The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1956 film)

The Hunchback of Notre Dame

French theatrical release poster
Directed by Jean Delannoy
Produced by Raymond Hakim
Robert Hakim
Written by Victor Hugo (novel)
Jean Aurenche
Jacques Prévert
Ben Hecht
Based on The Hunchback of Notre Dame
by Victor Hugo
Starring Gina Lollobrigida
Anthony Quinn
Jean Danet
Alain Cuny
Robert Hirsch
Music by Georges Auric
Angelo Francesco Lavagnino
Cinematography Michel Kelber
Edited by Henri Taverna
Distributed by Allied Artists Pictures Corporation
Release dates
November 23, 1956 (1956-11-23)
Running time
115 minutes
Country Italy/France
Language French
Budget 1 million
Box office $2.25 million (US)[1]

The Hunchback of Notre Dame (in French Notre-Dame de Paris) is a 1956 French film version of Victor Hugo's novel of the same name, directed by Jean Delannoy and produced by Raymond Hakim and Robert Hakim. The film is the first version of the novel to be made in color.

It stars Mexican actor Anthony Quinn as Quasimodo and Gina Lollobrigida as Esmeralda. In the tradition of many sword and sandal spectacles, Quinn and Lollobrigida are the only two actors in the film who actually speak in English; the rest of the cast is made up of French actors who have had their voices dubbed into English. Anthony Quinn's portrayal of the hunchback Quasimodo is more human and less horrific than most other portrayals. Instead of having a huge hump and a hideously deformed face, he only has a small curve in his spine and a slightly deformed face. The film is one of the few adaptations to use Victor Hugo's original ending; although Esmeralda is killed by a stray arrow rather than hanged. Esmeralda's last words were: "Life is wonderful" ("C'est beau, la vie"). A voiceover narration tells us at the end that several years afterward, an excavation group finds the skeletons of Quasimodo and Esmeralda intertwined in an embrace.

Cast

Comic book adaption

References

  1. "Top Grosses of 1957", Variety, 8 January 1958: 30
  2. "Dell Four Color #854". Grand Comics Database.
  3. Dell Four Color #854 at the Comic Book DB
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