The Hunchback of Notre Dame

The Hunchback of Notre Dame was a 1911 silent film, produced in France, where it was released under the name Notre-Dame de Paris. The film was based on the Victor Hugo novel of the same name.

The 1923 film version of The Hunchback of Notre Dame, starring Lon Chaney as Quasimodo and Patsy Ruth Miller as Esmeralda, and directed by Wallace Worsley, is the most famous adaptation of Victor Hugo's novel The Hunchback of Notre Dame. The story is set in Paris ten years before Columbus discovered America. Quasimodo is a deformed bell-ringer of the famous Cathedral of Notre Dame in Paris. Jehan, the Archdeacon's evil brother, prevails upon him to kidnap the fair Esmeralda Clopin, the ward of the King of the underworld. Dashing Phoebus rescues her and takes her under his wing. Quasimodo is sentenced to be lashed in the public square. As he suffers under the sting of the whip, Esmeralda comes and brings him water. From that time he is her devoted slave. Jehan and Clopin learn that Captain Phoebus plans to wed Esmeralda, and do all in their power to break up the affair, but fail. Jehan then stabs and wounds Phoebus and lays the blame on Esmeralda. She is sentenced to die, but is rescued by Quasimodo and takes refuge in the Cathedral. Clopin tries to storm the Cathedral, while crafty Jehan attempts to loot the treasure vaults. Quasimodo routs the invaders with torrents of molten lead, and kills Jehan by throwing him off the ramparts of Notre Dame. Just before he does, however, Jehan fatally stabs Quasimodo in the back with his knife. Phoebus comes to the rescue and encounters Esmerelda.. As she and Phoebus clasp each other to their hearts, Quasimodo rings his own death toll. After ringing the bell, Quasimodo dies. Esmeralda and Phoebus leave without even noticing that Quasimodo is mortally wounded, but the Archdeacon enters just in time to see him die.

The Hunchback of Notre Dame is a 1939 American monochrome motion picture. It is considered by some reviewers to be the best of the many film versions of Victor Hugo's classic novel, and perhaps the one that sticks closest to Hugo's plot and intention although the ending differs. Esmeralda and Quasimodo remain alive at the end, unlike the novel, in which both die. Phoebus, who is only wounded by Frollo in the novel, is killed by him in this film version; therefore, Esmeralda is arrested and sentenced to hang for murder, not attempted murder. The story is fictional, but some real-life characters appear in it. The film is set in medieval Paris, France, and tells the tragic tale of a disfigured cathedral bell ringer who falls for the beautiful gypsy, Esmeralda. She, in turn, is in love with Captain Phoebus, who sees her only as a temporary distraction. The one other person who truly loves her is the real-life poet Pierre Gringoire (Edmond O'Brien), whom Esmeralda has married to save him from being hanged in a mock trial. The film provides the stage for one of Charles Laughton's greatest portrayals, as the tragic title figure. They are backed up by Maureen O'Hara's sweet Esmeralda, and Cedric Hardwicke's vicious Frollo, in this version (as in the 1923 silent film), the archdeacon's brother rather than the archdeacon himself. (This was one of the few truly evil characters that Hardwicke played.) Frollo kills Phoebus out of mad jealousy, and allows Esmeralda to be convicted and sentenced to death, but she is saved by Quasimodo, who kills Frollo at the end of the film.

The Hunchback of Notre Dame (in French Notre Dame de Paris) is a 1956 French film version of Victor Hugo's novel popularly known as The Hunchback of Notre Dame. The film is the first version of the novel to be made in color. It stars Anthony Quinn as Quasimodo and Gina Lollobrigida as Esmeralda. In the tradition of many sword and sandal spectacles, Quinn and Lollobrigida are the only two actors in the film who actually speak in English; the rest of the cast is made up of French actors who have had their voices dubbed into English. Anthony Quinn's portrayal of the hunchback Quasimodo is more human and less horrific than most other portrayals. Instead of having a huge hump and a hideously deformed face, he only has a small curve in his spine and a slightly deformed face. The film is the only adaptation to use Victor Hugo's original ending; although Esmeralda is killed by a stray arrow rather than hanged, a voiceover narration tells us at the end that several years afterward, an excavation group finds the skeletons of Quasimodo and Esmeralda intertwined in an embrace.

The Hunchback of Notre Dame is a 1996 animated feature produced by Walt Disney Feature Animation and released to theaters on June 21, 1996 by Walt Disney Pictures. The thirty-fourth animated feature in the Disney animated features canon, the film is inspired by Victor Hugo's The Hunchback of Notre Dame. While the basic structure remains, the film differs greatly from its source material. The plot centers on the Gypsy dancer, Esmeralda; Claude Frollo, a powerful and ruthless judge who lusts after her; Quasimodo, the protagonist, Notre Dame's kind-hearted but deformed bellringer, who adores her; and Phoebus, the chivalrous if irreverent military captain, who holds affections for her.

The story begins during the Renaissance in 1482, the day of the Festival of Fools in Paris. Quasimodo, the deformed bell ringer, is introduced by his crowning as Pope of Fools. Esmeralda, a beautiful 16-year-old gypsy with a kind and generous heart, captures the hearts of many men but especially those of Quasimodo and his adopted father, Claude Frollo. Frollo is torn between his lust and the rules of the church. He orders Quasimodo to get her. Quasimodo is caught and whipped and ordered to be tied down in the heat. Esmeralda seeing his thirst, offers him water. It saves her, for she captures the heart of the hunchback. She is later accused of the murder of Phoebus, whom Frollo attempted to kill in jealousy, and is sentenced to death by hanging. Quasimodo saves her by bringing her to the cathedral under the law of sanctuary. Frollo rallies the truands (criminals of Paris) to charge the cathedral. The king, seeing the chaos, vetoes the law of sanctuary and commands his troops to take her out and kill her. When Quasimodo sees the truands, he assumes they are there to hurt Esmeralda, so he drives them off. Frollo betrays Esmeralda by handing her to the troops and watches while she is hanged. Quasimodo pushes him from Notre-Dame to his death. He then goes to where hanged dead bodies are thrown, lies next to her corpse and eventually dies of starvation. Two years later, excavationists find the skeletons of Esmeralda with broken neck and Quasimodo locked in an embrace.