The Hunchback of Notre Dame

The Norman Rosemont production of the Victor Hugo classic. Anthony Hopkins, Lesley-Anne Down. Dom Claude: Derek Jacobi. Pierre: Gerry Sundquist. Charmolue: John Gielgud. Phoebus: Robert Powell., With a story as big as Victor Hugo’s tragedy of Quasimodo and Esmeralda – a story of unrequited love–it is easy to see why it has been remade so often. However, it is a surprise that a movie which has been made into a classic silent movie and a classic big-budget movie (though it did have to compete with Gone with the Wind when it came out) can be made into a TV movie as well and still be called entertainment. The choice of actors, mostly stage trained, played no small part in this success. Anthony Hopkins gave his all to the tragic figure of Quasimodo, Hugo’s grotesque Hunchback, as did the rest of the cast, and this TV reprise of the story is quite well done., Adaptation of the Victor Hugo novel in which the deformed bellringer, Quasimodo, falls in love with gypsy girl Esmerelda. Rivals for her affections include Quasimodo’s guardian, the archdeacon, and a poor poet, yet Esmerelda herself is in love with a handsome soldier.