There have been two notable live-action film versions of
The Hunchback of Notre Dame:
The 1923 black-and-white silent version produced by
Universal featured
Lon Chaney as Quasimodo.
The 1939 black-and-white sound version produced by
RKO Pictures featured
Charles Laughton as Quasimodo.
These films provide examples of:
- A Taste of the Lash: Quasimodo gets flogged in both versions.
- Battering Ram: In both versions, Quasimodo drops a long piece of wood onto the rabble attacking Notre Dame and the rabble use it as an improvised battering ram.
- Counting to Three: In the 1939 version, when confronted with a begger who refuses to pay his share into the common fund, Clopin gives him to the count of three to reconsider — and stabs him just as he says, "Three."
- Did Not Get the Girl: Quasimodo in both versions.
- The Grotesque: Quasimodo in both versions.
- Historical Domain Character: The 1939 version features King Louis XI of France.
- My Eyes are Up Here: The 1939 version has sexually frustrated villain Frollo staring at Esmeralda's breasts when they meet for the first time.
- Spared by the Adaptation: Quasimodo in the 1939 version, and Esmerelda in both.
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