ALL SCI-FI

[Bud Brewster]

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

[Pow]

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 no where'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.

[Bud Brewster]

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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?
~ The Space Children (1958)

[John Thiel]

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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How do you do, folks? I sure am glad to see y'alls.

[Bud Brewster]

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

[Pow]

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?"

[Bud Brewster]

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Maybe he was just being Spencer Tracy in a REALLY bad mood!
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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

[Pow]

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.

[Jack Deth]

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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No Matter Where You Go.
There You Are.

[Gord Green]

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!) .

[scotpens]

[Gord Green]

You know, I never thought about it, but Jerry Lewis's THE NUTTY PROFFESSER was just an updated J&H story!

[Bud Brewster]

[The Spike]

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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The quality of mercy is not strnen.

[Phantom]

Tracy did not want to do this picture.

His most difficult characters were usually those outside his comfort zone, the all purpose American male. Pilon in Tortilla Flat and Manuel in Captains Courageous were great gambles for the apprehensive actor, even though he won an Oscar for the latter film.

Now he was being asked to portray an Englishman with a severe duel personality.

Tracy was a periodic alcoholic, alternately charming and brutal, according to sources. His idea was to play the Jekyll/Hyde split in pretty much the same way, using personal experience as a guide. He was dismayed when MGM purchased the Paramount script performed by Fredric March and basically shot a scene for scene remake.

He was savaged by the critics and he later proclaimed it to be the least favorite of his many films.

I saw the movie during a 1956 revival, intrigued by the trailer and not knowing anything about the plot. Got to admit, it scared the sno-caps out of me, and I loved every second of it.

Most of the sexual content washed over me (I was nine years old), but I never forgot Jekyll's initial transformation, his turning into Hyde in the park and that moment near the end when Lana Turner looks up expecting to see Jekyll only to find the leering face of Hyde.

The 1931 version finally became widely available in the 1970's and quickly became my favorite version, but I've always had a soft spot in my heart for the Tracy remake and the terrors I felt in that cavernous old theatre all those years ago.