I first saw this 16 years ago, and I wish it were not even more relevant now than it was then. Based on the stage play, it’s a fictionalization of the Scopes “Monkey” Trial and -- having come out in 1960 -- a pointed response to the McCarthy era. Spencer Tracy and Fredric March are titans, obviously, and Gene Kelly is an amusing sort of troll in this. But the standout for me is Dick York, who plays the beleaguered schoolteacher on trial for breaking the law by teaching evolution. Nonetheless, Tracy gets all the good dialogue (though Kelly’s “comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable” is truly a gem), and his questioning of March’s character on the witness stand is legendary. The only strange thing to me is what’s so special about sour apple trees – the mob is determined to hang every heathen on one.
Played at BNAT 12 (2010)
Trailers: Mutiny on the Bounty (1935), The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1996)
If the only version of this story you’ve ever seen is the Disney version (which I also love, in its own way), you should check this one out. Not quite as depressing as Hugo’s novel but much closer to it than the Disney film, which can barely touch on the darkness of the story (though wow, Frollo’s song “Hellfire” certainly goes there). Charles Laughton as Quasimodo gives one of the all-time great performances, conveying so much through heavy makeup and not much dialogue. While the protagonist of the novel is Esmeralda, most adaptations center more on Quasimodo, and this film is no exception – though one could argue the poet Gringoire is a secondary protagonist and gives the movie most of its message. This is such a wonderful movie, and there are few moments more triumphant than Quasimodo’s rescue of Esmeralda from the gallows. Just as there are few things more heartbreaking than the movie's final moments.
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