The Bells of Notre Dame picture image

The Bells of Notre Dame

Weighting in at an impressive 13271kg and singing a lovely F#2; Meet Emmanuel, the leader of the group.

Marie, the Glamorous one,  weighs 6023kg and belts a delightful G#2.

Gabriel, the Shy one, weighs 4162 kg and makes a sweet A#2.

The Heart-breaker of the ensemble, Anne Geneviève weighs  3477 kg and omits an enticing B2.

Denis, the Smooth one weighs 2502 kg and serenades the people with a  cool C#3.

Marcel, the Cute one weighs 1925 kg and  makes an angelic D#3.

Étienne, the Graceful one, weighs  1494 kg chants a magical E#3.

Bad-Boy, Benoît-Joseph, weighs 1309 kg blasts a strong F#3.

Maurice, the Heartthrob of the group, weight 1011 kg and charms the ladies with his seductive G#3.

Jean-Marie, the Wild  one, weights 782 kg and makes a daring A#3.

Check their live performance for Notre Dame 850 birthday

(Personality traits of the bells are meant for humor purposes only)

Who among us hasn’t watched a particular “Hunchback” scene and thought, “This is good, but it would be better with some cats? “- AnaykhOntheDoor

This got me thinking. Yeah, Hellfire is awesome but it could use a few cats.

 

Hellfire made even better with Cats, hunchback of Notre Dame disney

Hellfire made even better with Cats

There! Purrrr-fect

List of the Cats;

Prince John – Robin Hood
Nala & Simba- The Lion King
Oliver – Oliver and Company
Dinah & the Cheshire Cat- Alice in Wonderland
Sgt Tibbs – 101 Dalmatians
Tigger – Winnie the Pooh
Bagheera & Shere Khan – The Jungle Book
Lucifer – Cinderella
Duchess, Tom O’Malley, Marie,Berlioz and Toulouse – The Aristocats
Rufus – The Rescuers
Si & Am – Lady and the Tramp
Figaro- Pinocchio
Rajah- Aladdin

(masking whiskers is hell)

 

Patsy Ruth Miller as Esmeralda with Eulalie Jenson as Marie 1923 Hunchback of Notre Dame picture image

Patsy Ruth Miller as Esmeralda with Eulalie Jenson as Marie 1923 Hunchback of Notre Dame

The Costumes in the 1923 version of Hunchback are for the most part good. They look appropriate to fashions of the late middle ages. However with the exceptions of Chaney’s make-up for Quasimodo the costumes are not spectacular. There is no one costume that stands out and is memorable. They are just nice and appropriate to both the characters and the times. However there are two costumes I would like to discuss in addition to Chaney’s make-up since Chaney is the main selling point of the film.

Lon Chaney as Quasimodo 1923 Hunchback of Notre Dame picture image

Lon Chaney as Quasimodo 1923 Hunchback of Notre Dame

Lon Chaney was a genius with make-up. It’s not wonder that he has been dubbed the “Man of a Thousand Faces.” His most memorable transformations of his own face in his film career were the Phantom and Quasimodo.

For Quasimodo, Chaney looked at illustrations  by Hugo to get an accurate look. For his cheeks Chaney used cotton and colodium. Colodium is a skin sealer. What he would do is paint spirit gum, which is an adhesive, apply a wad of cotton to it and then cover it with colodium. The process was repeated to build up the cheeks to the desire look. This also allowed Chaney to reuse the cheeks for a few day with minimal effort. For the hunch he wore a 15-20 pound plaster hump. The hump was held in place by a leather harness that attract at the waist. It also had straps at the shoulders that attached to the belt to keep Chaney in a hunch position.

He also wore a rubber suit over the harness in the pillory scene. He covered it with hair to give Quasimodo an animal-like look. Early in the film he had hair on his knuckles but he did away with that as the filming went one. Chaney also employed false teeth and a wig.

Lon Chaney as Quasimodo 1923 Hunchback of Notre Dame picture image

Lon Chaney as Quasimodo 1923 Hunchback of Notre Dame

I don’t think the Quasimodo’s look has aged as well as  the Phantom’s make-up but Chaney did help solidify movie make-up and set a precedent for the look of future Quasimodos so I do give kudos to the make-up in this version.

Patsy Ruth Miller as Esmeralda 1923 Hunchback of Notre Dame picture image

Patsy Ruth Miller as Esmeralda 1923 Hunchback of Notre Dame

So there are a few  costumes I want to discuss, three of Esmeralda’s and  Marie’s costumes. Esmeralda has four costume changes but I want to look at three, her normal outfit, prison dress and her robe. The Costumes were  supervised by Gordon Magee, that they only costume credit I found.

Patsy Ruth Miller as Esmeralda 1923 Hunchback of Notre Dame picture image

Patsy Ruth Miller as Esmeralda 1923 Hunchback of Notre Dame

Esmeralda’s normal gypsy costume is based on a 1891 illustration. You can see it in the vest, short sleeves, the shoes and the mid calf hem line. While I like this costume as a whole it is inaccurate to the Romani convention that ankles should not be expose but their is another force at work in Esmeralda’s costume; the 1920’s.

Esmeralda’s costume has a more shapeless silhouette, long beaded necklaces and the sleeves look straighter and look more like modern t-shirt.

Patsy Ruth Miller as Esmeralda 1923 Hunchback of Notre Dame picture image

Patsy Ruth Miller as Esmeralda 1923 Hunchback of Notre Dame

However Esmeralda’s prison dress and her robe look more like a product of the 20’s. Her prison dress has a shapeless silhouette and the way it cinches in at the waist and puffs over is very 20s. Plus the short hemline. Hemlines that hit mid-calf was the style in 1923 for hem.

Patsy Ruth Miller as Esmeralda 1923 Hunchback of Notre Dame picture image

Patsy Ruth Miller as Esmeralda 1923 Hunchback of Notre Dame

However the robe is the worse offender of Esmeralda’s costumes. In a deleted scene from the movie, Quasimodo trades candles for clothing for Esmeralda to wear. He gets a robe or a “dressing gown” that has a fur trim and looks to be made of velvet with a satin belt.

Number 1; robes didn’t not exist at this time in Europe.. Robe/dressing gown came in to fashion in the 18th century  because orientism was fashionable. Number 2; given the materials, fur, satin and velvet, it’s doubtful that a mere chest of candles could be traded for a garment made from these materials. Beside those  issues, the robe features  the signature 1923 hemline and the shoes. The shoes that Esmeralda wears with the robe are flats with a flower detail. Clearly not shoes wore in the middle ages.

Eulalie Jenson as Marie 1923 Hunchback of Notre Dame picture image

Eulalie Jenson as Marie 1923 Hunchback of Notre Dame

However the worse offender of the 1920 style in a costume is Marie’s. Marie is Clopin’s wife. Marie actually has two costumes but they’re very similar.  Both are very shapeless dresses that flattened out her chest which is  the classic 1920 silhouette.

Eulalie Jenson as Marie 1923 Hunchback of Notre Dame picture image

Eulalie Jenson as Marie 1923 Hunchback of Notre Dame

One  has almost kimono-esque sleeves that have a scallops detail at the edge. Both hemlines hit at the ankles but one it’s a handkerchief hem, so the longest point hit the ankle.

Handkerchief hems were popular in the 1910-1920’s and it was seen in Ancient Greece.  While it was used in Antiquity it was not at all popular in 1482. The other one is pointed with a scallop edge which makes it appear shorter. While Esmeralda’s costumes harken to the 20’s, Marie’s flaunts it to the point that it looks really out of place.

Eulalie Jenson as Marie 1923 Hunchback of Notre Dame picture image

Eulalie Jenson as Marie 1923 Hunchback of Notre Dame

The costumes are appropriately medieval for the men and the women’s costumes are mixed with the style of the 1920 to make they look more stylish regardless of period appropriateness.

Patsy Ruth Miller as Esmeralda 1923 Hunchback of Notre Dame picture image

Patsy Ruth Miller as Esmeralda 1923 Hunchback of Notre Dame

Pictures came from the Philip J Riley Book

Next Time – The Sets

Notre Dame de Paris set from the 1923 version of Hunchback picture image

Notre Dame de Paris Set from the 1923 version of Hunchback

The 1923 version of Hunchback is brimming with glorified extras. So let’s just take a moment to recognize them and their contribution to this movie.

In order of billing in the little booklet that comes with the Ultimate Edition DVD

Madame de Gondelaurier (Kate Lester) Hunchback of Notre Dame 1923 picture image

Madame de Gondelaurier (Kate Lester)
Hunchback of Notre Dame 1923

Madame de Gondelaurier (Kate Lester) – As Fleur de Lys’ aunt, she is Phoebus’ future aunt-in-law. She throws Phoebus a gala ball for his promotion where Phoebus declares his undying devotion for Esmeralda. But instead of casting Phoebus out she lets him stay and takes care of him when he is wounded and depressed. What a lovely door-mat she is.

Louis XI (Tully Marshall) Hunchback of Notre Dame 1923 picture image

Louis XI (Tully Marshall)
Hunchback of Notre Dame 1923

Louis XI (Tully Marshall) – Unlike the Louis in the 1939 version this Louis is cold and unfeeling. The only thing he does is confers a promotion on Phoebus and remarks on the rabble.

Monsieur Neufchatel (Harry Von Meter ) Hunchback of Notre Dame 1923 picture image

Monsieur Neufchatel (Harry Von Meter )
Hunchback of Notre Dame 1923

Monsieur Neufchatel (Harry Von Meter Harry L. Van Meter ) – This guy is like the second most important character in Notre Dame. Really the movie should have been called “The Hunchback of Notre Dame and Monsieur Neufchatel.”

Actually he is just Phoebus’ soldier friend. The most memorable this he does is tell Phoebus they have to go back to the barrack, and he gets a billing for that.

(behind the scenes fun- I had to search through the script which is in  Philip Riley book
to find this characters because the movie never says his name and the commentary was no help.

Marie; Queen of the Gypsies (Eulalie Jenson) Hunchback of Notre Dame 1923 picture image

Marie; Queen of the Gypsies (Eulalie Jenson) Hunchback of Notre Dame 1923

Marie; Queen of the Gypsies (Eulalie Jenson) – She is Clopin wife and a mother figure to Esmeralda, that is all. She does try to stand up to Clopin in support of Esmeralda’s affections of Phoebus but to no avail.

Fleur de Lys (Winifred Bryson) Hunchback of Notre Dame 1923 picture image

Fleur de Lys (Winifred Bryson) Hunchback of Notre Dame 1923

Fleur de Lys (Winifred Bryson) – Phoebus’ lovely fiancee who knows he is a ladies man but loves him anyway. Phoebus doesn’t feel much for her but she still takes care of him when he is wounded and depressed. But Phoebus doesn’t care and runs off with Esmeralda. That jerk.

Next Time – Performances

Jehan 1923 Hunchback of Notre Dame Brandon Hurst picture image

Black Cloak held up to the eyes, Classic Evil Acting