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Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1941)
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Bud Brewster
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PostPosted: Sun Apr 19, 2015 5:28 pm    Post subject: Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1941) Reply with quote

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Spencer Tracy lends his considerable talents to this slick version of the Robert Louis Stevenson classic, though some reviewers consider it less powerful than the Frederick March version filmed in 1932.

Tracy works hard to portray the gleefully wicked nature of the sadistic alter ego which emerges from the good doctor. The makeup used to turn Tracy into Mr. Hyde is more subtle in this version than in most others. Ingrid Bergman is unbelievably sexy as the barmaid who falls victim to the evil Mr. Hyde.

Lana Turner is gorgeous as the fiance' of the respectable Dr. Jekyll, but she contributes little to the plot. The cast also includes Donald Crisp and C. Aubrey Smith. Music by Franz Waxman. Skillfully directed by Victor Fleming ("Gone With the Wind").

Although cinema purists may disagree, the colorized version adds impact to the bizarre hallucination scene during Jekyll's transformation into Hyde.

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Last edited by Bud Brewster on Sat Oct 01, 2022 11:45 am; edited 6 times in total
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Pow
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PostPosted: Mon Apr 20, 2015 11:29 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Not a huge fan of this version of DJ&MH.

The production values are superb. They capture the fog shrouded, lit by gas lamps streets of London beautifully.

Yeah, subtler makeup but nowhere's as powerful as March's stunning look as Mr. Hyde in the earlier version that I prefer.

Many felt Tracy phoned in his performance & was not excited to do the movie in the first place.

I'm a big fan of Spencer Tracy but he seems remote, aloof as Dr. Jekyll.
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Bud Brewster
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PostPosted: Wed Jun 01, 2016 4:44 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

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What THIS thread needs is a trailer!

So, here ya go, folks! And this is a good one, too It'll get you in the mood for this movie.


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_________ Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Hyde (1941) - Trailer


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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
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John Thiel
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PostPosted: Tue Mar 21, 2017 1:12 pm    Post subject: The Story Line Reminds Me of Phychedelics Reply with quote

I have seen a similarity in Dr. Jekyll's experimentation to the psychedelic culture of the mid-50s that experimented with the effects of LSD on the mind and personality. Their research was optimistic. Jekyll's not so. But the "LSD Culture" spoke much of releasing the powers of the subconscious mind. Was there an earlier impulse in this direction?

Spencer Tracy indeed had considerable talents; I saw him in this film and BAD DAY AT BLACK ROCK and consider him very versatile.

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Bud Brewster
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PostPosted: Tue Mar 21, 2017 2:11 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

________________________________

That's a very interesting comparison, John! I'd never thought of Jekyll's experiments in that manner.

And you are so right about Bad Day at Black Rock. Tracy was terrific in that one, as usual.

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Pow
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PostPosted: Mon Apr 03, 2017 11:39 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Author W.Somerset Maugham visited the set when the movie was being made.

After watching a few minutes of Tracy's performance he said "Which one is he now, Jekyll or Hyde?"
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Bud Brewster
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PostPosted: Mon Apr 03, 2017 12:01 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

________________________________

Maybe he was just being Spencer Tracy in a REALLY bad mood! Shocked

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Pow
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PostPosted: Mon Apr 03, 2017 2:35 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Tracy is one of my all time fav actors.

Watched & read bios on him. He was a complex & unhappy individual who was alcoholic.

So yeah, he had bad days, very bad ones.
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Jack Deth
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PostPosted: Tue Apr 11, 2017 6:42 am    Post subject: Doctor Jekyll And Mr. Hyde: Reply with quote

Tracy underplayed magnificently.

Also like the quick glimpse of Domination and Submission with two bridled women pulling Jekyll's chariot in an under the serum's influence dream sequence.
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Gord Green
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PostPosted: Wed Apr 12, 2017 3:31 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

The Jekyll and Hyde thing works best when it is done without a makeup dominant trans formation.

The musical edition is also very well done (By no other but David Hasselhof!) .
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scotpens
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PostPosted: Wed Apr 12, 2017 4:51 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Gord Green wrote:
The Jekyll and Hyde thing works best when it is done without a makeup dominant transformation.

In Hammer's The Two Faces of Dr. Jekyll (1960), Jekyll is a shy, bookish, bearded fellow who becomes a handsome, clean-shaven charmer when he transforms into Hyde. That actually makes more sense than having Jekyll's alter ego resemble some kind of subhuman creature.

I mean, realistically, could this guy move easily among the taverns and brothels of the seedier parts of London? Even gamblers, drunkards and prostitutes have their standards!


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Gord Green
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PostPosted: Wed Apr 12, 2017 5:34 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

You know, I never thought about it, but Jerry Lewis's THE NUTTY PROFFESSER was just an updated J&H story!
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Bud Brewster
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PostPosted: Wed Apr 12, 2017 7:10 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

________________________________

I'm not crazy about The Nutty Professor, but I've had a crush Jerry's costar since 1959 when she was in Lil' Abner as the mistress of General Bullmoose, with the provocative name . . . Apassionada Von Climax!





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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)


Last edited by Bud Brewster on Thu Mar 22, 2018 9:05 am; edited 2 times in total
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Bud Brewster
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PostPosted: Sat Aug 26, 2017 5:15 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Pow wrote:
I'm a big fan of Spencer Tracy but he seems remote, aloof as Dr. Jekyll.

I have to admit, I got the same impression the one and only time I saw this one, back in the 1990s.
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~ The Space Children (1958)
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The Spike
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PostPosted: Wed Mar 04, 2020 7:16 pm    Post subject: The World is yours, my darling, but the moment is mine! Reply with quote

Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is directed by Victor Fleming and collectively adapted from the Robert Louis Stevenson story by John Lee Mahin, Percy Heath and Samuel Hoffenstein. It stars Spencer Tracy, Ingrid Bergman and Lana Turner. Music is by Franz Waxman and cinematography by Joseph Ruttenberg.

A remake of the 1931 Rouben Mamoulian/Fredric March version, this follows the same course of action that sees Tracy as the dual title characters. After having developed a potion that will ultimately bring out his evil half - it proves to not be good for anybody really!

It's the story itself, along with the awesome period setting of a foggy lamplighted Victorian England that stops this from sinking below average - though it does come close in the middle section. It's just an odd fit, from the daft casting of Tracy and Bergman in the key roles, to the Hollywood Hayes Office compliant smoothness of the material, it becomes almost impossible to take seriously. Then there is a run time of nearly two hours, most of which is to bump up Bergman's screen time, which while acknowledging her greatness as an actress, it's just wrong across the board for her here. While alongside her Turner is sadly under written and Tracy's take on Hyde lacks vim and vigour.

Since a certain Mr. Freud had become in vogue there's some interesting dream imagery and dissolves sequences, most of which are bursting with sexual subtext. These moments are superb, but they do not form the backbone of our troubled protagonists, it's a complete missed opportunity that renders the film as safe and glossy. This is an attempt at horror but without the horror, either visually, thematically or literary, a ripened banana skin of a pic with action missing in action. Yet it is not a desperately bad film, the film making craft on show is top dollar, notably when Ruttenberg is on duty, and it's a little sensual - though this is kind of tempered by the thought of domestic abuse as a constant threat in our real world.

The 41 version has fans, I'm just not one of them and readily prefer the monstrously potent 31 version. If you haven't seen it then it's definitely worth a look, but much of the criticism it has received over the years is in my book very much warranted. 5/10
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