The Hunchback Movie
Storyline
TAGLINES PLOT SUMMARY
Based on the novel, a young gypsy becomes a Minister's obsession in 1483. Only the bell ringer and her husband and the court of miracles can save her.
| Mandy Patinkin | Quasimodo |
| Richard Harris | Dom Frollo |
| Salma Hayek | Esmeralda |
| Edward Atterton | Gringoire |
| Benedick Blythe | Phoebus |
| Nigel Terry | King Louis |
| Jim Dale | Clopin |
| Trevor Baxter | Chief Lawyer |
| Vernon Dobtcheff | Father Michel |
| Nickolas Grace | Gauchére |
| Matthew Sim | Crippled Man |
| Cassie Stuart | Colette |
| Gabi Fon | Queen Anne |
| Michael Mehlmann | Beggar |
| Olga Antal | Woman in Crowd |
| Peter Medak |
6.20 out of 10 (431 votes)
Visitor Reviews
Excellent remake of a classic story With a modern twist.
posted on 20 Mar 2008Sometimes it is difficult to judge a reproduction of an old classic film. The remake has to interpret the story to a different generation. I believe this Peter Medak movie will be better received by the younger generation for its modern visual effects and story telling. I recomend this film to high school and college students who will need to write a book report on the Hunchback of Notredame and want to enjoy a great movie at the same time. The casting and acting was great and the directing excellent.
it is not that meant to be..
posted on 22 Nov 2005-=contains spoiler from both original and movie versions=-i am a huge fan of Notre dame De Paris musical,i also read book this summer and i watched movie today,in the beginning i was hopeful to watch a good film especially when i saw 6.3 IMDb point.first scenes were good but i actually waited for,theaters scene directly from book,but it was normal but when Esmeralda kisses gringoire i felt something is wrong..they don't even kiss in book,even in musical..and there were huge gap why Esmeralda being judged by sorcerer,in the book she teaches her goat how to respond numbers of clock or write word "phoebus".. wait there were a phoebus weren't there? in this movie he is some soldier junk nothing more,the creators made Quasimodo's love to show around and they even canceled Frollo's love..but Notre dame was frollo. his thoughts his struggles between love of god and love of human in movie we cant find anything like that all we have is,some villain who is really bad and kills people whose clashes with his thoughts..and not mentioning phoebus,not mentioning love of frollo,not mentioning jehan (brother of frollo) not mentioning mother of Esmeralda (maybe it is OK,the storyline would have chopped much)they even not mentioned the real story.. (another PS:frollo wasn't a opus dei or some cult member he actually in interest with alchemy he tries to make gold..he was stuck in science and religion)finally don't watch this movie,it is some kind of directors edition to real masterpiece,and if you have watched it before read the book,god have mercy on you..you must read to book immediately..this movie is worse than hunchback of Notre dame II the animated movie,spend your time with watching Notre dame De Paris musical.. enough said..
entertaining but flat
posted on 23 Sep 2005Harris is intense and frightening as dom claude an expert actor who knows his trade very well. Patinkin is very sympathetic and hayak looks good but offers little emotion. a decent film but the 1982 derek jacobi version explored characterization much better.
An interesting version.
posted on 07 Feb 2004This version of the Victor Hugo story was good as a whole. Quasimodo wasn't particularly ugly, and it was amazing that he had read so much. Esmeralda was sweet, and it was no wonder she rejected Frollo since he looked very old and was far from attractive. However, at the beginning he really wanted to protect Quasimodo.I was surprised that the art of printing books was so important in the film. It was incredible that Frollo was even ready to kill the King's minister rather than to let the people have books!The public humiliation of Quasimodo and Esmeralda was shocking. It was touching that Esmeralda tried to appeal the King for the bellringer. I was very delighted that those two became friends, and again, it deeply touched me to hear Quasimodo talk about his appearance.I had never before seen a version in which Quasimodo addressed Frollo as his father. He wanted to get him to confess his crime, but still, he tried to save him from death. And he was even strong enough to defy his guardian when he said: "You are a freak."At the end, it was touching to see Esmeralda ring the bells for Quasimodo - at least, he was happy at the moment of his death.
Competent adaptation focuses on character play
posted on 20 Dec 2002Nicely done rendition of the classic melodrama, with Mandy Pantinkin taking a turn as Quasimodo, the bellringer of Notre Dame. Salma Hayek is marvelous as Esmeralda, with Richard Harris quite good as the wicked Monsignor Frollo, supported by a nice score by Edward Shearmur. The film stays faithful to the Victor Hugo storyline, while adding a new subtext about the new printing press' threat to the power of the Church, which adds to the story's existing political class substory and fuels the behind-the-scenes politics between Frollo and the King, within which the story of Esmeralda, Quasimodo, and the idealist Gringoire (quite competently portrayed by Edward Atterton, although both his role and that of Phoebus - a blasé Benedick Blythe - are quite abridged in this adaptation) play out. Jim Dale (reader of the Harry Potter audiobooks) is also quite notable as Clopin, King of the Thieves, whose presence throughout gives the story quite a fine dynamic. Small budget lessens the story's epic impact - and the setting resembles more of a rural farm than the center of Paris, but like most TVMs the story centers on the characters and this focus remains effective and likable. There have been many capable versions of the classic story - none of which have come close to matching the spectacle of the original silent version with Lon Chaney as Quasimodo; however this, along with the Charles Laughton version, is a worthy successor and was very nicely helmed by Peter Medak.
The Bell Tolls for Quas on TV
posted on 17 Dec 2002This is very much a television version of the tale, the film starts out like an episode of 'Xena...', with little meaningful dialog or character description. It does get a bit more substantive after a while, but all characters are still cartoonish. Salma is the exotic beauty. Richard Harris is an evil and sexually repressed Frollo, fiending to bust a nut up in Salma. The other characters, including Quasimodo are quite forgettable. Its also a sorta liberal version of the story, Frollo is a suppressor of Enlightenment ideals, like the abbot in 'Name of the Rose', and Quasimodo is a champion of liberty. The shadowy side of the Quas character is ignored, though he does pour liquid led on people. He is really only an outsider in that he looks different and enjoys playing with bells more than the average person. Perhaps the film is intended for children, but I doubt it, considering Frollo flogs himself bloody to amend wanting to spank his monkey. A mostly uninteresting and forgettable, but not awful, and sometimes entertaining, rendition of the tale.
Good fun,
posted on 03 Oct 2002A realistic and good performing cast made this a good movie. The ugly, but nice Quasimodo (whose face looked quite ridiculous, but still very misformed), the beautiful and enchanting Esmeralda and of course the mean Frollo. They were all very good, although I must saythat Mandy Patinkin, as Quasimodo, made the biggest impression on me, he really could make you cry. Richard Harris was great as the clergyman torn between his belief and Esmeralda and Salma Hayek, of course, was as stunning and beautiful as ever. As for the story, well I believe I don't have to explain that to anyone.Great, but yet not very much acclaimed or famous film. 8/10
Flawed but entertaining nonetheless.
posted on 09 Jan 2002Technically this movie sounds a bit of a dud. Terribly understated, little to no character development (even the Disney version had more if only just), dodgy make up even though Mandy Patinkin still manages to give an exeptionally sympathetic portrayal of Quasimodo, showing him as the man more than the monster. Some of the scenes remembered from the classic were downplayed where a little spectacle wouldn't have hurt. Most of the performances are 1 dimensional but the 3 main characters are good, Richard Harris is quite menacing as Dom Frollo. Direction is a bit sad in a lot of places giving the feel that the director just wanted to get the scene out of the way and move onto the next one. But despite all these flaws it's still pretty good. You really feel something for Quasimodo, all that he's been through, and the characterisation of him as a man rather than a monstrosity makes you all the more sympathetic. Worth Seeing....
passable version
posted on 01 Apr 2000This version of Hugo's classic tale, directed by Peter Medak, is spoilt somewhat by Mandy Patinkin's make-up as Quasimodo - only one side of his face seems to be disfigured, making him more like the phantom of the opera than the cathedral bell-ringer. But that's a small point.Salma Hayek is just OK as Esmeralda, but she isn't as luminous a beauty as Maureen O'Hara was in the 1930s film version. Edward Atterton is Gringoire, and Benedick Blythe Phoebus - neither particularly memorable.The two in the cast who are really worth watching are Nigel Terry as king Louis, and Richard Harris as the troubled, religious Frollo, ashamed of his feelings towards Esmeralda and jealous of the disfigured misfit he has taken on as his pseudo son. The character is multi-faceted and fascinating.This version of The Hunchback of Notre Dame definitely shows its TV movie roots, but it is still a superior piece of drama, slightly above the average.
Harris and Hayek make this decent enough to enjoy
posted on 22 May 2008Victor Hugo's book "Notre Dame de Paris" has had a weird luck with film adaptations. No film has been truly faithful to the original story, but none is really bad either. I've seen six films: the 1923 silent film with Lon Chaney, the 1939 classic with Charles Laughton, 1956 Anthony Quinn version which did come closest to the book, 1982 TV adaptation, Disney film and this 1997 TV film, done either at the same time with Disney version or right after. This is also the worst of the six, yet it's not bad, in fact I find it to be nicely entertaining version, though I'd probably recommend any other adaptation before it.The story is extremely simplified and owes a lot to 1939 film, some of the dialog is copied from the film rather shamelessly. The basics are still there: the deformed Quasimodo has lived inside the Notre Dame his whole life, being raised by Archdeacon Dom Frollo. Quasimodo falls in love with beautiful gypsy dancer Esmeralda who shows him little compassion. Esmeralda also becomes the target of Frollo's deranged passion and soon she finds herself framed for a murder she did not commit.The biggest difference with this version to others is that Phoebus hardly appears in the whole story and Esmeralda's love for him has been cut out. Instead of stabbing Phoebus in a moment of mad jealousy, Frollo kills here a minister who has wanted to bring printed books to public use and framed Esmeralda for his killing. This is my biggest problem with this version. Although it's nice that we see Frollo's crusade against printing machines here since they haven't appeared in other versions since 1939, this also makes Frollo seem as a calculating villain and takes a lot out of the character.Still, the late Richard Harris does really good job as Frollo and he certainly has his fine moments in the film that bring him close to the superb performance of Derek Jacoby in 1982 version. Harris is definitely the most memorable in the film, doing his best even when material is not so good. Another great thing is Salma Hayek as Esmeralda. Not only is she ridiculously good looking but her Esmeralda is more compassionate than other adaptations of her, which I like a lot. Sure Hayek is no 16 year old girl here, but previous versions of Esmeralda, like Gina Lollobrigida in 1956 film or even the Disney version, were really neither.In other parts Jim Dale as Clopin and Nigel Terry as King Louis have delightful minor performances here. Mandy Patinkin as Quasimodo and Edward Atterton as Gringoire both do decent job but they're also both left in the shadows of their predecessors. It is though nice to see Nickolas Grace here. I haven't seen him in anything else since his wonderful performance as Blanche in "Brideshead Revisited" series.The 1997 TV version doesn't really come out as any better than other versions of Hugo's book, yet its entertaining film if you give it a chance, if for no other reason, than just to see Harris and Hayek who are both great in their roles.