THE HUNCHBACK OF NOTRE DAME (1923) *** It's a mysterious thing and full of clues, does Victor Hugo have a secret or is it a ruse? Of course clues can be found anywhere that the mind can go, the only question is whether or not they're...not real, but real clues relating to what you think they do. The brothers, is that a literary device? And the Fleur de Lys family, was that a real name? How about opening things on the Feast of Fools, wouldn't the odds be about 365 to 1 against? No, actually, because writers tend to write more about things that interest them. Like when Norman Kerry says that Patsy Ruth Miller is from a family older than that of kings? It's an odd, introductory, throwaway line, isn't it? From the court of miracles, back into the church...is that another one? Oh, the film! Well, it's a good one. Kerry is dashing, and Patsy Ruth Miller dances like Isadora Duncan, but without all the grace. They're winning characters, and Wallace Worsley does a tremendous job of floating a lot of characters, negotiating a plethora of plot twists, giving us great shots, and keeping things fun. Now that confession they're getting out of Patsy, wasn't that the same interrogation tactic they used on Jacques de Molay? Patsy's character isn't at all who the crazy lady thinks she is, but she doesn't know who she is herself, and would seem fated to never know. Still, Ernest Torrence and Brandon Hurst, the bad guys, both want her, and at least one of them knows the secret of her identity unknown to herself. Well, sure, but...oh, look! Here come the angry villagers. Victor Hugo developed the metaphors in the manner of one who doesn't want to get in trouble for what he's writing, or maybe isn't sure what it is, either. Does that mean that it's not important, or that he didn't know anything what he was talking about? Quite possibly. The pin-up scene is that of Lon Chaney swinging on a bell, confirmed in his maddened state of animalistic intent, and not distracted by any of the rest of it in any way. Well, there's something we can all get behind, then!
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