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The Hunchback of Notre Dame
The Hunchback of Notre Dame
	French theatrical release poster
Directed by	Jean Delannoy
Written by	Victor Hugo (novel); Jean Aurenche; Jacques Prévert; Ben Hecht;
Based on	The Hunchback of Notre-Dame; by Victor Hugo
Produced by	Raymond Hakim; Robert Hakim;
Starring	Gina Lollobrigida; Anthony Quinn; Jean Danet; Alain Cuny; Robert Hirsch;
Cinematography	Michel Kelber
Edited by	Henri Taverna
Music by	Georges Auric;
Production; company	Paris Film Productions
Distributed by	Allied Artists Pictures Corporation
Release date	December 19, 1956;
Running time	115 minutes
Country	Italy/France
Language	French
Budget	$2 million
Box office	$2.25 million (US and Canadian rentals)

The Hunchback of Notre Dame (in French Notre-Dame de Paris) is a 1956 French-Italian CinemaScope film version of Victor Hugo's 1831 novel, directed by Jean Delannoy and produced by Raymond Hakim and Robert Hakim. It stars American actor Anthony Quinn and Italian actress Gina Lollobrigida. The film is the first version of the novel to be made in color.

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. In the French version both Quinn and Lollobrigida speak French.

Anthony Quinn's portrayal of the hunchback Quasimodo is less disfigured 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.

Plot

Quasimodo (Anthony Quinn), the hunchback of Notre Dame Cathedral, falls in love with the gypsy Esmeralda (Gina Lollobrigida). When Esmeralda is condemned as a witch by Claude Frollo (Alain Cuny), the priest who longs for her, Quasimodo takes her into the cathedral to save her. But in a misguided rescue attempt, the people come to free her and Quasimodo defends the cathedral, but they burst through the front door just as soldiers arrive and shoot arrows. One of the arrows hits Esmeralda as the crowd graves her, and Quasimodo sees her die. When Frollo comes up, Quasimodo defensively throws him off the tower of the cathedral, and then goes to find Esmeralda's body at an old dungeon site the dead are taken, where she is left, and Quasimodo mourns her.

Cast

Gina Lollobrigida as Esmeralda
Anthony Quinn as Quasimodo
Jean Danet as Phoebus de Chateaupers
Alain Cuny as Claude Frollo
Robert Hirsch as Pierre Gringoire
Danielle Dumont as Fleur de Lys
Philippe Clay as Clopin Trouillefou
Maurice Sarfati as Jehan Frollo
Jean Tissier as King Louis XI
Valentine Tessier as Aloyse de Gondelaurier
Jacques Hilling as Maitre Charmolue
Jacques Dufilho as Guillaume Rousseau
Roger Blin as Mathias Hungadi Spicali
Marianne Oswald as La Falourdel
Roland Bailly as The Hangman
Piéral as The Dwarf
Camille Guérini as The President
Damia as The Beggar
Robert Lombard as Jacques Coppenole
Albert Rémy as Jupiter
Hubert de Lapparent as Guillaume de Harancourt
Boris Vian as Cardinal Charles of Bourbon
Georges Douking as A Thief
Paul Bonifas as Master Lecornu
Madeleine Barbulée as Madame Outarde
Albert Michel as Night Watchman
Daniel Emilfork as Andry le Rouge

Production

Allied Artists invested $1,250,000 in the film.^[4]

Reception

Box office

The film was the biggest grosser in Paris in the 1956–1957 season with a gross of $603,000^[5] on admissions of 1,064,061.^[6] It had the third most admissions in France for films released in 1956 with 5,687,222 admissions.^[7]

The film earned rentals of $2.25 million in the United States and Canada.^[3]

Comic book adaptation

Dell Four Color #854 (July 1957)^[8]^[9]

References

^ ^a ^b Notre-Dame de Paris Musique de Georges Auric. Sortie le 19 décembre 1956 // cinema-francais
^ "It's a Crisis". Variety. 20 June 1956. p. 6.
^ ^a ^b "Top Grosses of 1957", Variety, 8 January 1958: 30
^ "Allied Artists". Variety. 19 October 1955. p. 6.
^ "Yank Pix High on Paris List of Hit Films". Variety. June 19, 1957. p. 15. Retrieved April 19, 2019.
^ "Notre-Dame de Paris". JP's Box Office. Retrieved April 19, 2019.
^ "Les Entrees En France Anee 1956". JP's Box Office. Retrieved April 19, 2019.
^ "Dell Four Color #854". Grand Comics Database.
^ Dell Four Color #854 at the Comic Book DB (archived from the original)