" But he only angel available is Clarence Oddbody (Henry Travers), Angel Second Class, a sweet but inept apprentice angel who hasn""t yet earned his wings.As Laurie delivered an envelope to the old Myers"" house, being sold by her father and Strode Realty, Tommy warned: "That""s the devil""s house.The somber film""s screenplay (by Robert E.Sherwood and Joan Harrison) was based on a literal ranslation of Daphne du Maurier""s 1938 gothic novel of the same name, in the tradition of Charlotte Bronte""sJane Eyre.).]Charles Laughton, in arguably his best acting performance of his career, was almost unrecognizable as the disfigured and mis-shapen, but sympathetic title character Quasimodo.It is an unsubtle spoof or parody of all the cliches from he time-honored genre of westerns, similar to the comic attitude of numerous Marx Brothers films.