ChicRawIdol A brilliant film that helped define a genre

ThedevilChoose When a movie has you begging for it to end not even half way through it's pure crap. We've all seen this movie and this characters millions of times, nothing new in it. Don't waste your time.

Neive Bellamy Excellent and certainly provocative... If nothing else, the film is a real conversation starter.

Ella-May O'Brien Each character in this movie — down to the smallest one — is an individual rather than a type, prone to spontaneous changes of mood and sometimes amusing outbursts of pettiness or ill humor.

Rainey Dawn The Hunchback of Notre Dame is another sad story about a disfigured man falling in love with a beautiful lady. Although a work of fiction, the film is a borderline horror film much like the Joseph Merrick's story (see: The Elephant Man 1980 - which is based on true life of Merrick) yet the two stories are completely different.Lon Chaney, Sr. played the part of Quasimodo so believably well. Just simply brilliant. The rest of the cast in this silent film classic is also great - wonderful performances.If you liked this movie then try to find copies of 'London after Midnight' and 'The Phantom of the Opera' - both starring Lon Chaney, Sr.9/10

kai ringler this is first off a very sad movie, the battle that Quasimodo faces within when he falls for Esmerelda, there 's lot's to this movie , you have revolt revenge and of course love. Lon Chaney did a remarkable job it's hard to say which of his performances are his greatest because I really love them all,, it seems in this movie there are so many characters running around constantly, I don't know how many extras were used in the making of this film but it appears to be a lot. I love Quasimodo's trademark of ringing the bell. this film has all of the old world classic stuff that you want to see, sort of the medieval time period ,, kings queens and stuff like that, the Cathedral of Notre Dame is much like a character in this movie,, I would definitely recommend this to anyone who is a fan of great early silent movies.

TheLittleSongbird If I were to say what my favourite versions were, they are the 1939 film with Charles Laughton and the 1996 Disney version. Neither are the most faithful to the book but I found myself to be the most engaged and most moved by them. This 1923 film is very good though. I did think some of the more secondary roles were rather stock here, especially Phoebus and Jehan, but still found the actors adequate. For its time and even now the film is very well made with beautiful(if not quite as Gothic of 1939) cinematography and make-up. The music score is also very good, atmospheric and often haunting, and the story is compelling too. I did find the ending to be of an anti-climax somewhat though, it is much more moving and convincing dramatically in the book and in other versions. The performances are very good on the whole, with Lon Chaney stealing the show as a grotesque and poignant Quasimodo, and Patsy Ann Miller as a beautiful and understated(if perhaps not quite sexy enough) Esmeralda and Ernest Torrance as Clopin faring best in support. All in all, recommended for especially how it was made and for Chaney. 8/10 Bethany Cox

pitsburghfuzz Prior to Lon Chaney's masterwork in "The Phantom of the Opera", Mr. Chaney used his genius in the field of make-up in this lavish production. The characters were pretty funny at times(especially Norman Kerry, he looked like Cpt. Hook). Patsy Ruth Miller did a good job with the Esmeralda character, and had a lot of beauty and charm. Chaney also delivers an excellent performance as the deformed Quasimodo. He gave the character a lot of passion and emotion, but he also showed great genius in the make-up field. Lon was also game with going through with inconveniences in this role. The best example is when Chaney is getting whipped, he is wearing what some say is a twenty pound hump! Some reports claim that may have been seventy, but lets not get too excited. In any case, not as grand as "Phantom" in my opinion, and not only not as scary, Chaney gives a sympathetic performance as Quasimodo in this 1923 "super-jewel".