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Overview for The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1939)

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Overview
Brief Synopsis
A deformed bell ringer rescues a gypsy girl falsely accused of witchcraft and murder.
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Synopsis

Ignorance, cruelty and superstition pervade France of the fifteenth century. Frollo, the King's high justice, exploits these evils, persecuting the gypsies and opposing any mode of progress. When the lovely gypsy dancer Esmeralda is threatened by the King's men, she seeks refuge in a church, Notre Dame, where she meets the grotesque hunchback Quasimodo. Frollo, who is Quasimodo's guardian, orders the hunchback to take the girl captive, and Esmeralda, terrified, escapes to the underworld of Clopin and his beggars. There, she saves the life of the poet Gringoire by consenting to take him as her husband, although she truly loves the soldier Phoebus. Frollo lusts after Esmeralda, however, and, unable to tolerate her love for Phoebus, kills his rival. Esmeralda is arrested for the crime, and Frollo, claiming that the girl had bewitched him with the power of Satan, demands her life. As Esmeralda is marched to die on the gallows, Quasimodo leaps from the building above and carries her to the sanctuary of the church. Not to be denied Esmeralda's life, Frollo incites the nobles to deny sanctuary, and the beggars, concerned for the girl's safety, storm the church. Amid the chaos, Frollo enters the church. Justice is finally served as Quasimodo hurls Frollo to his death from the bell tower.

Cast & Crew
Charles Laughton
as Quasimodo
Maureen O'Hara
as Esmeralda
Edmond O'Brien
as Gringoire
Alan Marshal
as Phoebus
Walter Hampden
as Archbishop
Harry Davenport
as King Louis XI
Katharine Alexander
as Fleur's mother
George Zucco
as Procurator
Fritz Leiber
as Old nobleman
See all cast & crew >>
Release Date
29 Dec 1939

Color/BW
Black and White

Sound
Mono (RCA Victor System)

Production Dates
10 Jul--25 Sep 1939


Duration (in mins)
115 or 117

Duration (in feet)
10,489

Premiere Information
not available
10 Jul--25 Sep 1939


Distribution Company
RKO Radio Pictures, Inc.

Production Company
RKO Radio Pictures, Inc.


Country
United States
Nov 29, 08:30AM
Feb 13, 08:00AM
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The Hunchback Of Notre Dame [DVD] (1939)
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Steve
"Why was I not made of of stone like thee"
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