Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde Double Feature (1932/1941)
by Friz Freleng, Rouben Mamoulian, Victor Fleming
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DVD Cover Information
Actor: Fredric March, Ingrid Bergman, Mel Blanc, Miriam Hopkins, Spencer TracyDirector: Friz Freleng, Rouben Mamoulian, Victor Fleming
Brand: MARCH,FREDERIC
Writer: John Lee Mahin
Writer: Percy Heath
Writer: Robert Louis Stevenson
Writer: Samuel Hoffenstein
Writer: Warren Foster
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown), Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono; English (Subtitled); Spanish (Subtitled); French (Subtitled); English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono
Format: Color, DVD, NTSC, Subtitled
Picture Format: 1.33:1
Running Time: 209 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2004-01-06
Audience Rating: Unrated
Studio: Warner Home Video
Product features:
- Condition: New
- Format: DVD
- Color; DVD; Subtitled; NTSC
Movie Reviews of Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde Double Feature (1932/1941)
Movie Review: Classic Thriller (1932 version)
Summary: 5 Stars
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
Paramount Pictures, released December 31, 1931 (which is why it is sometimes referred to as being 1932)
Directed by Rouben Mamoulian
Produced by Rouben Mamoulian
Written by Samuel Hoffenstein and Percy Heath, based on the novella by Robert Louis Stevenson
Cast:
Dr. Henry Jekyll/Mr. Edward Hyde - Fredric March
Ivy Pearson - Miriam Hopkins
Muriel Carew - Rose Hobart
Dr. Lanyon - Holmes Herbert
Den. Danvers Carew - Halliwell Hobbes
Poole (the butler) - Edgar Norton
Mrs. Hawkins (Ivy's landlady) - Tempe Pigott
It's no secret - I love the old "monster" movies. The older, the better. I've loved `em since I was a kid. When I was growing up, I couldn't wait for the old (even then) movies with Bela Lugosi and Boris Karloff to be on the 4 o'clock movie, and I read magazines like Famous Monsters of Filmland. Even though I couldn't see the old silent classics (this was back in the stone age - before VHS and DVD), I knew all about Lon Chaney in films like London After Midnight and, yes, The Phantom of the Opera. Although these days, I've seen nearly all those I would consider classics, and even own a copy of most of them, I had never seen Frederic March's 1931 version of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. I've long been aware of this version and that March is, even now, the only actor to have won an Academy Award for Best Performance - for a role in a horror movie.
Imagine my pleasure when I found this double feature DVD and at such a reasonable price - both the 1931 (Frederic March) and the 1941 (Spencer Tracy) versions of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.
At that low of a price, I was expecting a poorer quality transfer of movie to disc, but this turned out not to be the case. In fact, this turns out to be a restored version of the movie, with about 14 minutes of cut scenes having been put back. The rest of the missing scenes are apparently lost for good; most involved censorship issues, as this movie was made when the infamous Production Code was taking hold of Hollywood.
The basic plot of this film, for those of you who have never seen any of the film versions, or read the book, tells the story of Dr. Jekyll (pronounced in this movie the correct way - JEE-kel - with a long e, rather than the more commonly heard jeck-ell), a kindly doctor who experiments with drugs in the hopes of isolating those impulses of good and evil, inherent in each man. The drug he develops releases his animal, evil side - Mr. Hyde - who becomes a hard drinking, woman chaser...and murderer. Jekyll becomes addicted to the drug, and is no longer able to control the violent and unstable Mr. Hyde.
Even though this movie was made only a short time after Tod Browning's Dracula and James Whale's Frankenstein - both considered classics, and rightly so - it is, in terms of performances and cinematography, head and shoulders above those two. Whereas the camera is almost completely static in the first two, as if rooted in cement, there is much fluidity of movement in J&H. This is seen from the start.
When the movie opens, we are Dr. Jekyll. The director, Rouben Mamoulian, made use of a "subjective camera" - a shot that simulates what the character is seeing - and for the first couple of minutes, we are Dr. J as he prepares to head out the door to give a lecture at the local hospital. And although no doubt mild by some of today's standards, there is a lot of sensuality in this movie - from the statuary and background artwork, to the "provocative" shots of bosoms and bare legs in scene where Ivy (Miriam Hopkins) tries to seduce Dr. J (Frederic March).
Unlike the most common interpretation taken when it comes to this story, Mamoulian did not see it as a story of good vs. evil, but rather of the conflict between the spiritual and the animal that exists in all of us. He did this through use of light and shadow, and by playing up the Jekyll's noble, humanitarian nature, at times making him almost Christ-like. Later, when Hyde makes his appearance, March plays him (and the make up emphasizes this) initially like wild, rambunctious hellion - not so much evil, and running wild - but over time, his behavior becomes more bestial, and this is shown in Walter Westmore's (of the famous Westmores of Hollywood ) make-up. Instead of monstrous, Hyde is shown as being almost simian.
From the commentary that comes with the movie: "As a prototype for Hyde, he [Mamoulian] didn't take a monster, but our common ancestor - the Neanderthal Man. Mr. Hyde's not a monster, but a primeval man, closest to the earth, he said. When the transformation first takes place, Hyde is not the evil, but the animal in Jekyll." Mamoulian saw Hyde as a young animal, released from the stifling manners of Victorian society. Initially, Hyde is "a young animal, released from the stifling manners of the Victorian period." In fact, Mamoulian wanted Hyde to initially be humorous and "full of vim" and shows this in such hi-jinks as showing him in a dance hall, copping a "cheap feel" of the exposed back of a woman as he walks past her, or tripping the waiter who was expecting a tip. Eventually, however, he progresses from the lack of inhibitions to become a hellish, woman-beating monster.
I was struck by the relationship between Hyde and Ivy, the dance hall girl. It is a hideous love/hate relationship, and exploits the bond that exists between an abuser and his abused.
"Forgive me," Hyde sneers at Ivy. "I hurt you because I love you. I want you. What I want, I get. Under this exterior, you'll find a very flower of man."
As much as I was impressed by March's portrayal of Jekyll/Hyde, I was equally if not more struck by Miriam Hopkins' portrayal of Ivy. The intensity of her performance in scenes with Hyde, when she is being terrorized (and eventually murdered) are amazing; while I knew all along that I was watching a movie, it was easy to believe that her emotions were genuine.
Also on this disc is the 1941 version which starred Spencer Tracy, and I learned why the earlier March version was all but non-existent for so many years. When MGM bought the rights to this story from Paramount (which made the '32 version), they also took all copies of the earlier version and locked them away. They didn't want it competing in any way with their newer, more lush production.
Summary of Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde Double Feature (1932/1941)
Classic Hollywood versions of the story about a doctor who transforms into a murderer.Genre: Feature Film-Drama
Rating: NR
Release Date: 7-JUN-2005
Media Type: DVD
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1931)
Fredric March won an Oscar® for playing the protagonist (and antagonist) of Robert Louis Stevenson's story. Dr. Henry Jekyll is an honorable man of science, albeit frustrated at the enforced celibacy of a delayed wedding date. Hyde is the fearsome creature he turns into after drinking a potion, and Hyde's appetites (mostly expressed with Miriam Hopkins's Cockney dance-hall wench) are decidedly unrestrained. March's performance is pretty theatrical, but it's fun to watch; his Hyde twitches and squawks and lopes around like an ape in a tuxedo. Rouben Mamoulian's direction has plenty of the brio of early-thirties Hollywood, and the transformations from Jekyll to Hyde are ingenious for the time. This film followed Dracula and Frankenstein into theaters by a few months, and it stands well with those horror classics--and it's a darn sight more fun (and much more down and dirty) than the 1941 MGM version of Stevenson's tale. --Robert Horton
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1941)
Classy MGM was not the studio most likely to make a horror movie in 1941, and in fact its production of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde ended up looking more like a glossy costume drama than a B-movie frightfest. The mood of Robert Louis Stevenson's tale of a divided doctor is ably captured in Joseph Ruttenberg's Oscar-nominated cinematography--more so, perhaps, than in Spencer Tracy's lead performance. Tracy wasn't especially happy about playing the role, although his transformations from good Dr. Jekyll to evil Dr. Hyde are convincing enough. One of the main reasons to see this version of the story is the young, impossibly beautiful Ingrid Bergman, then still a year shy of Casablanca. Bergman was cast in the good-girl part, but proved a shrewd judge of material, even this early in her Hollywood career; she finagled her way into playing the floozy instead, thus securing a more colorful acting platform than Lana Turner, who ended up in the more respectable role. Director Victor Fleming's previous movie was a little number called Gone with the Wind, and the Big Picture approach to that project may have influenced his work here--this Dr. Jekyll is just a bit too stately, too polished to really engage. The picture is so dignified it never cuts loose with the kind of wild invention that marked the 1932 version of the story, which won Fredric March an Oscar. It's the tale as imagined by Jekyll, rather than Hyde. --Robert Horton
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