Review of The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1939) by Jim H — 18 Oct 2013

Victor Hugo's classic tale of a fated love between a hunchback and a gypsy girl.

Hugo's eye for characterization, complex interconnected plots, revolutionary fervor, the healing power of religion, social outcasts, and love is on full display in this film adaptation of his novel Notre Dame de Paris. The script gives the basics, the skeleton, that the novel fills out, but considering Hugo's loquaciousness, the screenplay is nonetheless an achievement. Charles Laughton is at his most affecting. The burly character actor becomes Quasimodo with the same alacrity that he became Henry VIII. Comparable to Phillip Seymour Hoffman of our time (though a talent truly to say beyond compare), Laughton was his era's artist.

Overall, this is a thrilling and emotional adaptation of an excellent novel.