HYDE AND SEEK

By Greg Lamberson

We tend to think of "classic monsters" as Universal Studios' pantheon of creatures from the 1930s and '40s: Dracula, Frankenstein's Monster, the Wolf Man, the Invisible Man, and the Mummy. Then there's the second tier, consisting of the Phantom of the Opera, the Hunchback of Notre Dame, and Dorian Gray. Somewhere between these two groups exist two of the greatest characters in literature and cinema: the saintly Dr. Henry Jekyll, and his notorious alter ego, Mr. Edward Hyde.

Robert Louis Stevenson's acclaimed novel, The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, dealing with the struggle between good and evil in one man, was first published in 1886. Between 1908 and 1920, five different silent films adapted the classic, including one by director F.W. Murnau, who directed NOSFERATU: A SYMPHONY OF TERROR (1922), the unofficial first adaptation of Bram Stoker's Dracula. In 1920, the first version of DR. JEKYLL AND MR. HYDE of note starred legendary actor John Barrymore. In 1951, Louis Hayward played THE SON OF DR. JEKYLL. In 1960, Paul Massie essayed the classic dual roles in a version directed by the great Terrence Fisher (HORROR OF DRACULA). In 1971, Christopher Lee portrayed Dr. Marlowe and Mr. Blake in Amicus Productions' I, MONSTER, and Ralph Bates transformed into Martine Beswick in Hammer Studios' gender bender, DR. JEKYLL AND SISTER HYDE. In 1989, cocaine abuse transformed Anthony Perkins's Dr. Jekyll into his rampaging Mr. Hyde. And in 1996, Julia Roberts starred as MARY REILLY, which told the story from the point of view of Jekyll's love struck housemaid.

Dr. Jekyll also fared well on television. In 1968, Jack Palance starred in THE STRANGE CASE OF DR. JEKYLL AND MR. HYDE, produced by Dan Curtis (DARK SHADOWS and THE NIGHT STALKER). This low budget, shot-on-video production was the most faithful version, and Palance was fantastic. In 1973, Kirk Douglas and Donald Pleasance starred in a musical version that predated Broadway's Jekyll & Hyde (which provided has-been TV actors like MELROSE PLACE's Jack Wagner and BAYWATCH's David Hasselhoff with employment). In 1990, Michael Caine played JEKYLL & HYDE. And who can forget the classic episode of GILLIGAN'S ISLAND in which Bob Denver transformed into Mr. H?

Comedy has enjoyed several guffaws at the expense of Jekyll's identity crisis. Boris Karloff wore a top hat in ABBOTT AND COSTELLO MEET DR. JEKYLL AND MR. HYDE (1953). 1982 saw JEKYLL & HYDE...TOGETHER AGAIN. Timothy Daly became Sean Young in the second gender switch on the theme, DR. JEKYLL AND MS. HYDE (1995). The doctor and his mister also appeared Rankin and Bass's animated monster mashes, MAD MONSTER PARTY (1967) and MAD, MAD, MAD MONSTERS (1972). Stevenson's creations also inspired Jerry Lewis and Eddie Murphy in THE NUTTY PROFESSOR (1963 and 1996), and Dan Akroyd in DOCTOR DETROIT.

But the two most celebrated versions were produced by Paramount Pictures in 1932, one year after Bela Lugosi and Karloff turned DRACULA and FRANKENSTEIN into film icons, and by MGM in1941, two years after Universal ended its Golden Age with SON OF FRANKENSTEIN, Karloff's final appearance as the monster. Warner Brothers Home Video has just released both versions as a DVD double feature under a single title: DR. JEKYLL AND MR. HYDE.

James Whale's superb BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN (1935) is regarded as the greatest horror film of its time, but 1932's DR. JEKYLL AND MR. HYDE, directed by Rouben Mamoulian, is a masterpiece in its own right, and ranks a close second. This is the definitive screen adaptation of Stevenson's story, and it is hard to imagine that it will ever be topped. Frederic March justifiably won a Best Actor Oscar for his portrayals of Jekyll and Hyde. To place this achievement in context, try to count the number of actors and actresses who have won Oscars for their work in horror films. Now eliminate those who won for work in non-supernatural thrillers, like Jodi Foster and Anthony Hopkins for SILENCE OF THE LAMBS, and March is the sole victor. March (who later starred in William Wellman's A STAR IS BORN and William Wyler's THE BEST YEARS OF OUR LIVES), makes Jekyll—at first adventurous, and later tormented—every bit as interesting as Hyde, which no other actor has pulled off.

The screenplay, by Samuel Hoffenstein and Percy Heath, beautifully adapts and expands the themes of Stevenson's novel (all but the Palance version introduce a sophisticated love interest for Jekyll to contrast Hyde's prostitute) in a parable on the destructive power of drug addiction. Jekyll is a noble doctor, devoted to helping the destitute, much to the consternation of his future father in law. He lives in a huge house with its own laboratory, and has a faithful manservant. He defies the conventions and mores of the Victorian era, allowing Ivy (Miriam Hopkins in a stellar turn), the prostitute whom he aids after a customer beats her, to kiss him as payment (although he resists her more blatant overtures). Determined to separate man's two halves—one good and the other evil—he drinks a potion that unleashes his id, the hideous Mr. Hyde. Following Jekyll's subconscious desires, Hyde takes up with Ivy and terrorizes her. When his experiment begins to destroy his personal life, and sees the emotional and physical pain that Hyde has inflicted on Ivy, Jekyll abstains from taking his potion again. Unfortunately for him, the transformation is also brought on by extreme emotion (a concept borrowed by Stan Lee for The Incredible Hulk comic book), which leads to murder and tragedy.

Mamoulian brings a sense of artistry to this film that simply no longer exists. The film opens with an extended sequence from Jekyll's point of view as he plays an organ, chats with his manservant, boards a carriage, travels to a university, and addresses a room full of his colleagues. Only when he looks at his reflection in a mirror do we see what he looks like (a technique used liberally on the 1980's TV series QUANTUM LEAP). Today, a filmmaker like Brian DiPalma would use a Steadicam to achieve this sequence in a single shot. Mamoulian did not have that option, and linked numerous shots with clever edits. Mamoulian's is one of the most subjective horror films ever made: throughout the story, characters speak directly to the camera, putting us in Jekyll's shoes and seeing through his eyes, which might seem jarring if the director had not established the technique from the beginning. He also employed wide angles of the elaborate sets, and used cutaways of statues much as Stanley Kubrick did 40 years later in A CLOCKWORK ORANGE (1971). If Whale's BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN is stylish, Mamoulian's DR. JEKYLL AND MR. HYDE is stylized.

Wally Westmore's increasingly hideous Hyde makeup equals anything done by Jack Pierce over at Universal, and bears more than a passing resemblance to the work of the great Lon Chaney. Multiple techniques were used to achieve the transformations: camera filters, reactive makeup, and special lighting were used to accomplish some of the metamorphoses in camera, and cutaways to transforming hands, and lap dissolves, were also used. Hyde resembles a Neanderthal at first, and March leaps and swings like an ape (prefiguring William Hurt's transformation into a primitive man in 1980's Ken Russell-Paddy Chayefsky collaboration, ALTERED STATES, a J & H update).

Mamoulian also makes extensive use of slow dissolves, in which scenes overlap, and "wipes," in which one scene gradually pushes another off the scene. The most famous image of the film finds Ivy swinging her naked leg from her bed, a garter visible on her thigh, imploring Jekyll to "Come again...please come again." While the doctor and his colleague, Lanyon, descend the stairs leading from her flat, the first image overlaps the second for what seems like an eternity, causing viewers to experience the lingering sensuality that Jekyll feels. Each doctor looks at the top of the screen, where Ivy's flesh is superimposed.

The most daring aspects of this elegantly produced film are its sophisticated treatment of sexuality and violence. This is an adult work, and Jekyll's repressed sexual ego, and Hyde's overt comments to Ivy, seem bold even by modern standards. Hyde's various assaults are fast and brutal, and would not have been permitted by the Production Code a few years later. In fact, many of the film's most powerful moments were censored in the years that followed; the DVD restores 14 minutes shorn in previous cuts.

The DVD pairs Mamoulian's version with MGM's 1941 remake, directed by Victor Fleming (GONE WITH THE WIND), and starring Spencer Tracy, Ingrid Bergman, and Lana Turner. The MGM film is a classy production, but despite its reputation, it is inferior to its predecessor. John Lee Mahin's screenplay is essentially a revision of that used for the 1932 version; it follows the same structure and includes many of the same characters created expressly for Mamoulian's film. The similarities are so striking that Hoffenstein and Heath should have be given screen credit. Fleming's direction is expert yet safe, with none of Mamoulian's flourishes. Tracy is woefully miscast as "Harry" Jekyll, and Bergman's prostitute (now a bartender/server!) lacks Miriam Hopkins's attributes and sass. The production runs about 10 minutes longer than the Paramount version, and it is slow and talky. Much has been made of the fact that Tracy created his Hyde persona solely with facial expressions, sans makeup. Bull! The makeup is clearly visible; it may be subtler (and less effective) than that worn by March, but it's there. The entire film plays like a stagy, watered down version of Mamoulian's film. The transfer of this version is superior to that of Mamoulian's film, which is understandable since this safe bet did not have to contend with censors' scissors.

This DVD also includes a trailer for the 1941 version that is hilarious in the way it tries to keep the appearance of Hyde's appearance a secret, and a Bugs Bunny cartoon ("Hyde and Hare") that has some pretty disturbing sexual overtones. Film historian Greg Mank provides an audio commentary for the 1932 version that is informative, if clearly scripted.

This DVD also includes a With CGI laden abominations like last year's THE LEAGUE OF EXTRAORDINARY GENTLEMEN and this year's VAN HELSING completely ignoring the nuances of Jekyll and Hyde—and thoughtful filmmaking—it's nice to know that the greatest version of Stevenson's classic is available on DVD, with the 1941 version serving as an interesting counterpoint. Seek it out!

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Greg Lamberson's debut novel, PERSONAL DEMONS, Grand Prize Winner of the Inaugural Anubis Award for Horror, will be published as both a limited edition, signed and numbered hardcover, and trade paperback, this Halloween. He writes a monthly movie preview column, The Cutting Room, for the Horror Writers' Association newsletter, and he has contributed to HELLNOTES and H.P. LOVECRAFT'S MAGAZINE OF HORROR. His horror films SLIME CITY and NEW YORK VAMPIRE are available from www.alternativecinema.com.

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