4 Star

Chaney at his Best

This is the seventh adaptation of Victor Hugo‘s (Les Miserables, The Man Who Laughs) 1831 novel. Directed by Wallace Worsley (A Blind Bargain, The Man Who Fights Alone) who gets Chaney to deliver the performance of a lifetime. Once again, Eureka (Masters of Cinema) brings us this 1080p restoration on Blu-ray, a true classic film for your collection.

It is Paris in 1482, and it is the one day the peasants get to party in the city centre, watching and loathing high above is Quasimodo (Lon Chaney, Man of a Thousand Faces, Outside the Law), half-blind and deaf, this man is disfigured and is shunned by all. This bell-ringer of the famous Cathedral of Notre Dame makes fun of all the revellers. His master is a man named Jehan (Brandon Hurst, The Lost Patrol, Murder at Midnight), the evil brother of Notre Dame’s archdeacon Dom Claude (Nigel De Brulier, The Hound of the Baskervilles, The Three Musketeers).

As the party continues, the King of the Beggars Clopin (Ernest Torrence, Steamboat Bill, Jr., Mantrap) looks on, he thinks the crowd need more entertainment, so he calls for his adopted daughter Esmeralda (Patsy Ruth Miller, The Yankee Consul, Lorraine of the Lions) to dance for the throng.

Quasimodo’s master Jehan takes a fancy to this dancing beauty, and he gets Quasimodo to kidnap the girl on the dark, narrow side-streets of Paris. But the newly appointed Captain of the Guard, Phoebus de Chateaupers (Norman Kerry, The Unknown, The Prince of Hearts) is patrolling when Esmeralda’s screams ring out. He rescues this tasty morsel. He thinks she could be his latest conquest, as Jehan flees the scene, abandoning Quasimodo to his fate at the hands of the guards.

Quasimodo is sentenced to a public lashing for his crime, and as he is jeered and booed by the hordes, the lashes fall on his twisted back. The only ones to come to his aid are the aggrieved Esmeralda and the saintly Dom Claude.

As the Captain of the Guard works his magic on this impressionable young woman, the villains find out that the couple plan to marry. As everybody loves the girl, something has to give. How will this turn out?

Another classic from the silent silver screen brought to you on Blu-ray by Eureka Masters of Cinema.

The Hunchback of Notre Dame is available now.

SPECIAL EDITION BLU-RAY FEATURES

Limited Edition O-Card Slipcase (First print-run of 2000 copies only) | 1080p presentation on Blu-ray from a 4K restoration conducted by Universal Pictures | Music by Nora Kroll-Rosenbaum & Laura Karpman (presented in uncompressed LPCM stereo) | Brand-new audio commentary with author Stephen Jones and author / critic Kim Newman | Brand-new interview with author / critic Kim Newman on the many adaptations of Victor Hugo’s novel | Brand-new interview with film historian Jonathan Rigby | PLUS: A collector’s booklet featuring a new essay by journalist Philip Kemp, illustrated with archival imagery