''Esmeralda'' is a 1922 British
silent film
A silent film is a film with no synchronized Sound recording and reproduction, recorded sound (or more generally, no audible dialogue). Though silent films convey narrative and emotion visually, various plot elements (such as a setting or era) ...
and an
adaptation of the 1831 novel ''
The Hunchback of Notre-Dame
''The Hunchback of Notre-Dame'' (french: Notre-Dame de Paris, translation=''Our Lady of Paris'', originally titled ''Notre-Dame de Paris. 1482'') is a French Gothic novel by Victor Hugo, published in 1831. It focuses on the unfortunate story of ...
'' by
Victor Hugo
Victor-Marie Hugo (; 26 February 1802 – 22 May 1885) was a French Romantic writer and politician. During a literary career that spanned more than sixty years, he wrote in a variety of genres and forms. He is considered to be one of the great ...
, with more emphasis on the character on Esmeralda rather than Quasimodo. It was directed by
Edwin J. Collins (who played the hunchback in the previous 1911 film ''The Hunchback'' (not to be confused with the novel by Hugo)) and starred
Sybil Thorndike as Esmeralda and
Booth Conway as the hunchback. The film is considered lost, but extant still photos show a 40-year-old Thorndike who appears to be too old for the role of the young and virginal Esmeralda. This version emphasized romance and melodrama over horror.
The film was remade again in 1923 as ''The Hunchback of Notre Dame'' by Universal Pictures, starring Lon Chaney as Quasimodo, in what is considered the classic silent film version.
[Workman, Christopher; Howarth, Troy (2016). "Tome of Terror: Horror Films of the Silent Era". Midnight Marquee Press. p. 249..]
Cast
*
Sybil Thorndike as
Esmeralda
* Booth Conway as
Quasimodo
Quasimodo (from Quasimodo Sunday) is a fictional character and the main protagonist of the novel '' The Hunchback of Notre-Dame'' (1831) by Victor Hugo. Quasimodo was born with a hunchback and feared by the townspeople as a sort of monster, but ...
* Annesley Healy as
Claude Frollo
''Monseigneur'' Claude Frollo () is a fictional character and the main antagonist of Victor Hugo's 1831 novel ''The Hunchback of Notre-Dame'' (known in French as ''Notre-Dame de Paris''). He is the Archdeacon of Notre Dame, as well as an Alc ...
* Arthur Kingsley as
Captain Phoebus
References
*
External links
*
1922 films
Silent historical romance films
British silent short films
British black-and-white films
British romantic drama films
Films based on The Hunchback of Notre-Dame
1922 romantic drama films
1920s historical romance films
Films set in Paris
Films set in religious buildings and structures
Films set in the 1480s
British historical romance films
Films about Romani people
1920s British films
Silent romantic drama films
Silent horror films
1920s English-language films
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