Robert Muller Movies

This BBC production of The Hunchback of Notre Dame is the fifth (at least!) dramatization of Victor Hugo's novel Notre Dame de Paris. It should not confused with the elaborate 1982 TV-movie version starring Anthony Hopkins as deformed hunchbacked bell ringer Quasimodo, if only for one important reason: The BBC version was shot on videotape, then transferred (unsatisfactorily) to film. The Hunchback, usually the star role in most versions of this tale of 15th- century Paris, is played by the relatively unknown Warren Clarke, while the biggest name in the production, British actor Kenneth Haigh, is top-billed as Claude Frollo, Archbishop of Notre Dame. Michelle Newell is gypsy girl Esmerelda, whose strange alliance with Quasimodo motivates the interwoven intrigues of Hugo's story. This Hunchback of Notre Dame was closer to the original than most versions, but because of its ragged pictorial quality was forgotten almost immediately after its American TV debut in July of 1977. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This independent film is a satirical look at a group of successful, middle aged business people. Included are a film director, a writer and others who talk of love, sex and politics. They are portrayed as cynical and bored with life, and the viewer may feel the same way about the feature. This is the second effort from director Peter Zadek after his critically acclaimed I Am An Elephant, Madame. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide

The oft-filmed "realistic" Emile Zola novel Nana was given the British miniseries treatment in 1968. Katherine Schofield essayed the leading role as ill-fated Parisian courtesan Nana. After fomenting a deadly feud between two of her lovers (who also happened to be brothers), Nana made up for all past misdeeds by conveniently succumbing to smallpox. The four 50-minute installments of Nana were originally telecast by BBC2. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The Beauty Jungle can hardly be considered an expose of the beauty-contest business, since most of what happens in the film is what the average viewer has suspected all along. The lovely and graceful British leading lady Janette Scott stars as an ambitious typist who enters the "Miss Globe" pageant. She doesn't care what she does or whom she hurts along the way, the result being that she wins the competition. But when the anticipated decline sets in, she confronts the same embittered people on the downward spiral that she stepped over during her upward climb. Cliched though it may seem on paper, The Beauty Jungle is fascinating in its own garish way; the film was issued to the US under the title Contest Girl. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide