You know how folks are always talking about giving the edge to apples over oranges when comparing two things they like against each other when either would do? Well, when I compare film adaptations of Victor Hugo’s novel, Notre Dame de Paris, we gotta add some bananas into the mix because even though Jean Dellannoy’s 1956 version lacks the overall cinematic scope and spectacle of both Wallace Worsely’s silent version or William Dieterele’s 1939 adaptation, I still kinda dig it. And don’t even ask me to try to choose between Lon Chaney, Charles Laughton or Anthony Quinn’s Quasimodo, let alone which gypsy dance I’d rather see: Maureen O’Hara’s or Gina Lollobrigida’s. On second thought. Screw it. I’ll just have the fruit salad.
The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1956) Panitalia :: Paris Film Productions :: Allied Artists / P: Raymond Hakim, Robert Hakim / D: Jean Delannoy / W: Jean Aurenche, Jacques Prévert, Victor Hugo (novel) / C: Michel Kelber / E: Henri Taverna / M: Georges Auric / S: Gina Lollobrigida, Anthony Quinn, Jean Danet, Alain Cuny, Robert Hirsch
Scenes from the Morgue 
