Michael Tuchner

British director Michael Tuchner's first two films, Villain (1971) and Fear is the Key (1972), dealt (none too successfully) with the evil side of life; he changed direction (and quality of production) with Mr. Quilp (1975), a musical version of The Old Curiosity Shop (Dickens' most sentimental novel) and the TV movie Summer of My German Soldier (1979), about a Jewish girl in love with a Nazi P.O.W. in the American South, complete with a sympathetic black housekeeper. Among Tuchner's other credits include the film of Brooke Hayward's memoir of her family (Haywire [1980]), and a respectable version of The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1981), featuring Anthony Hopkins as Quasimodo.

~ All Movie Guide