Notre Dame de Paris (1956)

User Rating:

6.4/10   

Director:

Jean Delannoy

Writers:

Victor Hugo (novel)
Jean Aurenche (writer) ...

Release Date:

3 November 1957 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | History | Horror

Plot:

The timeless tale of the seductive gypsy Esmeralda and the tortured hunchback Quasimodo.

Plot Keywords:

Gypsy | Cathedral | Hunchback | Pariah | Trial

Cast

Gina Lollobrigida	...	Esmeralda
Anthony Quinn	...	Quasimodo
Jean Danet	...	Phoebus de Chateaupers
Alain Cuny	...	Claude Frollo
Robert Hirsch	...	Pierre Gringoire
Danielle Dumont	...	Fleur de Lys
Philippe Clay	...	Clopin Trouillefou
Maurice Sarfati	...	Jehan Frollo
Jean Tissier	...	Louis XI
Valentine Tessier	...	Aloyse de Gondelaurier
Jacques Hilling	...	Maitre Charmolue
Jacques Dufilho	...	Guillaume Rousseau
Roger Blin	...	Mathias Hungadi
Marianne Oswald	...	La Falourdel
Roland Bailly	...	The Hangman

Also Known As:

Il gobbo di Notre Dame (Italy)
The Hunchback of Notre Dame (USA)
Victor Hugo's The Hunchback of Notre-Dame (USA) (complete title)

MPAA:

Rated PG for violence and sensuality.

Runtime:

115 min | USA:104 min

Country:

Italy | France

Language:

French

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Sound System)

Certification:

Iceland:L | Australia:M | France:U | West Germany:16 | Finland:K-11 (2001 rating) | Finland:K-12 (1974 rating) | USA:PG (re-rating) (1996) | Finland:K-16 | Sweden:15 | Argentina:13

Filming Locations:

Cathédrale Notre Dame de Paris 6, Place du Parvis, Paris 4, Paris, France

Company:

Panitalia

Trivia:

Shot simultaneously in French and English-speaking version, but it looks as if the English one was not used.

Movie Connections:

Featured in Sex at 24 Frames Per Second (2003) (V)

Not bad at all

This version of the Hugo novel is more faithful in both tone and plot than is the earlier Charles Laughton version. That said, it's not nearly as much fun.

La Lollo is quite fetching and earnest as Esmeralda and gives an effective, if slightly bosom-heaving, performance. Quinn, with his simian features accented by makeup, is a good Hunchback. He doesn't milk the role for pathos, and let's the viewer see several sides to Quasimodo. Alain Cuny is dark and brooding as Frollo, but he doesn't register as vividly as Cedric Hardwick in the earlier version.

Then there's some pretty bad acting from others in cast, but the script is pretty flat and misses some good opportunities. In the earlier version, Laughton (his double, actually) swings across the plaza, scoops up Esmeralda (the gorgeous Maureen O'Hara) and swings back into the church. Quinn just shinnies down a rope and yanks Lollo into the church. More probable, perhaps, but not so exciting.

It's a gorgeous, colorful widescreen epic, nicely served by the DVD release. It's not a sentimental movie; neither is the novel. And it's worth a kind look.