THE HUNCHBACK OF NOTRE DAME

US, 1982, 97 minutes, Colour.
Anthony Hopkins, Lesley Anne Down, Robert Powell, Derek Jacobi, John Gielgud, David Suchet, Nigel Hawthorne, Tim Piggot-Smith?.
Directed by Michael Tuchner.

The Hunchback of Notre Dame is a lavish television remake of a film of the Victor Hugo story which has served as a vehicle for Lon Chaney, Charles Laughton, Anthony Quinn. Here Anthony Hopkins tries his hand as Quasimodo - quite effectively (with echoes, later in the film, of The Elephant Man, a film in which Hopkins starred). The attractive Lesley Anne Down is Esmeralda. There are good supporting performances, especially by Derek Jacobi in the Cedric Hardwicke role as the Archdeacon of the cathedral. Robert Powell is Phoebus and John Gielgud the torturer. Sets and decor are attractive - it would seem that the film has a large budget. Direction is by Michael Tuchner, director of films like Villain, Fear is the Key, Mr Quilp and telemovies as The Summer of My German Soldier. A good version of the story.

1. The continued appeal of Victor Hugo's novel? The characters, the plot, the themes?

2. Comparisons with previous versions? Treatment, characterisation, style?

3. The impact of the television style for this film? Adaptation for television audiences? Production values: sets. costumes and decor? The quality of the cast?

4. The screenplay and the initial focus on Esmeralda, the emphasis on Quasimodo later in the film? The importance of the structure of the story - the contrast between Esmeralda and Quasimodo. their similar experiences. the role of the Archdeacon towards each? The interplay of these themes for drama?

5. The prologue with the birth of Quasimodo the baptism by the Archdeacon - and its irony? The Archdeacon baptising Quasimodo and naming him 'almost a man'? Esmeralda's later response to the Archdeacon. response to Quasimodo? Quasimodo killing him?

6. The atmosphere of Paris, the Middle Ages? The authority of the King. the response of the people, the crowds. the world of the thieves and beggars, the clergy. the military? The background of social uprising and repression?

7. Quasimodo and audience sympathy for him? Anthony Hopkins' skill and voice? The effectiveness of the make-up? For horror and shock? Quasimodo in the cathedral, his age? Deafness from the bells? His first appearance and the choice for the King of the Fools, his coronation? His doing the Archdeacon's will. capturing Esmeralda? His being taken, the trial, put in the stocks, whipped? His plea for water? The Archdeacon's cruelty? Esmeralda's response? His seeing Esmeralda about to be executed, taking her and giving her sanctuary? The revelation that the man could speak, had intelligence? Audience sympathy for the gentleness of Quasimodo? His care for Esmeralda, talking to her, explaining things to her, not wanting to frighten her, defending her? The siege of the cathedral and his rebuffing it? His reaction to the Archdeacon's treatment of Esmeralda, killing him? His being the victim of the crowd, his hanging on the gargoyle, his death? The portrait of Nature's victim, the human victim? The Christ-figure aspects of the Hunchback of Notre Dame?

8. Esmeralda and her beauty, one of the gypsies, her dancing, the arrest, the Archdeacon's infatuation and setting her free? The king of the thieves and his knowing this? Esmeralda's attraction towards Phoebus? Her romantic vision of him? The rendezvous? His seeming death and Esmeralda's arrest? The ordeal, the trial, the torture? Her about to be executed. the rescue? The initial approaches of the Archdeacon to house her in the cathedral, his advances, would-be seduction? The temptation to save her, his letting her die? The poet and his love for Esmeralda, her rescuing him from the thieves, the marriage, the escape? His final rescuing of her and her disillusionment with Phoebus? Esmeralda as victim? Parallel with Quasimodo?

9. The portrait of the Archdeacon: his baptising Quasimodo, his authority, religious attitudes, the infatuation with Esmeralda, trying to seduce her, house her in the cathedral, his lust and his prayers, his being observed by his assistants, his ordering Quasimodo to capture her, his information about Phoebus, his listening outside the door, his attempt to kill him, his presence at Esmeralda's trial, unwillingness to save her, his trying to deal with her and her spurning him, his rushing away from her execution, his discovery of her in the belltower, his molesting her, Quasimodo killing him? His being referred to as 'the Devil?

10. The poet and the play in the marketplace, the infatuation with Esmeralda, his being taken by the thieves, Esmeralda choosing him for marriage, his support of the thieves, his rescuing her? The final escape?

11. Phoebus and the military, the references to the son, his arrogance, the assignation, his lies to Esmeralda, the Archdeacon's attack? The audience thinking he was dead? His survival, his arrogance and refusal to save Esmeralda?

12. The world of the thieves, the underworld, the King, his ruling of his subjects, the poet's execution, marriage? The attack on Notre Dame? The violence of the attack, the battering ram, Quasimodo's defence, the blocks, the boiling oil? His death?

13. John Gielgud's authority and presence in the guest role of the torturer? Audience response to mediaeval justice, torture? The Ordeal?

14. The perennial interest in the theme of the Hunchback of Notre Dame? The variation on the Beauty and the Beast theme? The specific references to this image? Victor Hugo's 19th. century view of the Middle Ages: the Church, good and evil, persecution, poetry, the military, social revolution?