The Hunchback of Notre Dame

film by Dieterle [1939]

Written by Lee Pfeiffer

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The Hunchback of Notre Dame, American dramatic film, released in 1939, that is widely regarded as the finest adaptation of Victor Hugo’s classic novel of the same name. It featured Charles Laughton in one of his most acclaimed roles.

Laughton portrayed an unlikely hero: the kind, misunderstood, and pitiable hunchback Quasimodo, the bell ringer at Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris. He meets and falls in love with a beautiful Rom (gypsy) named Esmeralda (played by Maureen O’Hara). However, Quasimodo’s adoptive father figure, the sexually repressed Frollo (Cedric Hardwicke), is determined to destroy the girl. After she falls in love with the soldier Phoebus (Alan Marshal), the increasingly unstable Frollo murders him. He then frames Esmeralda for the crime, and she is tried and sentenced to death. As she is being taken to the gallows, Quasimodo rescues her, and the two find sanctuary in the cathedral. Frollo, however, is determined to see Esmeralda killed, and during a struggle Quasimodo throws him off the bell tower.

The film adaptation is notably different from the novel. Although Frollo is an archdeacon in Hugo’s book, filmmakers, worried that a negative portrayal of the clergy would run afoul of the Hays Production Code, made the character a chief justice. In addition, the movie’s happy ending is in sharp contrast to the novel, in which both Quasimodo and Esmeralda die. Despite such changes, the film received numerous accolades. Laughton’s legendary costume and makeup, which took hours to put on every day and was hot and uncomfortable to wear, was kept a secret until the film premiered. His appearance shocked audiences and helped make the performance one of the most indelible of Laughton’s career. The film was remade numerous times, most notably in 1956 starring Anthony Quinn and in 1996 as a Disney animated feature. The 1923 silent film version of the story, starring Lon Chaney, was also acclaimed.