Current Volume 9
Abstract
In silent films, makeup was a primary tool for conveying emotions. Heavy, distinct makeup allowed actors to create clear, memorable characters; it was the key element of visual storytelling, helping to define a character’s personality and role within the narrative for the audience. This paper talks about the use of makeup as prosthetics in the 1923 silent film, Hunchback of Notre Dame, directed by Wallace Worsley and produced by Carl Laemmle and Irving Thalberg, and the 1925 film The Phantom of the Opera, directed by Rupert Julian, with supplemental direction from Edward Sedgwick. In both of these silent films, actor Lon Chaney developed a famously painful and grotesque self-applied makeup to transform into the character of disabled Quasimodo in The Hunchback of Notre Dame and Erik in The Phantom of the Opera.
Keywords
Makeup, Prosthetics, Disability, Silent Films, Visual Storytelling.
Citations
IRE Journals:
Twinkle Dalal "Bodies Without Words: Prosthetic performance in Silent Film" Iconic Research And Engineering Journals Volume 9 Issue 10 2026 Page 4078-4083 https://doi.org/10.64388/IREV9I10-1717101
IEEE:
Twinkle Dalal
"Bodies Without Words: Prosthetic performance in Silent Film" Iconic Research And Engineering Journals, 9(10) https://doi.org/10.64388/IREV9I10-1717101
About IRE Journals
IRE Journals is an open access online journals established with an aim to publish high quality of research work in various diciplines. We have more than 6 years in publications. Over 2500+ papers already published.
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