United States

Charles Laughton's Quasimodo is one of a very short list of screen characterisations which have become so much part of the folk lore of the cinema that impressionists, comedians and pub jokers can still do imitations knowing they will be recognised even by audiences who have never seen the original. Laughton's Hunchback, with his shambling lope, heavy crooked body and grotesquely distorted features, survives the years as everybody's mental picture of Victor Hugo's tragic hero. A masterly creation by the famous make-up artist Perc Westmore, the rigours of applying it proved such a strain on the nervous energies of both men that they never worked together again. But Laughton's bravura performance could not have generated so much lasting admiration and affection if this 1939 RKO production (under Pandro S. Berman) had not been such a splendid assembly of acting talents and artistic and technical expertise. With a cast of thousands (literally) and the magnificent sets designed by Van Nest Polglase, director William Dieterle brings medieval Paris to lusty life in all its extreme contrasts of bawdy vitality, squalid poverty, arrogant wealth, devout Christianity and fanatically cruel religious bigotry. Beautifully lit and photographed by Joseph H. August (whose previous credits included The Informer and The Plough and the Stars for John Ford) the depth and texture of black and white film are seen at their atmospheric best, making the absence of colour a positive virtue instead of a negative necessity. The clarity and quality of the sound are a revelation to ears accustomed today to straining to hear dialogue overlaid with a cacophony of clattering effects. And Alfred Newman's music captures and enhances every mood of the moment, from the savage blood lust of the mob to the tenderness and compassion of Esmeralda (Maureen O'Hara) when the gipsy girl takes pity on the whipped and pilloried hunchback and so wins his love and devotion. All in all, The Hunchback of Notre Dame is a perfect example of the Hollywood epic in all its lavish glory. MARJORIE BILBOW