It's one of the greatest movies ever made, based on one of the greatest novels ever written.
Reverently constructed, The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1939) sweeps away viewers to Paris a decade prior to Columbus arriving in America.
In keeping with Victor Hugo's 1831 novel, the film contrasts rich and poor, the powerful and the powerless, the beautiful and the monstrous. One of several standout films in a legendary movie year (Gone With the Wind and The Wizard of Oz, for example, were also released in '39), The Hunchback of Notre Dame stars the inimitable Charles Laughton in his first picture with RKO, which produced Hunchback on a massive scale. So massive, the studio built replicas in California's San Fernando Valley of not only Notre Dame Cathedral itself, but of surrounding buildings as well. So massive, that in order to keep the dust down from the cast of thousands, the studio covered the entire film set in concrete.
There had already been an excellent film version of the story, starring Lon Chaney in the title role. Taking nothing away from the Man With a Thousand Faces, the RKO production 16 years later benefitted from movie innovations, including sound.
Directed by William Dieterle, whose German Expressionist background accounts for the film's excellent visual aesthetic, Hunchback is the story of a beautiful young Gypsy named Esmeralda (Maureen O'Hara, perfectly cast, in her first movie) who catches the eye of all who see her--including Chief Justice Frollo (Hardwicke), the brother of Notre Dame's Archdeacon.
Notably, in the book Frollo is the Archdeacon, and as such has taken a vow of chastity. As the Chief Justice, Frollo is required to take no such vow; his dilemma in the film therefore is entirely undercut, and this is a flaw which must be kindly overlooked.
To Frollo's credit, he keeps lots of cats, and is brave enough a man to hold a white cat in his sleek black raiment without benefit of a tape-roller.
Contrasted with this cold lover of kitties who desires and cannot have Esmeralda, there is Gringoire (O'Brien), the poet, who embodies key truths of the writer's condition. "I am the true King of Fools," he remonstrates Parisians. "I battle for beauty, and the ugly gets crowned!"
Another of the more interesting characters is Clopin, King of Beggars. Terrifically played by Thomas Mitchell (he's the forgetful Uncle Billy in It's a Wonderful Life), Clopin opines to Gringoire, "True, we're not great thieves like the nobles. Our robberies are petty compared to the wholesale plunder of the nation."
And then there's the star of the show. When Charles Laughton plays Quasimodo, it's incredible to believe he's the same actor who brought Henry VIII, Dr. Moreau, and Capt. Bligh to life. His Hunchback has the perfect combination of "malice, astonishment, and melancholy" Hugo describes in the novel. He doesn't have many lines, but everything he says counts.
Raised by Frollo as a foundling abandoned on the Cathedral steps, Quasimodo is almost completely deaf from ringing the huge bells of Notre Dame. Initially, he scares Esmeralda when performing Frollo's nasty bidding. But there comes a point in the story when the beautiful and persecuted Gypsy pays Quasimodo a kindness which earns his undying gratitude.
More than any other reason, what makes the story work is that we are the Hunchback. We are the one on the pillory. We are the one who thirsts. We are all outwardly the monster in whose breast beats the heart of a hero.
Not one jot less true today than it was when first released, the 1939 version of The Hunchback of Notre Dame (in no way to be confused with the Disney cartoon) still stands as a high point in film, still rings plenty loud and satisfyingly clear.
THE HUNCHBACK OF NOTRE DAME
Starring Charles Laughton,
Maureen O'Hara,
Cedric Hardwicke,
Edmond O'Brien,
Thomas Mitchell,
Alan Marshal,
Mina Gombell,
Harry Davenport
Directed by William Dieterle
Written by Sonya Levien
Based on the novel by Victor Hugo
Runtime 117 minutes
Stewart Kirby writes for
THE INDEPENDENT,
TWO RIVERS TRIBUNE,
and
ARIZONA-INDIA TIMES
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