Hunchback of Notre Dame, The (Silent) (DVD)

Lon Chaney, cinema's "Man of a Thousand Faces," stars in this silent classic - the first version of Victor Hugo's novel about the tortured hunchback. Half-blind and monstrously deformed, Quasimodo dwells within the sanctuary of the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris. Ridiculed and exploited by a cruel world, he passionately rings the cathedral's great bells to express his feelings. Quasimodo secretly loves a beautiful gypsy girl named Esmeralda, for whom he sacrifices his life when he rescues her from her evil guardian. Chaney's great performance and his incredible use of make-up brilliantly evoke both terror and pity for the hunchback as this classic tale is played out in medieval Paris.