Just like the "Ben Hur" version of Fred Niblo (1925) remains in the shadow of the 1959 epic by William Wyler, so the 1923 version of "The Hunchback of the Notre Dame" (Wallace Worsley) is much lesser known than the 1939 version of William Dieterle. This is not completely justified because the 1923 version is a monument of silent movie-making.
It is difficult to compare a talkie to a silent movie but in general we can say that Lon Chaney (lead actor in the 1923 version) is the best make up artist and Charles Laughton (lead actorin the 1939 version) is the better actor of the two.
Both versions are not strictly following the classic novel by Victor Hugo. They have one deviation in common. The bad guy is not the archdeacon himself (as in the novel) but his brother. In the production code of those days a bad clergyman was still a sensitive issue.
It is difficult to compare a talkie to a silent movie but in general we can say that Lon Chaney (lead actor in the 1923 version) is the best make up artist and Charles Laughton (lead actorin the 1939 version) is the better actor of the two.
Both versions are not strictly following the classic novel by Victor Hugo. They have one deviation in common. The bad guy is not the archdeacon himself (as in the novel) but his brother. In the production code of those days a bad clergyman was still a sensitive issue.