“Why was I not made of stone?”
Sir Anthony Hopkins stars in the role of Victor Hugo’s literary creation in this Emmy nominated Hallmark Hall of Fame presentation. I swear that this production was shown over two nights when shown on television and the second half of the presentation seems to suffer from some cutting.
Dom Claude Frollo (Derek Jacobi) is the archdeacon of the cathedral at Notre Dame. When a baby is left on the doorstep, the nuns want to drown it because it’s deformed (nice ones those). Frollo takes pity on the foundling and takes him under his wing.
Years pass and the deformed, hunchbacked Quasimodo (Anthony Hopkins) is now the bell ringer at Notre Dame and have been made deaf, in addition to his other deformities, because of his devotion to the bells.
The gypsy Esmeralda (Lesley-Anne Down) is dancing in the streets and the celibate Dom Frollo sees her and immediately falls into a demonic lust. She longs for the haughty captain of the archers, Phoebus (Robert Powell), but he only wants to use her. The poet Pierre (Gerry Sundquist) is found in the court of beggars and tried by the self titled King (David Suchet) and sentenced to death. That is unless one of their own takes his hand in marriage.
Esmeralda agrees to marry Pierre, but to his great disappointment it’s only a marriage of convenience and doesn’t offer any marital bliss. Quasimodo causes trouble and Frollo doesn’t come to his aid and he’s ordered to be whipped and turned in the public square.
During his turning he cries out for water and Esmeralda feels a tinge of pity and gives him some. This causes the hunchback to fall in love with her and when Frollo’s machinations threaten to have her hanged its Quasimodo that springs to her rescue and offer her the sanctuary of the church.
The Internet Movie Database confirms this for me, but I think that there’s a 150 minute version of this production that was shown over two nights when it aired on television in 1982. All releases since then have been the abbreviated cut and this 102 minute DVD doesn’t correct that running time. It could be that the rights to this extended version lie with another company. I guess I could also have a faulty memory and that it’s always been 102 minutes.
However, the second half of the film, once Esmeralda gets sancturary, feels very abbreviated. Hopkins was nominated for an Emmy for his performance and I seem to recall having more time on screen in my memory of the expanded version than he’s given in this release.
Alas, unless it makes it to DVD someday you’ll just have to rely on my memory. I do recall that it was a very touching portrayal, and you do see some of that here, but recall it being more touching in the miniseries length version.
The real star might be a nuanced turn by Derek Jacobi in the role of Dom Frollo though as he too is excellent. The film is like a who’s who of British thespians as John Gielgud and Nigel Hawthorne show up in bit roles along with the other cast members.
The weak spot may well be Esmeralda herself as Lesley Anne-Down doesn’t bring much to the role (maybe it was cut out too, but my memory tells me that she didn’t impress much in the longer version either). I’m glad to have this version on DVD, but wish that the expanded version would’ve been the one that had arrived.
The Hunchback of Notre Dame is presented in fullscreen. The only special features are a collection of previews of other Sony DVDs.
Some fine British talent star in this production, but I recall it being better in the miniseries length version (which I believe also aired on the Disney Channel last time I recall it being show, so maybe Disney/ABC has the rights to it?).
It’s made to feel cut as the second half feels like it’s been crammed into the last thirty minutes. Too bad, as some of the fine performances still have their power, even in cut form.
Hunchback of Notre Dame (1982) is now available at Amazon . As of yet, there is not a release date for this version of the DVD in the UK. Visit the DVD database for more information.
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