The 1939 version of "
The Huchback of Notre Dame", starring Charles Laughton, is absolutely the BEST version of this story ever filmed. (I did not much care for the Lon Chaney silent version...) This is one of my favorite movies of all time. And, yes, this is considered by most people to be one of the classic Universal Horror Movies although you are correct in assuming that it is not really "horror" per se... This IS listed as one of my favorite Horror Movies in my Horror Movies 101 group. It is difficult to think of the tragic figure of Quasimodo as a "monster"... he is actually the HERO of the story! The "villain" is the evil Preist 'Frollo' who is The Hunchback's 'foster father' of sorts. Although this film takes great liberties with the original novel (one of my favorite books), as do all of the film versions of this story, the basic premise is still there ... It is the story of the beautiful gypsy girl 'Esmarelda' and all of the men who desire her... Quasimodo, Frollo and Gringoire the Poet... as well as the womanizing 'captain of the guards'... and it turns out that the latter is the one that SHE desires.... this is a very tragic story that is 'running over' with sexuall tension/energy and was pretty 'racy' for it's time.... The coolest parts of the movie are when 'The Hunchback' saves the day... more than once.... I would STRONGLY recomend this movie to ANYONE who wants to watch a good film...
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