Up next: a 100th anniversary screening of 'The Hunchback of Notre Dame' (1923) on Wednesday, Oct. 25 at the Rex Theatre in Manchester, N.H.
As of this morning, the venue has sold 69 tickets, so should be a good crowd on hand—always a good thing for a silent film program!
Below is a press release with all the details. Come join us for this classic big screen adaptation of Victor Hugo's sprawling novel set in medieval Paris.
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WEDNESDAY, OCT. 18, 2023 / FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact Jeff Rapsis • (603) 236-9237 • jeffrapsis@gmail.com
Chaney as Quasimodo in 'Hunchback of Notre Dame' on Wednesday, Oct. 25 in Manchester, N.H.
Celebrate
100th anniversary of classic silent version with pre-Halloween
screening at Rex Theatre; featuring live music by Jeff Rapsis
MANCHESTER,
N.H.—It was a spectacular combination: Lon Chaney, the actor known as
the "Man of 1,000 Faces," and Universal's big screen adaptation of
Victor Hugo's sprawling tale of the tortured Quasimodo.
The
result was the classic silent film version of 'The Hunchback of Notre
Dame' (1923), to be shown with live music on Wednesday, Oct. 25 at 7
p.m. at the Rex Theatre, 23 Amherst St., Manchester, N.H.
General admission is $10 per person; tickets are available at the door or online at www.palacetheatre.org.
Live music for the movie will be provided by silent film accompanist Jeff Rapsis.
"We
felt that with the upcoming reopening of Notre Dame Cathedral in 2024,
audiences would appreciate a chance to see this film, which takes place
throughout the iconic structure," Rapsis said.
The famous cathedral, a symbol of Paris and France, was severely damaged by fire in 2019.
The
film is based on Victor Hugo's 1831 novel, and is notable for the grand
sets that recall 15th century Paris as well as for Chaney's performance
and make-up as the tortured hunchback Quasimodo.
The film
elevated Chaney, already a well-known character actor, to full star
status in Hollywood, and also helped set a standard for many later
horror films, including Chaney's 'The Phantom of the Opera' in 1925.
While
Quasimodo is but one of many interconnecting characters in the original
Hugo novel, he dominates the narrative of this expensive Universal
production.
In the story, Jehan (Brandon Hurst), the evil brother
of the archdeacon, lusts after a Gypsy named Esmeralda (Patsy Ruth
Miller) and commands the hunchback Quasimodo (Chaney) to capture her.
Military
captain Phoebus (Norman Kerry) also loves Esmeralda and rescues her,
but the Gypsy is not unsympathetic to Quasimodo's condition, and an
unlikely bond forms between them.
After vengeful Jehan frames
Esmeralda for the attempted murder of Phoebus, Quasimodo's feelings are
put to the test in a spectacular climax set in and around the Cathedral
of Notre Dame.
As the hunchbacked bellringer Quasimodo, Chaney
adorned himself with a special device that made his cheeks jut out
grotesquely; a contact lens that blanked out one of his eyes; and, most
painfully, a huge rubber hump covered with coarse animal fur and
weighing anywhere from 30 to 50 pounds.
Chaney deeply identified
with Quasimodo, the deformed bell-ringer at Notre Dame Cathedral who was
deafened by his work. Chaney was raised by deaf parents and did a lot
of his communication through pantomime.
“The idea of doing the
picture was an old one of mine and I had studied Quasimodo until I knew
him like a brother, knew every ghoulish impulse of his heart and all the
inarticulate miseries of his soul,” Chaney told an interviewer with
Movie Weekly magazine in 1923.
“Quasimodo and I lived together—we
became one. At least so it has since seemed to me. When I played him, I
forgot my own identity completely and for the time being lived and
suffered with the Hunchback of Notre Dame.”
The film was a major box office hit for Universal Studios, and Chaney's performance continues to win accolades.
"An
awe-inspiring achievement, featuring magnificent sets (built on the
Universal backlot), the proverbial cast of thousands (the crowd scenes
are mesmerizing) and an opportunity to catch Lon Chaney at his most
commanding," wrote critic Matt Brunson of Creative Loafing in 2014.
Screening
this classic version of 'Hunchback' provides local audiences the
opportunity to experience silent film as it was intended to be shown: on
the big screen, in restored prints, with live music, and with an
audience.
"If you can put pieces of the experience back together
again, it's surprising how these films snap back to life," said Rapsis, a
New Hampshire-based silent film accompanist who creates music for
silent film screenings at venues around the country.
"By showing the films as they were intended, you can really get a sense of why people first fell in love with the movies."
In
creating music for silent films, Rapsis performs on a digital
synthesizer that reproduces the texture of the full orchestra and
creates a traditional "movie score" sound.
'The Hunchback of
Notre Dame' (1923) starring Lon Chaney, will be screened with live music
on Wednesday, Oct. 25 at 7 p.m. at the Rex Theatre, 23 Amherst St.,
Manchester, N.H.
General admission is $10 per person; tickets are available at the door or online at www.palacetheatre.org.
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