Event 4 / The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1923)

There could scarcely be a more fitting setting than the shadowed splendour of Glasgow Cathedral for the silent cinema epic The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1923). Brought to life by a soundtrack performed live on the cathedral’s mighty pipe organ, Victor Hugo’s immortal tale of devotion, injustice and redemption unfolds beneath the soaring vaults of one of Scotland’s greatest Gothic buildings—where Quasimodo’s world of tolling bells, hidden towers and impossible longing feels uncannily close.

A landmark Universal production, Hunchback was the studio's greatest silent-era success, launching Lon Chaney to international stardom. Beneath pioneering prosthetic makeup, Chaney brings a profound dignity and vulnerability to the cathedral's isolated bell-ringer, while vast Hollywood recreations of 15th-century Paris raised the bar for cinematic spectacle, shaping both the modern blockbuster and the horror genre.

Bringing this vivid tale to life for GCF is Richard Hills, acclaimed worldwide as a leading light of both the classical and theatre organ. Improvising a live soundtrack that follows every twist of the plot, he draws on the expressive power of Glasgow Cathedral's vast, 147-year-old organ to illuminate each beat of drama, romance and suspense—a unique, riveting encounter between film, performer and place.

This film remains a landmark of silent cinema, but also reflects the prejudices of its era by rendering the Romani community as exotic outsiders, and treating disability as grotesque spectacle. Lon Chaney was raised by Deaf parents and, whilst his performance draws on a deeply expressive physical language to find real humanity in Quasimodo's isolation, this complicates the sense of spectacle rather than redeeming it. We encourage everyone to reflect on how the film frames these communities, and on how these stereotypes persist today, pointing you towards the following resources:
‘Media That Moves’ report
‘Disabling Imagery and the Media’ report

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