The Hunchback of Notre Dame is a much better film than The
Penalty, and it’s not just because of the more recent film's huge budget. The gigantic set built at Universal and the
masses of extras surging around the screen certainly helped, but the bigger
contribution is that both director Wallace Worsley and actor Lon Chaney made such
great strides in their cinema.
Worsley is far more effective here than in The Penalty. One carryover strength of the visuals is that
Worsley again works with light and dark to make a scene’s point. In a great use of light, we see Jehan stay in
the shadows as he sends Quasimodo out to kidnap Esmerelda, but when the armed
patrol arrives, we watch Jehan back away, disappearing into the darkness gradually
until only his face is left…which then vanishes, too. It’s a very cinematic use of shadow. Worsley's camera is looser here, too, even
doing a short tracking shot when Esmeralda and Phoebus enter the ballroom. But it’s in Worsley's editing skills that we
find the most effective change. In
Penalty, Worsley primarily uses editing to further the story, but here in
Hunchback, the editing quickens the pace of the movie and adds tension. In scenes like the beating of
Quasimodo, Worsley uses close-ups as he cuts from face to face, showing
contributions and reactions to the scene. There’s
similar editing during the confrontation between Phoebus and Clopin as we cut between the faces of the antagonists. This technique intensifies our engagement with
the scenes. Worsley also uses
cross-cutting between different locations and even story lines to create
suspense. During the penultimate storming
of the cathedral, we continually jump between Quasimodo, the crowd and
Esmerelda as Quasimodo attempts to defend the cathedral and the besiegers
respond to his defense. For good
measure, Worsley intersperses Esmerelda’s reactions. This scene has editing fluency largely absent
from The Penalty.
In addition to the improvement in Worsley's direction, Chaney’s Quasimodo is also a great step forward for the actor from
Blizzard in Penalty. While Blizzard’s
background and actions lead us to have some understanding of his motivations,
Quasimodo evokes our outright sympathy and care. The hunchback could hardly be uglier with his
misshapen face, lumbering gait, missing teeth and matted patches of hair, but Chaney’s
movements and even facial expressions so effectively communicate Quasimodo’s
internal process that we can follow along as the slow Quasimodo figures out
that he’s been used by Jehan and later realizes that Esmerelda is on his side. His confusion and fear before he is flogged
is palpable, and his anger, when his tongue flicks out of his mouth, is always
visible. Childlike, Quasimodo obeys those
he trusts, like Dom Frollo, in a way that is touchingly simple. One of the best elements in Chaney’s
performance is Quasimodo’s relationship with the bells. Loud, monotone and inarticulate, the bells
sound like the voice Quasimodo would have if he could speak, and as he leaps
onto the bell’s ropes and pulls and somersaults, the image on the screen is the
visual version of Quasimodo’s communication.
Quasimodo is not a nuanced being, but instead, loud and pure. And his death monologue on the bells’ ropes
is especially poignant. Chaney creates a
real, complex character in Quasimodo who thoroughly engages us when he’s on
screen.
Even with its big budget set aside, The Hunchback of Notre
Dame is an achievement of silent cinema.
In this outing, the team of director Wallace Worsley and actor Lon Chaney hit
most notes right in creating this
now-classic film.
