Review of The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1982) by Nick F — 24 Jan 2010

Although unfaithful to its source material, this version of the venerable tale still entertains with its solid cast and production values. Anthony Hopkins is near unrecognizable in the role, although once you know its him you can hear his voice and method coming through the make-up.

The design of Quasimodo is quite good for its time and Hopkins throws himself into the strange physicality of the character with his unique walks and poses. Jacobi is 180 degrees from his Cadfel person here, bringing conviction to his lust-driven Frollo.

Its nice to see David Suchet, looking quite powerful in fact, but he adds little here to the movie. The direction is quite good with only a rather dodgy moment at the end as Quasimodo hangs from one of the gargoyles coming off as looking really cheap.

The sets are quite spacious and convincing, especially the bell tower with its maze of bells. The finale is very different from the original novel, however its come to be expected by audiences that Esmeralda lives at the end.

As the object of everyone's affection, you could do worse then the lovely Lesly Anne Downe. Its really no stretch of the imagination to find just about every male in the movie lust after her and tell her she's beautiful every five minutes.

The movie manages to retain the poignancy of Quasimodo's character in the end, despite it being different.