Despite the lack of fidelity to Victor Hugo's novel, this is the first major production that adapts the immortal story of Esmeralda and Quasimodo to cinema.
Before it, four adaptations had already been made, three short films, unambitious, and a romantic film, The Darling of Paris, 60 minutes, directed by J. Gordon Edwards, with Theda Bara and Glen White, currently lost, very loosely inspired by Hugo's original.
There are inevitable criticisms, such as the ending that doesn't conform to the original, the splitting of the villain Frollo into two characters, one good and one bad (would it be too much for 1920s America to accept a lascivious priest?) or the perfect uselessness of Esmeralda's reunion with her lost mother.
But there are also virtues. Lon Chaney makes a memorable Quasimodo, the number of extras is reminiscent of the megalomaniac productions of Griffith or DeMille, the sets and the reconstitution of the old Paris of the 15th century, are well achieved, for the time.
In short, it is a film that is still enjoable to see, a century later, and that is the greatest proof of its vitality.
Before it, four adaptations had already been made, three short films, unambitious, and a romantic film, The Darling of Paris, 60 minutes, directed by J. Gordon Edwards, with Theda Bara and Glen White, currently lost, very loosely inspired by Hugo's original.
There are inevitable criticisms, such as the ending that doesn't conform to the original, the splitting of the villain Frollo into two characters, one good and one bad (would it be too much for 1920s America to accept a lascivious priest?) or the perfect uselessness of Esmeralda's reunion with her lost mother.
But there are also virtues. Lon Chaney makes a memorable Quasimodo, the number of extras is reminiscent of the megalomaniac productions of Griffith or DeMille, the sets and the reconstitution of the old Paris of the 15th century, are well achieved, for the time.
In short, it is a film that is still enjoable to see, a century later, and that is the greatest proof of its vitality.