The screening will be accompanied live by master silent-film musician Jeff Rapsis, a New Hampshire-based composer and performer who presents silent-film programs throughout New England and across the country. Rather than relying on a prerecorded soundtrack or written score, Rapsis improvises the music in real time, responding to the action and emotion unfolding on the screen. His keyboard can summon the sound and dramatic range of an entire orchestra, bringing suspense, romance, humor and excitement to each scene. Rapsis performs more than 100 silent-film programs in a typical year, preserving the communal theatrical experience for which these films were originally created.

Lon Chaney gives one of silent cinema’s most unforgettable performances in The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Universal Pictures’ lavish 1923 adaptation of Victor Hugo’s classic novel. Set amid the teeming streets and towering cathedral of 15th-century Paris, the film follows Quasimodo, the deaf and physically deformed bell-ringer of Notre Dame, whose life is transformed by his compassion for the beautiful Esmeralda. When she is falsely accused and condemned to death, Quasimodo defies an angry mob to offer her sanctuary within the cathedral.

Directed by Wallace Worsley, the film was one of the largest and most ambitious Hollywood productions of its era, featuring enormous recreations of medieval Paris and spectacular crowd scenes. Yet its enduring power rests with Chaney, whose extraordinary makeup, physical performance and deeply sympathetic portrayal helped establish him as “The Man of a Thousand Faces.” The Hunchback of Notre Dame became one of the defining successes of Chaney’s career and helped lay the foundation for Universal’s celebrated cycle of classic horror films.

Not rated.