The third lost Hunchback films was first the American adaptation from 1917 called The Darling of Paris. It was directed J. Gordon Edwards and was made at Fox Studios in New Jersey. It starred one of the most popular actresses of the Silent era, Theda Bara. Bara was one of cinema’s earliest sex symbols and a femme fatale and was nicknamed the Vamp.
Theda Bara as Esmeralda
Considering Bara’s reputation she probably played a sexier Esmeralda. The film is supposedly loosely based on novel. The cast of characters has Paquette and Gringoire so Esmeralda’s backstory and relationship with Gringoire could have been let intact. Very little in known about this movie. It wasn’t one Bara’s seminal movies, Like A Fool There Was
Fun fact – this movie predates the Jetlag version by having Esmeralda fall in love with and marry Quasimodo at the end!