary&#8217;s overall enthusiasm. It&#8217;s certainly worth a look for Chaney&#8217;s memorable performances, but the storyline creaks. <\/p>\n<p><strong>Redeeming Qualities and Moments: <\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Lon Chaney, Sr. as Quasimodo<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/Hunchback-Chaney-Sr.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/Hunchback-Chaney-Sr-1024x717.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"448\" class=\"alignnone size-large wp-image-44649\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/Hunchback-Chaney-Sr-1024x717.png 1024w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/Hunchback-Chaney-Sr-128x90.png 128w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/Hunchback-Chaney-Sr-300x210.png 300w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/Hunchback-Chaney-Sr-768x538.png 768w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/Hunchback-Chaney-Sr.png 1077w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<li>Impressive sets (spanning 19 acres) and handling of large crowds<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/Hunchback-Sets-Crowds.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/Hunchback-Sets-Crowds-1024x717.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"448\" class=\"alignnone size-large wp-image-44648\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/Hunchback-Sets-Crowds-1024x717.png 1024w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/Hunchback-Sets-Crowds-128x90.png 128w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/Hunchback-Sets-Crowds-300x210.png 300w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/Hunchback-Sets-Crowds-768x538.png 768w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/Hunchback-Sets-Crowds.png 1064w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Must See? <\/strong><br \/>\nNo, though it&#8217;s worth a look as a lavish early silent adaptation, and to see Chaney, Sr. in one of his signature roles. <\/p>\n<p><strong>Links: <\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt0014142\/\">IMDb entry<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.tcm.com\/tcmdb\/title\/36535\/the-hunchback-of-notre-dame#articles-reviews\">TCM Article<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/silent-volume.blogspot.com\/2009\/11\/hunchback-of-notre-dame-1923.html\">Silent Volumes Review<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/fantasticmoviemusings.com\/2014\/10\/16\/the-hunchback-of-notre-dame-1923\/\">Fantastic Movie Musings Review<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;All Quasimodo knew was that this girl had once been kind to him.&#8221; Synopsis: A deformed bell-ringer (Lon Chaney, Sr.) in Notre Dame Cathedral provides sanctuary to a young gypsy woman (Patsy Ruth Miller) falsely accused of killing a nobleman (Norman Kerry) who was actually stabbed by the jealous and unscrupulous brother (Brandon Hurst) of an archdeacon. Genres, Themes, Actors, and Directors: Disabilities Falsely Accused Gypsies Historical Drama Lon Chaney, Sr. Films Misfits Silent Films Response to Peary\u2019s Review: Peary&#8230;<\/p>\n<p class=\"read-more\"><a class=\"btn btn-default\" href=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=44557\"> Read More<span class=\"screen-reader-text\">  Read More<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-44557","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-responses-to-peary"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44557","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=44557"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44557\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":65477,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44557\/revisions\/65477"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=44557"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=44557"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=44557"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}