The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1956) on DVD

From its dramatic opening shots to its powerfully heart-wrenching climax, Jean Delannoy's spectacle THE HUNCHBACK OF NOTRE DAME retells Victor Hugo's remarkable novel with gripping theatrical energy. It is 1492, in and around the imposing Cathedral of Notre Dame de Paris, where the Festival of Fools has begun. Pierre Gringoire's play entitled "The Quest for Beauty" is being performed; which is ironic because during it, the hideous, hunchback bell-ringer Quasimoto (Anthony Quinn) is tormented and teased by a band of gypsies. Nothing can touch Quasimoto, though, as he is protected by Frollo, the Chief Justice. Frollo has his own problems, the worst being a pious conscience that keeps wrestling with an attraction to sexy gypsy dancer Esmerelda (Gina Lollobridgida). When Frollo sends Quasimoto to fetch Esmerelda for him, the poor hunchback only frightens her and gets arrested, sending Esmerelda into the arms of Phoebus, a confident, though dim-witted and smarmy, army captain. Esmerelda soon pities Quasimoto, attempting to sooth him as he is held in the gallows. But when Phoebus is stabbed to death, there seems to be little any of Esmerelda's admirers can do to prove her innocence. In this film about injustice, prejudice, and obsession, cinematographer Kelber's camerawork finds drama in every crevice, arch, and window of the cathedral itself, and Quinn is heartbreaking as the misunderstood hunchback.

Closed-captioned, Color, NTSC, Letterboxed