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Chaney has top billing, but the character of Esmerelda (Patsy Ruth Miller) is key to the story. Of Aristocratic birth, she is stolen by gypsies from her cradle, then sold to Clopin, the leader of Paris' vast underworld of grifters, prostitutes, and thieves. Clopin (Ernest Torrence) wants to continue possessing his hottie grown adopted daughter, but since he keeps commanding her to publicly dance enticingly while half-naked, she's also coveted by creepy Jehan (Brandon Hurst), heroic centurion Phoebus (Norman Kerry), and apparently by the Hunchback himself.
How others will see it. The Hunchback of Notre Dame ranks among the most famous silent movies, and had perhaps the largest budget of any silent film. The colossal sets and huge cast will impress the experienced movie fan. It is curious that it recently received a television 'G' rating, since the story includes a whipping, an attempted kidnapping, an attempted hanging, a stabbing, torture, an attempted rape, and a murder, not to mention the crowd control methods of the Hunchback, consisting of molten lead and thrown stone blocks and beams. It's a violent film, but at a 'PG' level. For example, we never actually see whips stinging the backside of our unfortunate title character.
Most people who come across this movie are unlikely to watch it, simply because most television viewers avoid black and white movies, and especially lack patience for silent films. They want to see good looking people in difficulty. Esmeralda is pretty, and she's often in peril, but it's not enough to satisfy modern audiences, who are spoiled by an abundance of color hotties in hot water.
How I felt about it. This film reminds me of The Phantom of the Opera (1925), Chaney's other famous big budget movie, where he also plays a tormented and disfigured man obsessed with a beautiful young woman who cannot return his love.
The 1939 remake, of course, also comes to mind. That version is superior, partly because of its quality of cast, but mostly because it is was made during the glory years of the Hollywood studio system. Story improvements of the present silent version include Quasimodo swinging across the courtyard to rescue Esmerelda, rather than merely shimmying down a rope to get to her. The RKO Radio version also disposes of unnecessary characters, such as the madwoman who turns out to be Esmerelda's mother, and elevates the Hunchback into the principal character instead of Esmerelda.
The irony of the 1923 version of Esmerelda is that she presses for peace and mercy for others at every turn, yet always is the cause of violence. People commit serious crimes in order to possess her. No wonder she wants to become a nun, instead of her current status as a Medieval Helen of Troy.