She was a natural, like Jimmy Stewart. This flick, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, in one of my favorite flicks about different people. From Harvey, to Cuckoo's Nest to Edward Scissorhands and more, I have always been attracted to different people.
So taken was I by this story in movies as a kid that I went to the Madison Public library and checked out the Hugo book. When I finally got to Paris in 1979, the cathedral was my first destination.
I remember that the book had so much more detail and a completely different ending than the movies. The last paragraph of the hugo novel:
About eighteen months or two years after the events which terminate this story, when search was made in that cavern for the body of Olivier le Daim, who had been hanged two days previously, and to whom Charles VIII. had granted the favor of being buried in Saint Laurent, in better company, they found among all those hideous carcasses two skeletons, one of which held the other in its embrace. One of these skeletons, which was that of a woman, still had a few strips of a garment which had once been white, and around her neck was to be seen a string of adrézarach beads with a little silk bag ornamented with green glass, which was open and empty. These objects were of so little value that the executioner had probably not cared for them. The other, which held this one in a close embrace, was the skeleton of a man. It was noticed that his spinal column was crooked, his head seated on his shoulder blades, and that one leg was shorter than the other. Moreover, there was no fracture of the vertebrae at the nape of the neck, and it was evident that he had not been hanged. Hence, the man to whom it had belonged had come thither and had died there. When they tried to detach the skeleton which he held in his embrace, he fell to dust.
That's as good as anything the Brontës ever wrote.
Again I demonstrate my hit and miss education...never saw the movie or read the book.
The best part is when Reagan tells them to win one for the Gipper and everybody sings the Notre Dame fight song.
(not to be confused with the part where Leslie Nielsen tells them to win one for the Zipper and Robert Hays lands the plane and then they play the Notre Dame fight song)
17 comments:
95. You go girl.
A terrible loss.
My favorite actress.
Saw her on some TCM thing less than a year ago.
She was wheelchair bound, but still looked good.
And a very successful magazine publisher after her days in Tinseltown.
Trooper York said...
A terrible loss.
My favorite actress.
The movies' great Irish redhead.
IIRC, even during WWII, she refused to be classed by the US Government as a British subject.
She was a natural, like Jimmy Stewart. This flick, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, in one of my favorite flicks about different people. From Harvey, to Cuckoo's Nest to Edward Scissorhands and more, I have always been attracted to different people.
@spinelli: Hugo's character study was brilliant. I don't believe any film version did full justice to his story.
Again I demonstrate my hit and miss education...never saw the movie or read the book.
So taken was I by this story in movies as a kid that I went to the Madison Public library and checked out the Hugo book. When I finally got to Paris in 1979, the cathedral was my first destination.
Neat.
I remember that the book had so much more detail and a completely different ending than the movies. The last paragraph of the hugo novel:
About eighteen months or two years after the events which terminate this story, when search was made in that cavern for the body of Olivier le Daim, who had been hanged two days previously, and to whom Charles VIII. had granted the favor of being buried in Saint Laurent, in better company, they found among all those hideous carcasses two skeletons, one of which held the other in its embrace. One of these skeletons, which was that of a woman, still had a few strips of a garment which had once been white, and around her neck was to be seen a string of adrézarach beads with a little silk bag ornamented with green glass, which was open and empty. These objects were of so little value that the executioner had probably not cared for them. The other, which held this one in a close embrace, was the skeleton of a man. It was noticed that his spinal column was crooked, his head seated on his shoulder blades, and that one leg was shorter than the other. Moreover, there was no fracture of the vertebrae at the nape of the neck, and it was evident that he had not been hanged. Hence, the man to whom it had belonged had come thither and had died there. When they tried to detach the skeleton which he held in his embrace, he fell to dust.
That's as good as anything the Brontës ever wrote.
Hugo would have made one hell of a director of epic movies in our era.
deborah said...
Again I demonstrate my hit and miss education...never saw the movie or read the book.
The best part is when Reagan tells them to win one for the Gipper and everybody sings the Notre Dame fight song.
(not to be confused with the part where Leslie Nielsen tells them to win one for the Zipper and Robert Hays lands the plane and then they play the Notre Dame fight song)
chick, I had a French literature prof who loved Hugo and Moliere. I enjoyed the class and readings.
Great excerpt, chick.
No big fan of Hugo, but, yes, Moliere is great.
lol Ed.
Chick, didn't read your post, want to be surprised!
@deborah: That would be cool if you read it! I should reread it -- it's been like 40 years. I'm sure I'd see something new in it.
So true.
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