THE HUNCHBACK OF NOTRE DAME (1923) B/W "silent" 135m dir: Wallace Worsley

w/Lon Chaney, Ernest Torrence, Patsy Ruth Miller, Norman Kerry, Kate Lester, Brandon Hurst

First major film version of Victor Hugo's novel Notre Dame de Paris. Chaney dominates throughout, and the film is well worth seeing because of his performance.

From Variety's contemporary review of the film: "The programmed statistical recordings say this picture cost U[niversal Studios] over a million; that it called for tons of materials and hundreds of people, all sounding truthful enough (except the cost) after seeing it and the total achieved seems to have been a huge --- mistake .. The Hunchback of Notre Dame is a two-hour nightmare. It's murderous, hideous and repulsive.

"Lon Chaney's performance entitles him to starring honors. His misshapen figure, from the hump on his back to the dead-eyed eye on his face, cannot stand off his acting not his acrobatics, nor his general work of excellence throughout this film. And, when the hunchback dies, you see Jehan (Brandon Hurst) stab him not once, but twice, and in the back or in the hump.

"Knives were plentiful in the reign of Louis XI, 1482, in France. So were the tramps, with Clopin (Ernest Torrence) as King of the Bums making the misery stand out.

"Patsy Ruth Miller is Esmeralda, a sweetly pretty girl carrying her troubles nicely enough for the heavy work thrust upon her and with the absence of heavy emoting. Norman Kerry is the gallant Phoebus and a lukewarm lover at times."