With that last statement I must
strenuously disagree. When I was a kid, I had a collection of models I received
from my brother that had monsters from Universal films. I had Frankenstein's
Monster, the Wolfman, Dracula AND the Hunchback of Notre Dame. I rest my case.
Would my brother steer me wrong?
So we'll stipulate that the
Hunchback is a monster, though also a really good guy. Note he shares the title
with Notre Dame. It's a reference to the Cathedral of Notre Dame. The story is
set there. So "The Hunchback of Notre Dame" is quite at home in
Halloween Movie Churches. As Archbishop Walter Hampton says in one version of
the film, "We extract pleasure from horror. We shrink from ugliness and
then want to see it."
Because Hugo's novel has not been
under copyright for a very long time there have been many film adaptations of
the material. I watched the three most famous versions: the silent version
starring Lon Chaney from 1923, the Charles Laughton version from 1939, and
Disney's animated version from 1996. (I'm neglecting the 1956 version with
Anthony Quinn, the 1982 version with Anthony Hopkins and quite a number of
cheap animated knockouts that came out after the Disney version.)
That's a lot of film to cover in one
post, so I'm going to focus on just two things: the clergy and the cathedral
itself.
Though I said Quasimodo was the
monster in the films (and the model kits back me up on this), he certainly isn't
the villain. The chief villain in the novel and all the films is named Frollo. In
the novel, Frollo has a scholarly position in the church and has taken vows of
celibacy and is quite a complex character. He adopts Quasimodo as an infant out
of compassion. But lust for the gypsy woman Esmeralda leads him to commit a
number of villainous acts, including murder.An interesting thing is that the
films, made at different times, seem to have varying levels of comfort in
identifying Frollo as a clergyman.
In the 1923 version, "Jehan"
Frollo lives in the Notre Dame cathedral, and the title cards make it clear he
is a member of the clergy. But Esmeralda points out that he's taken on worldly
dress rather than the dress of a priest. He does at one point in the film don a
priest's robes to get past prison guards, but it seems the film makers aren't
comfortable with him REALLY being a priest.
The 1939 version makes the villain
"Judge Jean" Frollo. He is not a member of the clergy but a
government magistrate. His brother is a clergyman (as he is in the book) and a
drunkard. But his brother the priest has his heart in the right place.
The 1996 Disney version, with
"Judge Claude" Frollo of the three films, presents the character most
clearly as religious. Though a judge, he sings of his lust for Esmeralda in
religious terms in the song "Hellfire". It's a pretty powerful
indictment of religious hypocrisy (you know, for the kids).
As for the Notre Dame Cathedral
itself, it's presented as a pretty wonderful place in all the films. The 1923
film describes it as, "A spiritual haven in a brutal age; a sanctuary
where the persecuted could find protection, the enduring monument of a mighty
faith." In the 1939 film a magistrate says of the building,
"Cathedrals like this one triumphant monument to the past... Glorifying
France." (The 1939 film is pretty big on progress. The Cathedral is the
glory of France's past, but the printing press promises to be the glory of
France's future.)
In all three films, the Cathedral is
a place of great beauty, as is the actual Cathedral. The bells provide a
beautiful song and the voice of the hunchback. The gargoyles are a unique
architectural feature. In the animated feature, the statues sing, dance and
crack wise. In the 1939 version, the rain spouts of the gargoyles are used to
pour hot oil on attackers (frankly, the reason I loved this film as a kid).
But the word that best sums up the
glory of the Cathedral of Notre Dame in all of the films is to be found in one
word, "Sanctuary." Esmeralda finds hope in its walls. (In the latter
two films, we see her pray to Mary for her people, while those around her pray
for themselves.)
In the 1939 film, there is a great
conflict over whether the church can stand in opposition to the government,
protecting the accused within its wall. Laughton's cry of "Sanctuary"
became a staple for impressionists, but it still it a powerful thing. Because
one of the best things a church can do is provide hope, refreshment and safety
from a corrupt and evil world.
That's why I'm giving the Cathedral
of Notre Dame in all of these films Three Steeples. (It would be four if it
wasn't for that darn Frollo.) 
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