The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1982 film)

Infobox Film
name = The Hunchback


caption = VHS box art
director = Michael Tuchner
Alan Hume
producer = Norman Rosemont
eproducer =
aproducer = Malcolm J. Christopher
writer = John Gay
Victor Hugo "(novel)"
starring = Anthony Hopkins
Sir Derek Jacobi
Lesley-Anne Down
Sir John Gielgud
music = Ken Thorne
cinematography = Alan Hume
editing = Keith Palmer
distributor = Columbia Pictures Television
Hallmark Hall of Fame
released = 4 February 1982
runtime = 150 min.
country = UK
awards =
language = English
budget =
preceded_by =
followed_by =
amg_id = 1:23864
imdb_id = 0084100

"The Hunchback" is a 1982 American television movie film starring Anthony Hopkins, Sir Derek Jacobi, Lesley-Anne Down, and Sir John Gielgud, based on the Victor Hugo novel. It was produced as part of the long-running Hallmark Hall of Fame series. This version shares a lot of similarities with the 1939 version and though Anthony Hopkins's portrayal of Quasimodo is, in its own way, unique, many people have accused Hopkins of copying Laughton's portrayal of the tragic hunchback. Quasimodo's deformity is very true to Hugo's novel and some people believe that it is what Hugo intended Quasimodo to look like. It is often regarded as a remake of the 1939 movie. The ending is crucially different from the Laughton version. This adaptation is often confused with the 1977 bbc adaptation in which Esmeralda dies. Hallmark was lucky to able to afford Hopkins for the film's budget was low.

Plot Summary

In the novel, the story, which takes place in medieval Paris, is about Quasimodo, a deformed, barely verbal hunchback who is feared and hated by all. His only friend is Dom Claude Frollo, a stern, cerebral priest so cold he ignores the poor hunchback when he's being publicly tortured for a crime he didn't commit. The only thing the priest gets excited about is Esmerelda, a beautiful young gypsy he wants so badly his lust turns to hate. She is the only character to show the hunchback a moment of human kindness: at the same moment that the priest ignores him, when he is being jeered by a horrid rabble, she approaches the public stock and gives him a drink of water. Because of this, he falls fiercely in love with her, even though she is too disgusted by his ugliness to even let him kiss her hand. Meanwhile, she is obsessed with a shallow glamour-boy named Captain Phoebus whom she believes once protected her. Crazy with frustrated lust, the priest has the gypsy arrested for witchcraft and condemns her to death. As she's being led to the gallows, Quasimodo comes down like a fiend and carries her off to the sanctuary of Notre Dame. After an uneasy respite, there's a battle and Esmerelda is seized and hanged. In despair, the hunchback kills the priest and crawls off to Esmerelda's tomb to die with his arms around her body.

The ending of the movie is very different. Despite popular belief Esmerelda survives and does not die in this adaptation.

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