‘Hunchback of Notre Dame,’ screening to feature live soundtrack

AINSWORTH — Performers visiting the Ainsworth Opera House will play a specially commissioned live accompaniment for 1923 silent film “The Hunchback of Notre Dame,” on Nov. 14. While the venue has hosted similar events before, it has not brought in musical backing for a feature-length production.

Composers Jean-Francois Charles and Nicolas Sidoroff composed — from across the Atlantic Ocean — accompaniments to some items in the Brinton Collection, a series of early moving picture projects from a family of influential entertainers in Ainsworth. That soundtrack has previously been played by Red Cedar Chamber Music.

The two were brought to Southeast Iowa by a commission from Film Scene, in Iowa City, to write backing for a feature-length film. After some negotiation with the theater in Iowa City, they settled on “Hunchback of Notre Dame,” along with the condition that they could play the show in Ainsworth as well.

Charles said he especially looked forward to the meal, which will accompany the show, adding that he preferred the audience connection that came with Ainsworth’s venue.

“What I remember, when I came as an audience member to Ainsworth Opera House to see one show organized by Mike Zahs, is that it was not a show where you just anonymously enter the concert hall, watch it, go, and leave,” he said. “It was a community event where we could chat with the musicians afterward, and ask questions (and) have a meal, because after all, we are French … and in France, the meal is a very important part.”

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The seven-piece ensemble includes Charles on clarinet, Sidoroff on trumpet, and an unusual combination of musicians including jazz players, a rock guitarist and a sētar soloist, among others.

Charles and Sidoroff sat down - in France - to start planning the production in June, wrote and rewrote it over the next several months, and spent two days, two nights and a dress rehearsal earlier this week in long practices with the group as they workshopped the accompaniment. Both said their method was one of constant revisions.

“When you compose the film, you have some ideas,” Sidoroff said. “Some are very good, some go in the trash, perhaps … you record it on a portable recorder, or you write something. You see the film, you have ideas, it’s like a circle.”

The eventual result is a series of themes and motifs, which blend together

“It’s about the drama, it’s about the storytelling,” Charles said. “There’s really film analysis first. We analyze the movie, we learned a lot about how the movie is constructed.”

The live soundtrack functions not just to help set the tone of a scene or its characters. Washington County Film Historian and de facto Opera House spokesperson Michael Zahs said it offered key enhancements to the medium without spoken words.

"With a silent film, the music is the speaking,“ he said. ”You identify the silent actors with the music, which we don’t have to do as much now.“

All involved said they were excited about the work chosen for the event. “The Hunchback of Notre Dame” was among the highest-budget silent films ever produced, according to the Ainsworth Opera House, with a final budget of $1,250,000.

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That would be worth around $22 million today, accounting for inflation: higher than the budget of more modern flicks like “The Shining” (1980,) “Legally Blonde” (2001) or Academy Award-winner “Moonlight” (2016.)

Sidoroff said star Lon Channey was a drama legend of the day, making a work on his performance especially prestigious. The other option, pitched by FilmScene, was another 1923 film called “Safety Last.”

Sidoroff said that show was entertaining as well, but had been done before. “Hunchback of Notre Dame,” meanwhile, played with a live symphony at its opening night in New York, and seldom saw live accompaniment again thereafter.

“It is very well-known, a lot of music already exists for (“Safety Last,“) and Hunchback of Notre Dame is rather forgotten, in the history of film,” he said. “But it is important, so we find it more interesting for us, and the audience, to discover. It is more unique.”

Tickets to see “The Hunchback of Notre Dame” at the Ainsworth Opera House Nov. 14 are $25. The performance will follow a meal of ‘20s comfort food, prepared by Zahs, which starts at 6 p.m. Those interested should call 319-653-6250 or email mdzahs@gmail.com within the week.

Comments: Kalen.McCain@southeastiowaunion.com