Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1941)

Director:

Victor Fleming

Writers:

Robert Louis Stevenson (novel)
John Lee Mahin (writer)

Release Date:

September 1941 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Horror | Sci-Fi

Tagline:

A Good Woman! A Bad Woman - who needed the love of both!

Plot:

Dr. Jekyll allows his dark side to run wild when he drinks a potion that turns him into the evil Mr. Hyde.

Plot Keywords:

Evil | Experiment | Potion | Emotional Abuse | Transmutation

Awards:

Nominated for 3 Oscars.

Cast

Spencer Tracy	...	Dr. Henry Jekyll / Mr. Hyde
Ingrid Bergman	...	Ivy Peterson
Lana Turner	...	Beatrix Emery
Donald Crisp	...	Sir Charles Emery
Ian Hunter	...	Dr. John Lanyon
Barton MacLane	...	Sam Higgins
C. Aubrey Smith	...	Bishop Manners
Peter Godfrey	...	Poole, Jekyll's Butler
Sara Allgood	...	Mrs. Higgins
Frederick Worlock	...	Dr. Heath (as Frederic Worlock)
William Tannen	...	Intern Fenwick
Frances Robinson	...	Marcia
Denis Green	...	Freddie
Billy Bevan	...	Mr. Weller
Forrester Harvey	...	Old Prouty

Runtime:

113 min | Germany:90 min | Germany:108 min (VHS version)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Sound System)

Certification:

Australia:PG | Finland:K-16 | Sweden:15 | USA:Approved (PCA #7341)

Filming Locations:

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios - 10202 W. Washington Blvd., Culver City, California, USA

Company:

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)

Trivia:

One night Spencer Tracy turned up at Clark Gable and Carole Lombard's second wedding anniversary party wearing his make up as Mr Hyde.

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: Spencer Tracy's stunt double is very obvious at various times in the movie.

Quotes:

Dr. Henry Jekyll: [as Hyde] When you went to see the good doctor, before you left you said... I almost thought, well what did you think? Maybe that you saw a little bit of ME, Hyde in him?

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "The Doris Day Show: Peeping Tom (#5.5)" (1972)

Soundtrack:

See Me Dance the Polka

Excellent Version of Classic Tale

Let's start with the deficiencies: cheap makeup and special effects, marginal sets and costumes. And perhaps my bias against Spencer Tracy.

I've never liked Tracy as an actor, although I'll be the first to acknowledge his best work. He has always struck me as paternal, smug, self-righteous and ponderous -- although that may be because he was type cast.

IMHO this is his best film, because it shows not only his typical character (Dr. Jekyll) but that character's doppelganger (Mr. Hyde). ~I've always wanted to use that word in a review~ Tracy is not afraid of playing a very sinister, menacing character. (I wish more directors would have given him that chance). He plays Hyde as a jet-propelled, leering, vicious fiend -- and is convincing. When he is Hyde, he looks like a very horny James Whitmore -- on speed. He is very unsettling. Perhaps Tracy should have done more horror movies.

What makes the film is simply the powerful and touching performances of Tracy and Bergman. Bergman simply glows with life. Although the Freudian implications are not explored in depth here, this version is absorbing and sometimes mesmerizing.