I tried looking for a topic on this film, but suprisingly enough, I couldn't find one! This will always have a soft place in my heart, because it, along with KING KONG and THE UNKNOWN was one of the first films that I ever saw on Turner Classic Movies, and it, along with those other films, introduced me to the "horror" films outside of Universal.
Truly a masterpiece of classic cinema, the lavish, and epic 1939 version of Victor Hugo's immortal tale is personally my favorite adaptation. It holds up extremely well today, due to it's great writing, wonderful sets and period costumes, shadowy and often expressionistic photography, a beautifiul musical score and of course the brilliant acting of the always magnificent Charles Laughton.
To me, Laughton is the defenitive Quasimodo. Not only does his make-up evoke sympathy and pathos, but his performance, makes the audience FEEL as if he is that character. His performance is everything Quasimodo should be. No disrespect to Lon Chaney, but I never found his Hunchback to be very sympathetic, and the make-up never did much for me.
To this reviewer, Wilhelm Dieterle's classic film is truly one of the pinnacles of the "monster" film (althought like FREAKS, it is really not a horror film, and the only "monsters" are the "normal" folk,)
and is one of the greatest movies EVER made.
Truly a masterpiece of classic cinema, the lavish, and epic 1939 version of Victor Hugo's immortal tale is personally my favorite adaptation. It holds up extremely well today, due to it's great writing, wonderful sets and period costumes, shadowy and often expressionistic photography, a beautifiul musical score and of course the brilliant acting of the always magnificent Charles Laughton.
To me, Laughton is the defenitive Quasimodo. Not only does his make-up evoke sympathy and pathos, but his performance, makes the audience FEEL as if he is that character. His performance is everything Quasimodo should be. No disrespect to Lon Chaney, but I never found his Hunchback to be very sympathetic, and the make-up never did much for me.
To this reviewer, Wilhelm Dieterle's classic film is truly one of the pinnacles of the "monster" film (althought like FREAKS, it is really not a horror film, and the only "monsters" are the "normal" folk,)
and is one of the greatest movies EVER made.
