Home Video Hovel: The Hunchback of Notre Dame, by Josh Long

Today’s blockbusters are easy to identify. Big budgets, driven by spectacle, usually adaptations (sometimes dumbed down to appeal to the widest possible audience). While this era of the blockbuster began in the 1970s, we can look back to remember that this approach finds its roots in our earliest cinema. Irving Thalberg and Wallace Worsey’s 1923 Hunchback of Notre Dame was one such proto-blockbuster. A new Blu-ray release through Flicker Alley gives a chance to re-examine this silent classic.

The first two striking things about this film are Lon Chaney’s performance as Quasimodo and the film’s overall scale. Chaney throws himself into the role with an inhuman energy. By modern acting standards he’s overplaying it, but by the standards of the 1920s (and, more importantly, by the standards of the other actors in the film) his performance is unabashed, lively, and free from any self-consciousness. Chaney also famously designed his own make-up, a grotesque face and body design styled after early illustrations for Victor Hugo’s novel. It is, once again, over the top for today’s tastes, but was astounding at the time. This is one of the films that brought Chaney international attention as “the man of a thousand faces.”

The scale of this production is unbelievable. Gigantic sets were built, including an elaborate façade of the titular cathedral. The sets covered nineteen acres of the Universal backlot. Scene after scene is packed with hundreds (at times thousands) of extras; the film employed so many extras that an entire building was constructed solely to store their costumes. While the actual cost/benefit analysis for something so extravagant would be undoubtedly shaky, it certainly creates an impressive setting. I knew this information about the production going into the film, but caught myself starting to wonder “did they shoot this in Paris?” It’s something amazing to look at, a big-scale production to rival James Cameron and Michael Bay.

I must admit I have never read The Hunchback of Notre Dame, but am familiar with the story’s basics through cultural osmosis. The film does capture the theme of inner beauty versus outer appearances. Chaney is able to channel the “creature” aspect of Quasimodo without stripping him of his humanity. This adaptation, however, leaves out a great deal of the original story, apparently trying to be more palatable to the audiences of the 20s. It trades the heartbreaking ending for a happy romantic one, and splits the novel’s clerical antagonist, Frollo, into good and evil brothers (the latter apparently done to avoid any aspersions the character might cast on the Church). Not knowing this, viewers may find it pleasant melodrama; knowing it may upset the viewer at seeing the dumbed-down version of a very powerful story.

Flicker Alley’s new Blu-ray release does its best to preserve the original quality, but is unfortunately hampered by the fact that “the film…does not survive in 35mm.” The 16mm print used for this transfer is good, but has that noticeable lack of clarity. Fortunately, the film does at least survive in its entirety. It’s also accompanied by a fantastic score, arranged and recorded for this release. Special features include a detailed booklet with essays and information about the production, and commentary by Chaney scholar Michael F. Blake. It also includes the 1915 short film Alas and Alack, in which Chaney appears as a hunchback (Chaney had apparently wanted to play Quasimodo for some time). There are a few other tidbits, including a “digital reproduction of the original souvenir program,” prompting me to wonder why they didn’t just include a physical reproduction of the original souvenir program.

All in all, this is a great release for film history buffs and fans of silent film. It gives us a look at the “blockbusters” of yesteryear, and at Lon Chaney’s rise to stardom, an excellent example of his talent as a makeup artist and an actor. The Hunchback of Notre Dame is a fascinating piece of cinema history, and this release is the best way to see it.