Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1931 film)
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| Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde | |
|---|---|
 Theatrical Poster |
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| Directed by | Rouben Mamoulian |
| Produced by | Rouben Mamoulian |
| Written by | Robert Louis Stevenson (novel) Samuel Hoffenstein Percy Heath |
| Starring | Fredric March Miriam Hopkins Rose Hobart |
| Music by | Herman Hand |
| Cinematography | Karl Struss |
| Editing by | William Shea |
| Distributed by | Paramount Pictures |
| Release date(s) | December 31, 1931 |
| Running time | 98 minutes |
| Country |  United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $1,140,000 |
| Allmovie profile | |
| IMDb profile | |
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is a 1931 horror film directed by Rouben Mamoulian.[1]
The picture is an adaptation of the Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, the Robert Louis Stevenson novel of a man who takes a potion which turns him from a mild-mannered man of science into a crude homicidal maniac.
Unlike most sound features produced by Paramount Pictures prior to 1950, this film is not owned by Universal Studios. Rather, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer bought the rights when they did their own film adaptation of the story. The film passed on to Turner Entertainment after Ted Turner's short-lived acquisition of MGM, and then to Warner Bros. when Time Warner bought out Turner. Since then, Warner Home Video has released this film on DVD as a double feature with the 1941 version.
It is also said that the movie had inspired the 1970s song "You Can Run" by A Flock of Seagulls.
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[edit] Plot
The film tells of Dr. Jekyll (Fredric March), a kind doctor who experiments with drugs because he's certain that within each man lurks impulses for both good and evil.
Dr. Jekyll develops a drug to release the evil side in himself, becoming the hard drinking, woman-chasing Mr. Hyde. Jekyll quickly becomes addicted to the formula, and unable to control the violent and unstable Mr. Hyde.
[edit] Background
The film, made prior to the full enforcement of the Hays code, is remembered today for its strong sexual content, embodied mostly in the character of the prostitute, Ivy, played by Miriam Hopkins.
The secret of the astonishing transformation scenes was not revealed until decades later (Mamoulian himself revealed it in a volume of interviews with Hollywood directors published under the title The Celluloid Muse).
A series of rotating filters matching the make-up was used on the lenses, enabling the make-up to be gradually exposed or made invisible, depending upon the scene.
Wally Westmore's make-up for Hyde, simian and hairy with tusks influenced greatly the popular image of Hyde in media and comic books; in part this reflected the novella's implication of Hyde as embodying repressed evil and hence being semi-evolved or simian in appearance. The American Classics Illustrated edition of Jekyll and Hyde clearly based its design of Hyde on the Fredric March movie, although it is more toned down.
When MGM remade the film 10 years later with Spencer Tracy in the lead, the studio destroyed every print of the Mamoulian movie that it could find and most of the film was believed lost for decades. Ironically, the later version was much less well received and March jokingly sent Tracy a telegram thanking him for the greatest boost to his reputation of his entire career.
[edit] Cast
- Fredric March as Dr. Henry Jekyll / Mr. Edward Hyde
- Miriam Hopkins as Ivy Pearson
- Rose Hobart as Muriel Carew
- Holmes Herbert as Dr. Lanyon
- Halliwell Hobbes as Brig. Gen. Danvers Carew
- Edgar Norton as Poole, Jekyll's butler
- Tempe Pigott as Mrs. Hawkins, Ivy's landlady
[edit] Awards
Wins
- Academy Awards: Oscar; Best Actor in a Leading Role, Fredric March; tied with Wallace Beery for The Champ; 1932.
- Venice Film Festival: Audience Referendum; Most Favorite Actor, Fredric March; Most Original Fantasy Story, Rouben Mamoulian; 1932.
Nominations
- Academy Awards: Oscar; Best Cinematography, Karl Struss; Best Adaptation Writing, Percy Heath and Samuel Hoffenstein; 1932.
