[1] In this version, the character of Gwynplaine is renamed Angelo (played by Jean Sorel).

His disfigurement is represented as a single broad slash across his mouth, crude yet convincing.

The story (which is attributed, in the movie credits, to the director, producer and others involved in making the film, but not to Victor Hugo) has the disfigured acrobat being seduced by a noblewoman and in so doing becomes a henchman for the Borgias.

Meanwhile, Dea miraculously acquires her eyesight and falls in love with a young nobleman.

In the final scene the escaping Angelo staggers into a Leper Colony and falls dead.