The Hunchback of Notre Dame, film, 1925 - review

The Hunchback of Notre Dame, film, 1925 - review

Victor Hugo, Notre-Dame de Paris, gothic revival architecture, gothic, gothic revival, neo-gothic, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Quasimodo, medieval right of sanctuary, bell-ringing, religious fanaticism, gypsies, Esmeralda, Catholics in Australia, influential novel, novel, novels

Victor Hugo’s novel, Notre-Dame de Paris, anglicised to ‘The Hunchback of Notre Dame’ explores a number of themes: the role of religious fanaticism in medieval theology, passion and, for Hugo, old versus new Paris. France’s most famous medieval cathedral is the ‘star’ of the show and functions as a backdrop for and focus of the story. The cathedral is portrayed as a place of political and criminal sanctuary (Westminster Church in fourteenth-century London) and a symbol of all that is decaying in Paris. The novel mobilized interest in the cathedral to such an extent that a restoration project followed shortly after. It strengthened a worldwide interest in gothic revival architecture. The review in the West Australian suggests that ‘religious offence’ occurs in the novel but has been ironed out in the film. Whether this offence is anti-Catholic rhetoric or sensitivity to Catholic sentiment in Australia is speculative.

Anon.

National Library of Australia

1925

Public Domain
National Library of Australia

Review of Film Launch

English

Review, newspaper article