alex_unnamed

A beautiful movie! Having not yet read Hugo's novel, but being aware, of course, of the well- known story, I was very captivated by Dieterle's version.

The performances are very fine: Charles Laughton in the title role is supported by a very able cast - the never-less-than-beautiful Maureen O'Hara, a very young (and, quite surprisingly, good-looking) Ed O'Brien in his film debut, Harry Davenport, the ubiquitous Thomas Mitchell, and Cedric Hardwicke, whose performance I found to be the most impressive.

The black and white-cinematography by Joseph H. August is very adequate, capturing the atmosphere one might have of the time and age beautifully (at least, the one in my mind), and so is Alfred Newman's score, which, unlike many other scores of that era, did not drown the film in a constant and often annoying soundscape. In fact, there are quite a number of scenes that might well have worked in a silent movie - the scene where Gringoire, the O'Brien-character, gets harassed by beggars comes to mind, for example.

Running close to two hours, the movie nevertheless never loses steam; the multitude of interesting characters and the fine execution (of the novel, not the characters) made me put the novel up on my wish list for the next birthday presents. Very recommended!